Head coach Dana Altman and the Ducks hadn’t won in Corvallis in four years. This year, the Ducks took the floor in Gill Coliseum and paved their way to an emphatic 80-67 victory over the Beavers as they clinched the regular season conference title for the second year in a row.
Oregon’s ball movement and three-point shooting made all the difference, as the team converted on 15-of-23 attempts from beyond the arc on their way to their tenth win in the last 11 games.
Oregon dominated the first half. Will Richardson opened up the scoring for the Ducks with a floater in the paint, but he didn’t stop there. By halftime, Richardson had already out-shot his career high three-point tally, going 5-for-5 in the first 20 minutes of play.
Chris Duarte and LJ Figueroa helped lock up the Beavers with tight, physical defense, wreaking havoc and causing sloppy, time-consuming possessions. Left with no better options, the Beavers’ resorted to hasty decisions and poorly selected field goal attempts.
Figueroa and Duarte were quintessential yet again in executing Altman’s renowned full-court press. In the game’s opening minutes, Duarte intercepted the ball just outside the arc, exploding down the lane and dishing it off to Figueroa for the dunk. 11-3 Ducks after three minutes of play.
The Ducks continued to control the pace, constantly switching from man to zone and confusing the Oregon State offense. The Oregon bench erupted, making noise and shouting with every Ducks’ takeaway.
Around the eight-minute mark, Beavers’ point guard Jarod Lucas hit a corner three, the first shot from beyond the arc to fall for head coach Wayne Tinkle’s squad. He converted on the next possession as well with another three, closing the Ducks’ lead to ten. In the following minutes, the Beavers rattled off a 6-1 run and forced a Ducks timeout. The score read 27-22 Ducks, but all signs were pointing towards an Oregon State comeback before the end of the half.
Five points was the closest the Beavers would get. Oregon came out of the timeout motivated, responding with a 12-2 run which featured two-three pointers from Eric Williams Jr. and one from Richardson.
By the half, Oregon led comfortably once again, harnessing a 13-point lead over their rivals.
Eugene Omoruyi added a spark to the Ducks’ offensive game early on in the second half, scoring seven of the Ducks’ first 10. Meanwhile, Richardson hit his sixth three of the game, a career-high for the junior guard.
The Ducks kept their foot on the gas, utilizing the full-court press to stymy the Oregon State offense while they continued to score at will on the other end.
Oregon pieced together bursts of offense to keep the Beavers at bay, adding three after three and consistently finding ways to score down low. By the end of the evening, all five Oregon starters had double-digit point totals.
Led by Richardson’s career-high 22-point performance, the Ducks shot 65% from beyond the arc. Their 15 threes made for the program’s highest three-point total since 2017.
“Without Will [Richardson] running the show, I don’t think we could’ve played as well as we did,” Altman said. “I thought the last three games, Will really got aggressive and really showed what he could do.”
In stark contrast, Oregon State converted on only four three-point attempts, going 23% on the night.
With a resounding road victory over the Beavers in pocket, the Ducks look ahead towards the Pac-12 tournament. As the one seed, they’ll enjoy a first-round bye and await the winner of Washington State-Arizona State in the quarterfinals next Thursday at 11:30 AM.
