Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Shot selection, sluggish play costs No. 11 Oregon at Stanford

Tyler Dorsey, Christian Sanders

Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey (5) is defended by Stanford’s Christian Sanders during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

AP

Entering this week it appeared as if the question of “who’s the best team in the Pac-12" had a clear answer. No. 11 Oregon sat atop the standings in first place, and with one of the conference’s favorites for Player of the Year in Dillon Brooks leading the way Dana Altman’s Ducks looked to be approaching “elite” status. After the Ducks’ 0-2 weekend in the Bay Area, it’s time to slow down with the “elite” chatter.

Two nights after getting blown out at California the Ducks lost again, this time failing to complete their comeback attempt at Stanford as the Cardinal won 76-72.

Rosco Allen scored 25 points and grabbed seven boards for the Cardinal, shooting 9-for-12 from the field and not struggling all that much to get the looks he preferred. Allen hit shots from all three levels, at the rim, in the mid-range game and from deep, and so did his teammates. As a team Stanford shot 55.3 percent from the field and 9-for-13 from three, with Christian Sanders accounting for ten of the team’s 18 assists and Grant Verhoeven (13 points) and Dorian Pickens (16) chipping in as well.

Oregon, on the other hand, once again got away from the things that have made them so successful offensively. Working to get the best possible shot has worked quite well for the Ducks, given their many offensive options who can score from just about anywhere on the floor. Against Stanford 27 of Oregon’s field goal attempts were three-pointers, far too high a percentage for a team with scoring options such as Brooks, Elgin Cook, Tyler Dorsey and Chris Boucher.

Oregon settled until late in the second half, resulting in a deficit that proved too large to fully erase.

Winning on the road is tough, especially in a conference in which three teams (Arizona, Oregon and Utah) have managed to pick up a road sweep this season. But that can’t result in a team losing sight of what has made it so successful for much of the season. That appeared to be the case for Oregon in their two games in the Bay Area.

The good news for Oregon is that they have the talent needed to ensure that this is but a minor blip on the radar, a weekend that can be used to refocus on what made them the team many pegged as the best in the Pac-12 a week ago. The negative: as a result of this weekend Oregon’s margin for error is now gone, with two-time defending champion Arizona leading the charge.