Ducks Upset 20th-ranked Huskies, 81-76
The new arena claimed another victim as the Oregon men’s basketball team topped No. 20 Washington, 81-76, on Saturday.
Oregon improved to 12-11 this season, 5-6 in the Pac-10 and pulled off a home sweep of the Washington schools. The Ducks have won four of their last five games and are 3-1 at Matthew Knight Arena.
UO missed its first four shots from the field and found itself trailing 4-0 just over two minutes in. With the score 6-3, Oregon scored seven-straight points to grab a 10-6 lead.
The Ducks continued hitting shots throughout the first half and led 29-20 with 7:31 to go in the opening stanza. Undeterred, the Huskies drained back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to three. However, Jay-R Strowbridge and Joevan Catron quieted the rally with consecutive buckets to put UO back up seven. Washington closed the half by making two more three-pointers, but Oregon still led, 37-34, at the break.
Oregon’s pressure defense was the story of the first half. The Ducks’ forced the Huskies to turn it over 10 times in the first half, which led to 18 UO points in the opening frame.
The Huskies tied it up on their first possession of the second half on a Justin Holliday three-pointer and grabbed a 45-42 lead 2:59 into the final period. Despite losing the lead, the Ducks battled right back and responded with a 13-2 spurt to take a 58-50 lead. UO upped its lead to 10 points, 62-52, with 7:58 to play, but UW came right back and drained a pair of three-pointers to cut the Ducks’ lead to four.
Washington made it a two-point game (76-74) with 40 seconds left, but E.J. Singlercalmly drained a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game again. After another UW bucket, Singler was called upon once more and again Singler made both shots to clinch the victory.
Catron paced the Ducks, who had four players score in double figures, offensively. The senior scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, to keep Oregon in front down the stretch. Singler finished with 16 points and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.Tyrone Nared poured in 14 points and Strowbridge scored 12 off the bench. Catron led UO with nine rebounds, Singler and Malcolm Armstead each dished out five assists and Armstead also finished with a game-high five steals.
Washington edged Oregon in field goal percentage (50.8 percent to 45.2 percent), three-point shooting (11-of-27 to 6-of-21) and rebounding (35-31). The Ducks won the game by shooting a sparkling 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) from the free throw line while the Huskies made only 5-of-11 (45.5 percent). Oregon also forced 15 turnovers and turned those into 26 points. UO only turned it over eight times, leading to only nine UW points.
The Ducks head to Los Angeles next week. Oregon starts the trip by facing UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night.
POSTGAME NOTES
– Oregon’s last victory against a ranked opponent also came against Washington. The Ducks beat the then 17th-ranked Huskies, 90-79, in Seattle on Jan. 2 2010
– Oregon’s 81 points was a season-high point total for Pac-10 games.
– The Ducks used the same starting lineup for the fifth consecutive game (Sim, Loyd, Singler, Nared, Catron). Oregon has a 4-1 record with that lineup this season. UO has used nine different starting lineups in 23 games this season.
– Joevan Catron led the Ducks in scoring for the 14th time this season (16th time in his career). It was Catron’s seventh 20-point effort this season (eighth of his career). In eight career games against the Huskies, Catron has scored in double figures on six occasions.
– Catron also had a team-high nine rebounds, leading UO in that category for the 13th time in 2010-11 (38th career time). Catron was one rebound shy of his third double-double of the season (15 pts and 10 rebs vs Portland State, 20 pts and 10 rebs at Washington).
– Tyrone Nared reached double figures in scoring for the fifth time this season (third time since conference play began). He made his fourth straight appearance in the starting lineup.
– Jay-R Strowbridge added another double-figure scoring effort off the bench, his fourth in the last five outings.
– E.J. Singler had 10+ points for the second straight game (16th time this season).
– Malcolm Armstead, who again matched a career-high with five steals versus Washington, has 113 career steals and remains No. 9 on UO’s all-time list. Armstead is just one shy of matching Terrell Brandon who registered 114 steals in 57 career games.
Updated 02-06-2011
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