Oregon Drops Battle for Second Place Against Washington State 62-56
The Oregon Ducks (16-8, 8-5 conference) dropped a crucial home game to the Washington State Cougars (18-6, 9-4 conference), losing 62-56 for their fifth conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon.
Offense was hard to come by for both teams as defense and spacing controlled the tempo of the game early on.
Because points were so hard to come by throughout the game, Oregon’s inability to make their free throws cost them the game shooting 8-for-14 from the line.
“The free throws in a low-scoring game like this possession by possession, you get to the free throw line you gotta go and you can't shoot 50% on the night where it’s a two possession game,” Altman told reporters after the game. “So free throws hadn't cost us for a while, but it should cost us today.”
True freshman Jackson Shelstad was setting up his teammates early in the first half, drawing in defenders while driving to the basket and passing to the open man or just finding open teammates on the court. The point guard's vision was really on point even if it wasn’t reflected in the box score.
Freshman point guard Jackson Shelstad finding an open teammate against Washington.
© Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
Even though Sheltstad started off the game well handling the ball, his offensive struggles continued from the Washington game, finishing with six points while shooting 3-for-12 from the field.
“I mean, he had a tough couple of games offensively here,” Altman said. “He had four assists and didn’t have any turnovers. He did some good things.”
Buckets were at a premium Saturday and Jaylen Wells cashed in every opportunity he got shooting 4/4 from the three-point line in the first half, giving Washington State a sizable lead that the Ducks weren’t able to completely chip away at.
Right before halftime, N'Faly Dante took a hard foul and was rolling on the floor in pain before walking to bench, a scary sight for Oregon as the Ducks are scary thin in the post with Nate Bittle being out due to an illness.
Nate Bittle has been out for the past two games due to an illness.
Darby Winter/Ducks Digest
Just a minute later Dante checked back into the game grabbing a rebound and went coast-to-coast making a statement with his dunk as Oregon went into halftime down 29-27, seemingly with all of the momentum on their side from the play by the big man.
Even banged up, Dante had to play 34 minutes putting up an impressive stat line of 15 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks.
“I think I have a lot of work to do to get into better shape to be available for my team,” Dante said. “I think I can do more.”
Dante and Jermaine Couisnard were the only Ducks to really get anything going offensively and both had eight points in the first half, scoring their combined 16 points in the paint.
Coming out of the half, Couisnard committed two fouls, putting him at three personal fouls, just two minutes into the second half, leading to him being subbed out for Brennan Rigsby as the senior guard was in foul trouble. With an already struggling offense the last thing the Ducks needed was their top scorer sitting on the bench.
Surprisingly, Oregon went on a 6-0 run immediately after Couisnard went to bench taking a two-point lead, their first lead of the game since the first minutes of the game.
But Washington State went on an 8-0 right after taking back their lead and never looked back. The Cougars for the remainder of the game held on to a six-point lead with the Ducks never fully being able to chip away at it.
In the final two minutes left of the game, Couisnard took a hard fall and took a while to get up before walking to the bench gingerly when Oregon was down by five points. He then checked back in with a minute left and immediately hit a three, bringing Oregon within two-points with 46 ticks left.
Jermaine Couisnard scored 16 points shooting 2/5 from the three point line on Saturday.
Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest
It looked as if the Ducks were going to pull out a win with a stop and another made shot.
Instead, in the final 30 seconds Couisnard fouled Wells, fouling out of the game, who took two free throws, made the first and missed his second one, but the Ducks couldn’t grab the rebound and ended up fouling Myles Rice, who made both his free throws to put the Cougars up by 5.
Washington State sealed with their win on their ability to make free throws in the clutch.
“In a tight game like that when you're not shooting the ball,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “You know, that killed us.”
Oregon’s next game is in a week against Oregon State in Corvallis.
