Arizona Humbled by Oregon's Record Setting Day From Three-Point-Land
Arizona headed into Eugene to face Oregon and their 39-game home win streak. Unfortunately, Oregon had a record-setting day from three.
No. 13 Oregon’s hot shooting annihilated No. 5 Arizona in front of loud Eugene crowd. Tyler Dorsey led all scorers with 23 points, going 6-6 from three. Dillon Brooks added 18-point with four 3’s to snap Arizona’s 15-game win streak.
The win extended Oregon’s home win streak to 40 games, and with Kansas losing to Iowa State, it is now the nation’s longest win streak at home.
“Today we needed to play great. In my opinion, if we would’ve played great, it still wouldn’t have been enough today because of how well they played, I don’t think it was on our end lack of anything, I think it was on their end a great performance,” said Sean Miller Postgame.
The Wildcats were led by Rawle Alkins who scored 16 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Dusan Ristic and Allonzo Trier scored 12 a piece in Sean Miller’s worst loss since hired at Arizona.
Lauri Markannen struggled for the second game in a row. He would finish with four points, 1-5 from the field, 0-3 from deep, three rebounds and three fouls which came early on in the game as he tried to defend the three, but nothing could defend Oregon’s three today.
He drew the difficult task of guarding Dillon Brooks most of the game. Miller thought the Wildcats would have an advantage, but it backfired in ugly fashion.
From the very start, the game was going in the wrong direction for Arizona. After Dillon Brooks had scored the first points of the game, there was a three-minute delay due to the Oregon student section throwing powder in the air. The referees gave them a warning, and Oregon players helped clean up.
If you missed it, here was Oregon's pregame powder toss pic.twitter.com/BoYeDaTn6L
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) February 4, 2017
After the Ducks had been given a warning, Arizona went up 4-2 before Oregon went off. Former Arizona commit Tyler Dorsey, and Brooks went 6-7 from deep to put Oregon up 19-9 with just over ten minutes remaining in the half.
The three’s kept coming for Oregon. At the eight minute mark, the Ducks hit their sixth three-pointer. After another empty possession for the Wildcats, Chris Boucher hit the seventh three for Oregon to go up 27-11.
Arizona immediately called a timeout, but Oregon hit another three, pushing the lead to 30-11. After two more empty possessions, the Ducks hit two more three-pointers. Arizona hadn’t scored for over six minutes while Oregon hit their 10th three to lead 36-11.
The Arizona offense was complete absent to go along with their defense. Oregon was getting every rebound it seemed, and the Wildcats were turning the ball over although they only had four turnovers in the first half. Nothing was working for the Wildcats.
Arizona had missed 11 straight shots before Chance Comanche scored on a slam dunk. Kadeem Allen kept the momentum going with a three to bring the deficit to 20 points.
At halftime, Oregon held a 38-20 lead. The Ducks shot 59-percent from the field, 10-14 from three, while Arizona was only 26-percent from the field.
Feb 4, 2017; Eugene, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats center Chance Comanche (21) dunks the ball. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
The beginning of the second half was great for the Wildcats. They quickly went on a run to get the game within 16 points, but Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks continued the hot shooting from three. At under 16 minutes, the lead for Oregon was back up over 20 points, 49-26.
Nothing changed for the Wildcats as the game went on. More turnovers shot clock violations, Ducks hitting three after three, and several dunks later Oregon was up 29 points with 13 minutes remaining, 56-27.
After another Oregon three from Chris Boucher, and a Tyler Dorsey lay-up plus the foul, Arizona was quickly down by 34.
The humiliation continued for the rest of the game. Oregon was up by as many as 37 points in the second half. When the final buzzer sounded, the Wildcats lost by 27 points, 85-58. The Ducks never cooled off on their way to a team record 16 three’s, 16 out of 22 at one point, but wouldn’t you know it they missed their last three attempts.
Oregon came into Saturday’s game on shaky grounds. The Ducks only beat lowly Arizona State by one, 71-70, Thursday night. Before the ASU game, Oregon was coming off a loss to Colorado.
Oregon played the best game they’ve played in several years. When you add in Arizona struggling, there’s nothing you can do. It was the highest opponent shooting percentage allowed by an Arizona team since 2004.
After the game, Coach Miller acknowledged the blowout but also had positive thoughts with Brian Jeffries. “In the first 10 minutes of the game, I thought our defense was organized,” said Miller “For the most part. I think our guys played hard to the finish line. Nobody is yelling at anybody. We’ll get better as a team. We’re 10-1 and 21-3, they’re 10-1 and 21-3.”
As bad as it was for the fans to watch, on a national stage, it is important to remember it was much worse for the players. It’s at the lowest point where we find out what we’re made of and for Arizona, this is a low point. The bright side is this was only one game, it’s not March, and all of the goals before the season as still in reach.
“Heck we don’t go 16 from 25 in shooting drills you know from three, I was surprised we just got it going,” said Oregon head coach Dana Altman. “That’s the best I’ve ever played three games here,” added Dillon Brooks with the media postgame. “We just had a hot hand tonight, everybody was hitting three’s tonight,” mentioned Tyler Dorsey. That was an understatement.
It is what is. Oregon humiliated the Wildcats in Eugene. There is no other way to put it. If you’re Arizona, you have to suck it up, completely erase the game from memory, and move on to the next. Three of the top five in the nation lost Saturday. Things happen, at least Oregon was a ranked team at No. 13 in the country. When it comes down to it, it’s still BEAR DOWN over all!
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