Written by Jonah Bruneau

It was an exciting Friday night inside Matthew Knight Arena for the Oregon Ducks Men's Basketball team as they hosted their second consecutive home game to open the season against the SMU Mustangs. The Mustangs came into the game 1-0 after defeating the McNeese State Cowboys 86-62 and were feeling confident as a result coming into the night. However, Oregon had plans of their own. Once the ball was tipped, the Ducks took control of the court and never let up after Senior Guard Jacob Young hit a three-pointer to open up the scoring. When it was all said and done, the Ducks recorded a 86-63 victory to go to 2-0 on the young season.

Oregon was able to spread the ball out plenty, as four players had tallied double-digit point totals. The man leading the way was Senior Forward Eric Williams Jr. with 19 points and 8-14 from the field. Right behind was fellow Senior Guard Will Richardson with 18 points and a sizzling 4-5 from beyond the arc. 6' 6" Junior Rivaldo Soares had a solid night off the bench, finishing the night with 10 points and leading the Ducks in rebounds with 7 to go along with his 28 minute court time. As a team, the Ducks posted a 51% field goal percentage, which is a number that could have been higher if the Ducks hadn't gone on a 1-12 run from the field towards the back end of the second half. Fortunately, the defense from Oregon came up big, holding the Mustangs to a modest 37% field goal percentage and a stale 31% from three.

The Ducks will now take a short road trip up to Portland for a neutral site game against the BYU Cougars, who have fired off to a good start to their season which includes a win over San Diego State. Both teams will be heading into Portland 2-0, so the Ducks will have their work cut out for them against a potential NCAA Tournament caliber team. Be sure to catch live coverage of the game on Tuesday November 16th at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN.

Audio Story by Alex Roth

Post Game Audio:

Rivaldo Soares

Dana Altman