The right word would be “slow” when describing the way things started for Oregon in its final exhibition game before its season opener on Friday.
Missing its first five shots and turning the ball over four times, the Ducks would succumb itself to a 18-7 deficit just seven minutes into the game against an under matched Western Oregon team.
The ball wouldn’t fall through the net for Oregon until the 15:15 mark either – following a Joseph Young layup. Yet once it did, the tides took a dramatic shift and the clear advantages in the Ducks’ athleticism compared to their counterparts were evident as they cruised to a 104-55 win.
“We got off to a really slow start,” head coach Dana Altman said. “But then our defensive intensity picked up. Second half we really outrebounded them so we just got a lot more active.”
After shooting 58% from the field as it built an 11-point lead, the Wolves would shoot just 29.7% for the game’s entirety and be limited to just 18 points in the entire second half. As Altman noted too, the Ducks would take complete control of the glass and out-rebounded Western Oregon 47-24.
Clearly lacking height this year, Elgin Cook, just listed at 6-foot-6, led the team in rebounds, finishing with 10 to go along with his 19 points. Additionally, the Ducks would score 14 points off second chances.
“(We’re) small so we just got to be scrappy, carve out some room and some space down low,” Cook said. “I’m used to playing against bigger guys. I’m all for a challenge.”
Offensively, Dwayne Benjamin led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting . As a whole, four Oregon players ended the game with more than 11 points, and despite Young’s pedestrian stat line, shot 65.6% from the field and went 23-of-30 in the second half.
Pushing the tempo to start the second half, the Ducks exhausted Western Oregon by creating 18 points off the fast breaking and displayed some clear gaps in each team’s athleticism.
In one instance, Young lobbed a pass to freshman Jordan Bell in which the freshman reverse slammed the ball while being fouled.
By that point the lead was stretched to 20 with 14 minutes of basketball to play, with the ball movement and pace constantly being pushed.
“The pace we started running at in the second half was a lot closer to what I had envisioned,” Altman said. “I thought we took a big step.”
One thing was clear after Oregon’s first two games. With the majority of the scoring coming from an entirely new contingent of players, taking steps, as Altman so often noted after the game, will continue to define how the season plays out.
With JUCO transfer Benjamin leading all scorers and freshman Dillon Brooks scoring 17, it’s clear that the Ducks will be relying on an under developed roster when it starts its season against Coppin State Friday at Mathew Knight Arena.
Scoring doesn’t seem to be an issue either, as the Ducks averaged 102.5 points per game in both of its exhibition contests. However, the group will have to grow up fast.
“Obviously here in the next two weeks, things are going to come at us really fast,” Altman said. “It’s going to happen here for us really quick.”
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise