After Oregon shot lights out in their first two games, scoring 83 and 86 points, it was up for discussion what would happen if the team started to shoot poorly, especially from three. 

We found out tonight. 

The first half for the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore was one to forget for the Ducks, as they trailed 38-18 going into the locker room. It made for the Ducks’ worst first half total since the 2019 Pac-12 tournament. 

Oregon’s shooting was atrocious throughout the first 20 minutes, never getting into a rhythm close to that of the team’s first two games of the season. In the first half they shot 19.2% from the field, 58.2% from the line and only went 1-for-5 from three.

With the game close at the start, a 19-5 run by BYU put them in command of the game. Alex Barcello led the Cougars in the first half, scoring 13 and shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field with three three-pointers. 

The Ducks had no answer for Barcello as the point guard dominated the game, finishing with 25 points, shooting 9-11 from the field and 4-6 from three. 

The Ducks shot better in the second half, going 44% from the field, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Cougars offense rolled to 81 points. 

The BYU side shot an unbelievable 60% from the field and 41% from three. 

It was the perfect storm with the Cougars shooting lights out and the Ducks unable to get shots to fall. 

Along with the Ducks inability to hit shots, their ball movement wasn’t nearly effective enough to generate lanes. With one assist in the first half and seven total, there wasn’t nearly enough movement to help the Ducks generate scoring chances.

“You’re going to have off shooting nights and on those nights that you don’t shoot well, you gotta beat somebody on the boards, you have to beat somebody defensively and we obviously didn’t do that,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. 

The Ducks have the ability to knock down threes all night as their first two games clearly showed, but tonight’s game exposed a level of inconsistency. 

Going 32% from the field with seven missed free throws isn’t going to cut it against high level teams like BYU.
“We were very poorly prepared and that’s my fault,” Altman said. The team doesn’t play that poorly if they are coached well and I’ve been soft.”

The Ducks will look to have a bounce back performance against Chaminade in the Maui Invitational on Nov 22 in Las Vegas, NV.