Oregon will try to rebound from Sunday’s loss at the buzzer to Stanford when the Ducks host Portland on Wednesday in Eugene, Ore.
The Ducks were slow to defend Stanford’s Jaiden Delaire on the left wing and Delaire made a 3-pointer as time expired to give the host Cardinal the 72-69 win.
“I thought he caught it a little too easy,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “We were supposed to be switching everything and we were a little late on the switch. I think our defensive awareness has to get so much better.
“We also had some bad turnovers, especially in the first half (with 10 of their 12 turnovers in the game). … A lot of things to clean up.”
The loss occurred a week after the Ducks (5-5) lost at home to Arizona State 69-67 in overtime.
Will Richardson, who had 15 points against Stanford, was 5 of 13 from the field, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc, but his final attempt was off the mark and left enough time for the Cardinal to have one final possession for the game-winning shot.
Quincy Guerrier had 18 points and nine rebounds, while making 5 of 9 shots from the field, including both his 3-point attempts, and 6 of 8 free throws.
Portland (8-3) has won three of its last four games, including a 78-77 win at home Monday night against Cal Poly.
Kristian Sjolund, starting for the first time this season, scored a career-high 20 points in the victory.
Sjolund made 6 of 11 shots overall, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. He added four rebounds and did not commit a turnover in 32 minutes.
Tyler Robertson scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half and added seven assists. In the final two minutes, he made four free throws and assisted a Sjolund 3-pointer.
First-year coach Shantay Legans, who coached Eastern Washington to the NCAA tournament last season, is making Portland believe it can be a competitive team in the West Coast Conference.
“Why can’t this be a great program?” said Legans, who is 83-52 in his fifth year as a head coach. “The school is already good. There have been soccer programs with championships. Why can’t it be us this year?”
–Field Level Media
