Written by: Jonah Bruneau
Sure Sunday Night Football has been a staple for multiple decades now, but what about some Sunday night men’s college hoops? That’s what Eugene got on this Sunday night as the Oregon Ducks played host to the No. 3 team in the nation and national championship favorites, the Houston Cougars. With the Ducks still trying to find their identity in this young season, they certainly had their work cut out for them against a team that is averaging just over 80 points per game. As it turns out, Oregon fought hard on defense all game long, keeping the Cougars to a modest 66 points. Even so, that was enough for Houston to come into Matthew Knight Arena and capture their fifth victory of the season by the final of 66-56, remaining undefeated.
Oregon was lucky to even be within ten points in this contest, as they shot an abysmal 13% from three, and turned the ball over 16 times. The Cougars took advantage of the Ducks’ poor ball handling as they accumulated 30 points off turnovers. The bright side tonight for Oregon shined from Senior Center N'Faly Dante, who led Oregon in scoring with 16 points, going 6-8 from the field and racking up 11 boards to go along with three blocks and two steals defensively. Returning Senior Will Richardson had a quiet night with the ball in his hands, having a 5-9 game from the field totaling 13 points, and only splashing a single three. Turnovers haunted Richardson as he lost possession on seven different occasions throughout the game, matching the number he had against UCI. Fellow Senior Quincy Guerrier struggled mightily from the field as he was just 2-11, including 0-4 from beyond the arc. As for Houston, their three-point shooting was a different story as they shot 50% from downtown, being led by Senior Marcus Sasser's and Freshman Terrance Arceneaux's six combined three-balls. Even so, Oregon was actually the first team this season to hold Houston under 80 points in the game.
The upcoming schedule does not get much easier for the Ducks as they will now look ahead to the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland and get set to take on the undefeated UConn Huskies, another team that is inside the top-25. It is certainly worth mentioning that Junior Guard Keeshawn Barthelemy seemed to suffer a left ankle or foot injury late in the first half, and he would remain on the bench for the rest of the night in a walking boot. With Oregon already super thin at the guard position due to the injuries of Brennan Rigsby and Jermaine Couisnard, the Ducks can ill afford to lose another key player in Barthelemy for an extended period of time.
Audio Story by: Owen Johnson