Oregon will head north for a matchup against No. 7 Gonzaga with an offense that is finding its rhythm, not mention its shooting touch.
The Ducks blasted Portland on Dec. 17, winning 94-69 in a nonconference men’s basketball game in front of 4,479 at Matthew Knight Arena.
Advertisement
“It was a step in the right direction,” coach Dana Altman said.
Kwame Evans Jr. led Oregon (6-5) with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. The junior forward was 6 of 9 from the field with a 3-pointer and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line.
Nate Bittle also scored 18, Jackson Shelstad and Dezdrick Lindsay had 14 points each and Sean Stewart scored 12.
“Everybody’s got a good clean head,” Evans said. “We’re just really in tune with the coaching staff, what they’re trying to preach to us, and I think the guys in the locker room are really listening and we’re just coming together.”
Advertisement
Altogether, the Ducks shot 48.4% from the field, 39.4% from 3-point range and had a season-high 23 assists — their most in a single game in five seasons — and nearly had a second straight 100-point game, something that hasn’t happened since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
Oregon was coming off a 104-62 win against UC Davis last Saturday in which it made 60.7% from the field and 47.6% from 3.
In the last two games, the Ducks have combined to make 54.4% from the field on 68-of-125 shooting and 42.6% from 3-point range on 23-of-54 shooting. They’ve also had a combined 55 assists in those two games.
Altman has been hammering his team all season to get the ball to “three sides” on offense, a directive that has started to show up more and more during games.
Advertisement
“Part of it is sinking in,” Altman said. “Because when we did, we made some really good plays — and we were 60% on three sides — we had some really good looks.”
Oregon led 51-41 at halftime with Bittle and Evans scoring 11 points each and Shelstad getting nine as the Ducks shot 57.6% from the field and made 6 of 16 from 3-point range.
Oregon led by one point, 26-25, with 8 minutes to play in the half when it slowly began to increase its advantage until Shelstad’s 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the Ducks their first double-digit lead of the game.
They held that double-digit advantage for the majority of the second half then made six 3-pointers over an eight-minute stretch to push their lead into the 20s for the final 7-plus minutes.
Oregon’s Kwame Evans Jr., right, goes for a dunk against Portland’s Timo George during the first half Dec. 17 at Matthew Knight Arena. Evans had a team-high 21 points in the 94-69 home win.
What’s next for Oregon men’s basketball?
The Ducks head to Portland for their most-anticipated game of the nonconference season as they take on No. 7 Gonzaga at Moda Center at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Advertisement
The Bulldogs’ (12-1) only loss of the season came Nov. 26 against No. 1 Michigan.
“We’re gonna have to play our A-plus game,” Altman said. “Gonzaga is a lot further along than us … they’re well-coached, they’re really talented, they’re really deep.”
Oregon and Gonzaga have played only twice before — both during preseason tournaments at neutral sites — with the Ducks winning in 1999 in Hawaii and the Bulldogs winning in 2019 in the Bahamas.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon men’s basketball lights up Portland, turns attention to Gonzaga
