MBB | Oregon remains unbeaten at home after defeating Colorado 68-60

Text Story by Jonah Rosenberg

After a tough 74-65 loss in Boulder just over a month ago, the Oregon Ducks were hungry to exact revenge on the Colorado Buffaloes. When the Buffs came to town on Thursday night, Oregon was prepared to tie the season series up. Although it wasn’t a perfect game for the Ducks, Oregon did just enough to escape with a 68-60 victory.

The first half was ugly for the Ducks finding themselves in a 9 point hole at the break. The Ducks jumped out to a 16-10 lead early in the game due to good shooting from the backcourt, but it was to no avail as the Buffaloes proceeded to go on a 20-0 run fueled by long range shooting over the course of 7.5 minutes.  With 3:30 to go in the first half, the Ducks finally got on the board off the back of a Chris Duarte three point play. Oregon finished the half on a 10-5 run through the final 3:30 of the period to cut the Buffaloes lead to 35-26.

To start the second half, neither team came out with a ton of energy and sloppy play dominated the early minutes. The Ducks did shoot a better from the field through the first 10 minutes with a combined 50% from the field and 75% from 3. A WilI Richardson layup with 10:08 to go cut the Buffaloes lead to 2 points. However, similar to the first half, the Ducks went cold from the field over the course of the next 5 minutes with a combined 4 points on 2-8 shooting during that stretch. With 4:18 to play, the teams found themselves tied at 58 apiece following a Payton Pritchard deep 3 and two Will Richardson free throws. The Ducks used their lockdown defense to force Colorado into late shot clock attempts leading to a 12-0 run. Oregon found themselves up 66-60 with under 30 seconds to go and after Shane Gatling missed a deep 3, Will Richardson made both free throws to ice the game. The Oregon Ducks continue their home unbeaten streak and now sit atop the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon’s next contest is this Sunday against the Utah Utes(14-11, 5-8).

Audio Story: Ryan Milano

Post-Game Audio:

Dana Altman

Will Richardson and Addison Patterson