Your Oregon basketball teams both played in exhibition matches on Thursday night, let’s talk about how they did. The Men’s team was up first, heading down south to take on the Stanford Cardinal. The Ducks got out to a scorching hot start, jumping out to a 12-2 lead in just about 3 minutes of action. The Cardinal would show some resilience, battling back to take a 25-24 lead with just over 6 minutes left in the half, and eventually a 34-32 lead at halftime. The 2nd half would be much the same as the first, with Stanford leading the rest of the way, eventually building their lead up to 10 on multiple occasions, but Oregon couldn’t quite battle back, losing the contest 78-70.
It was another poor three-point shooting performance for the Ducks Thursday, shooting just 5-19 (26.3%) from beyond the arc. Sean Stewart led the way for Oregon tonight with 15 points, on 6-8 shooting, in 21 minutes off the bench. Nate Bittle also put up 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in about 28 minutes of action.
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Onto the Women’s team! The Ducks played host to the Western Oregon Wolves on Thursday night, in their one and only exhibition matchup. To put it frankly, this was an absolute shellacking. Oregon dominated on both ends of the floor, from the get-go. They started the game on a 15-0 run and led 27-12 after the first quarter. They would go on to more than double their lead at halftime leading by a whopping 36 points, 54-18. The third quarter opened with five straight Wolves points, cutting the lead to 54-23…before Oregon would go on a run of their own, but this one was slightly more substantial, ending the quarter on a 27-2 run, and ballooning the lead to 81-25 after three quarters. The fourth quarter was just mean, with Oregon just pouring it on by dropping 6 threes in the quarter and taking the game 113-36.
The ladies flat out dominated. There’s nothing more to be said. Junior forward Sarah Rambus led the way with 28 points and 8 rebounds in just 15(!!!) minutes of action.
Overall, I am still fairly optimistic about the men’s team. I think they will greatly benefit from getting Jackson Shelstad back in the near future, but until then, they should be able to keep their head above water on the back of Nate Bittle, who continues to look as good as ever.
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I know it was a weak opponent, and an exhibition game, but this outing has gotten my excitement level the highest it’s been since the Sabrina Era of Oregon Women’s basketball. I think they’ve got a SQUAD this season, and I can’t wait to see how they perform.
As always, ‘Sco Ducks.
