Posted on 05 February 2016.
Chris Boucher batted a would-be lay up against the backboard with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half and couldn’t help but stop and smile. Casey Benson quickly grabbed the rebound and found Dwayne Benjamin in transition, who then hit a three-pointer that extended Oregon’s first half lead to 17 and sent the crowd into a collective frenzy.
Benjamin also stopped and let out a wide grin while throwing up three fingers. The smiles seemed to be infectious all night for No. 16 Oregon, as it dominated Colorado from start to finish, en route to a 76-56 win Thursday.
The win helped the Ducks avenge their 91-87 loss at Boulder on Jan. 18, and keeps them atop the Pac-12 standings at 8-2 in conference. As Dillon Brooks had said at practice on Tuesday, Oregon was looking for revenge, and its gritty performance certainly proved that.
“We didn’t play our style of basketball in the first game,” Benjamin, who finished with 11 points and three rebounds, said. “We know that we’re a good team, but we just wanted to come out and play real hard, unlike last time.”
Elgin Cook led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Chris Boucher, coming off a double-double against Arizona State on Sunday, scored seven points and added 12 rebounds and six blocks.
It wasn’t as if Oregon’s offensive production was the reason why the game turned so heavily in its favor, though. Its top scorer, Dillon Brooks, was limited to 10 points and the Ducks made only three more baskets than Colorado. Rather, Oregon’s defense, which allowed Colorado to shoot 50 percent from the field in their last meeting, prevented any possibility that the Buffaloes would find a rhythm.
Colorado opened the game by missing 14 of its first 17 shots and finished 9-of-29 from the field in the first half. In addition, the Buffaloes turned the ball over 14 times, which Oregon turned into 21 points. By halftime, Oregon held what was an insurmountable 40-21 lead.
Colorado’s first possession of the second half, one in which they committed a backcourt violation, only further established the type of night it was for the team.
“Activity is what we’ve been talking about since conference started, you know flying around, swatting at ball ton of energy,” Casey Benson said. “Some nights the ball is not going to go into the basket. So our strength has got to be on the defensive end. I think we did that tonight.”
That type of energy made for an increasingly frustrating night for Colorado, which resulted in two instances in which Oregon and Colorado players were called for double-technical fouls. In addition, the Mathew Knight Arena crowd only got louder and louder.
“We can feel the energy,” Benjamin said. “They help us out a lot. We love it, we need it. It just makes it fun to play here.”
The energy was largely a product of Oregon’s nonstop motor. Oregon head coach Dana Altman said the pace of the game was vastly different from the previous meeting, and ultimately a reason why things bent heavily in their favor this time.
“I thought our defensive activity was way different,” Altman said. “When the guys watch clips from our previous game with them, they were disappointed in themselves.They saw that we didn’t do a very good job, so I thought their activity defensively was better today.”
Colorado did provide a small scare in the second half, however. After Oregon stretched its lead to as much as 22, the Buffaloes responded with a run of its own and got within 10 with 11:18 remaining. They never could cut the lead to less than 10, though, and Oregon responded by making its next three baskets to push the lead back to 17.
“We knew they’d make a run at some point,” Altman said. “But I thought we responded pretty well. Elgin made a couple tough shots.”
The performance was especially encouraging for the group considering Brooks, who had scored 20 or more points in four of the team’s last six games, was sitting on the bench for much of it due to foul trouble. There was a time period in the second half in which he was not on the floor for almost 10 straight minutes.
But, it was hardly noticeable. Cook and Benjamin combined for 29 points, Tyler Dorsey added 13, and Casey Benson scored nine. Jordan Bell added eight points, five rebounds and three blocks as well. That total helped him eclipse Blair Rasmussen to become Oregon’s all-time leader in career blocked shots.
“We know we all can play,” Benjamin said. “Dillon’s been on a great roll, he’s been making plays for us, but we know that as a team, when we make plays for each other that we can put the ball in the hole.”
As a team, Oregon’s been on a roll as well. This is the Ducks’ fifth consecutive win, and with the most wins over the RPI Top 50 of any team in the nation, they seem to be presenting more and more of a case that they are the elite team in the Pac-12 this year.
However, Altman thinks there’s a lot of work left to be done if they are to be categorized that way.
“We’re not tough enough right now,” Altman said.
Regardless, Oregon picked up another quality win Thursday and continue to play at a consistently high rate. The Ducks will play Utah on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Utes have won five straight since losing to Oregon on their home floor on Jan. 14.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise
