Eugene, OR – In a Pac-12 marked by inconsistent play from most of the conference’s teams, the Arizona State Sun Devils came out and missed 19 of their first 20 three-point attempts en route to a 79-51 shellacking at the hands of the Oregon Ducks on Friday night in Eugene. In the process Oregon (16-12, 7-8) broke a three-game losing streak. Freshman Louis King led Oregon with 19 points while point guard Payton Pritchard added 18. 6-9 freshman Francis Okoro played his best game as a Duck finishing with seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Remy Martin led the Pac-12 second place Sun Devils (19-9, 10-6) with 13 points and six assists.
Oregon took a 34-26 lead into halftime in a first half marked more by poor Arizona State shooting than anything else. The Sun Devils were 1-of-12 on three-pointers in the half. The Ducks played much more efficiently in the second half, starting with a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 46-26 and Arizona State never got close after that. The Sun Devils missed their first eight shots of the half and ended the contest by not scoring a field goal in the game’s final seven minutes. They wound up shooting 3-of-23 from deep in what was their worst offensive performance of the season.
On the other hand, Oregon played efficiently, especially in the second half when they shot 53 percent from the field. King battled foul trouble but was effective offensively, connecting on 7-of-12 shots including two three-pointers. Pritchard, coming of two poor games, was much more aggressive and made six of his ten shots including 2-of-3 from deep. He added four rebounds and four assists against only two turnovers. Okoro was tough on the boards in his 20 minutes of court time and helped in giving the Ducks a 44-26 rebounding edge. That edge was helped by the Sun Devils’ 48 missed shots, 11 more than Oregon. Arizona State shot a poor 14-of-26 from the foul line to addition to their poor performance from long distance. Oregon reserve guard Ehab Amin came off the bench to play one of his better games of the season. He hit a corner three on his first attempt and ended the contest with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals over 20 minutes of action.
Oregon looks to get back to .500 in the conference in a Saturday night tilt against Arizona. The Wildcats are coming off a two-point last-second win over Oregon State. Arizona State travels to meet the Beavers on Sunday.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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