Eugene, OR – Payton Pritchard’s Pac-12 season has not been a good one. Shooting only 28 percent from three and 31 percent overall, Pritchard has shown a significant drop-off from last season. However, all was well for one night as Prichard let Oregon to a 73-62 win over Cal with 20 points and ten rebounds. He connected on 5-of-9 3s and shot 7-of-14 overall, His ten rebounds were a career-high. Oregon (14-9, 5-5) bounced back after a terrible effort at Colorado where they opened the game with a 24-5 deficit. Cal (5-17) remains winless in the conference, dropping their tenth straight.
Oregon trailed early in the game and were down 15-13 midway through the first half. At that point Oregon’s offense looked uninspired and they were loose with the ball, committing six turnovers. As has been the case in recent Duck wins, they switched defenses to a zone press which caused Cal problems, generated turnovers and helped get Oregon’s offense in gear. The Ducks went on an 11-point run, highlighted by two Pritchard three-pointers and took a lead they would not relinquish. They led 32-21 at halftime helped by Cal’s 1-of-11 shooting from downtown
Oregon continued to pull away in the second half and the outcome was never in doubt. Cal did cut the lead to 41-35 but the Ducks followed that with four quick points. They extended the lead to 16 (60-44) on another Pritchard three-pointer and coasted home from there.
Kenny Wooten has his most extensive action since his jaw injury, playing 30 minutes while ending the game with 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks. He shot a perfect 4-of-4, making three late hoops and even hitting a 12-foot sideline jumper earlier in the game,
Will Richardson started at point again and was careless with his passing early on. He had four turnovers at the half. He turned it around in the second half only turning the ball over once while handing out six assists. He had nine assists in the game against his five turnovers. Both Paul White and Louis King had efficient games. King scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting while White had 11, shooting 4-of-6 overall and connecting on 3-of-5 3s.
Oregon out-rebounded Ca by 10 (33-23) but that was mainly due the Golden Bears missing 14 more shots than Oregon. The Ducks’ offense looked about as good as it has all year in the second half. They shot 17-of-26 (65 percent) in the half as they put the game away.
Oregon doesn’t play again until Sunday night when Stanford comes to town. Cal heads up to Corvallis on Saturday to face Oregon State.
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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