Oregon head coach Dana Altman said changes needed to be made if the Ducks were going to start games off stronger.
Staying true to his word, Altman mixed things and the results were undeniable.
“The guys got off to a good start — I thought our starting lineup did a good job,” Altman said. ”
Combining Jordan Bell, Casey Benson and Jalil Abdul-Bassit with regular starters Joseph Young and Elgin Cook, the Ducks jumped out to a 16-3 lead and never looked back, cruising to a 83-70 win over Delaware State.
“We wanted to come out with a ton of energy and it started defensively,” Benson said. “We got some stops so we were able to get out in transition — that was our focus, getting stops and bringing a ton of energy.”
Playing with shooters like Benson and Abdul-Bassit early on, freed Oregon’s leading scorer Young to get more open looks against the Hornets, and he made the most of it. Young scored 14 points in the first half, including two three-pointers during Oregon’s opening run over the first 5:30.
The Ducks’s largest lead of the half was at 19 and came after an Abdul-Bassit steal and layup. From there, the Hornets slowly battled back but never got within single digits as Oregon led 38-27 at the half.
The second half played out much like the first did, with Oregon stretching its lead to 19 after a Michael Chandler layup with 15:20 left to play in the game.
Delaware continued to fight though, getting to within 11 at the six minute mark, but back-to-back dunks by Bell all but slammed the door on the comeback effort. Bell’s first dunk came when he soared threw the air to throw it down one-handed after a Young missed three-pointer and the next came on an alley-oop from Dillon Brooks.
“That was pretty impressive — it got the crowd into it,” Benson said. “That was a big play — they kind of hit some shots and for him to make that play, that was kind of awesome.”
The most impressive performance by Oregon came on the defensive end by Adbul-Bassit and his teammates.
“The first half, I though we did a great job,” Altman said of defending May. “He’s a good player, his numbers are good but for the most part we did a pretty good job.”
Hornets guard Amere May came into the the game today averaging 19.5 points per game, including an NCAA season-high of 48 in his most recent game, but was held to just 16 points total, two in the first half.
“I think everybody that guarded him did a tremendous job on him (May),” Benson said. “Just trying to make it tough — with guys like that that, you just want to make it tough on him — make him work for every single basket,”
Young led four Ducks in double-figures with 23 points while Cook had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Abdul-Bassit added 12 points, Ahmaad Rorie had 10 and Benson added a season-high seven assists.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka