The Oregon Ducks (16-7, 8-4 conference) survived the Washington Huskies (12-11, 4-8 conference) second-half comeback, getting a key conference win at home on Thursday night.
“On February 8, you can't make mistakes and it's that simple,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We're fortunate we hit free throws down the stretch … we did what we had to do to win the game, which is really important.”
Jermaine Couisnard was cooking early for Oregon and finished as the leading scorer for the Ducks with a season-high of 27 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.
“It's a team game,” Couisnard said. “I feel like without them, I wouldn't be doing these things. They put trust in me every day and it seems to show the work I put in, so they trust me to do the things I've been taught.”
The animosity between the teams was felt from the jump as the crowd booed their rivals from Seattle during player introductions, and the bad blood carried onto the court as well.
N’Faly Dante fouled Moses Wood when he went in for a dunk after the whistle knocking Wood to the ground and getting visceral reactions from the Washington bench, as their coaches and players didn’t appreciate their starting forward being sent to the hardwood.
Just a few plays later, Paul Mulcahy was given a technical foul after fouling Jackson Shelstad from behind when he was in the air going for a layup during a fast break off of a turnover. The Oregon bench wasn't happy as Mulcahy’s foul was dangerous with Shelstad being defenseless in the air.
Oregon’s defense was on point in the first half, forcing Washington to commit 10 turnovers in just the first half, scoring 17 points off of turnovers.
Washington struggled to move the ball in the paint, almost every possession that included an inside pass was either deflected or was a turnover. The Huskies' turnovers turned into easy points for the Ducks in the transition, as Washington either fouled or left Couisnard open beyond the arc.
Couisnard hit two three-pointers from open looks in the first half, he and Shelstad were perfect from the free-throw line shooting 4/4 as they got fouled driving to the basket during fastbreaks.
Oregon went into halftime with a six-point lead.
Coming out of the half, the Ducks’ offense exploded to a 20-point lead 10 minutes into the second half.
Couisnard was in a groove from distance, sinking in two more three-pointers as Kwame Evans Jr. was once again a spark off the bench for the Ducks, scoring six points during a 15-3 run after he checked into the game.
Oregon’s 20-point lead shrunk down to a one-point lead in just seven minutes as the Huskies rallied with a full-court press, forcing Oregon to commit multiple turnovers while no one could score a field goal for 7:37.
Kario Oquendo was forced to the sideline by Washington’s press turning the ball over three times before being yanked out of the game while Altman was trying to call a timeout.
“In February, we should be able to handle the press a lot better than that,” Altman said. “You know, fundamentally getting off the sidelines.”
The crowd got rowdy trying to get Oregon back into the game while they clung to a two-point lead with three minutes left. The Ducks locked in defensively, getting stops and scoring free throws to hold onto the lead.
“Oh the crowd,” Altman said. “It helped us, we got real stagnant there, guys are standing straight up and down a little embarrassed from the turnovers and that they knew we weren't playing the way we wanted to play … I thought the crowd helped us defensively on a couple of plays.”
Dante scored 15 points, 9 rebounds and three blocks, Shelstad had 6 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds and Evans finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Oregon now sets their sight on Washington State, who’s second place in the Pac-12 standings with the same conference record as the Ducks.
“I hope to see you on Saturday,” Dante said. “We’re gonna do better as a team.”
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