Sports
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Defense betrays No. 21 Wildcats in 84-74 loss to Ducks
By Nick Prevenas, Green Valley News
TUCSON—Yesterday, the Arizona Wildcats learned that miracle comeback wins are the exception, not the rule.
With huge come-from-behind victories over Texas A&M and Illinois under their belts, the No. 21 Wildcats (10-4, 1-1 Pac-10) couldn’t replicate that magic during their 84-74 loss to the Oregon Ducks (10-4, 1-1) at McKale Center.
Arizona trailed by as many as 19 during the first half to the sharpshooting Ducks, but made things interesting by closing Oregon’s lead to five before faltering down the stretch.
Each time Arizona appeared poised to recapture the lead, Oregon would hit a clutch shot to keep the Wildcats at an arm’s length.
"We can’t continually get down by 20 and try to come back," said interim head coach Kevin O’Neill. "It takes a lot out of a team to make those comebacks, especially a team shorthanded like ours."
The Ducks had lost three of four coming into yesterday’s contest, with Thursday night’s 62-54 loss at Arizona State representing the squad’s worst offensive output of the season.
Oregon bounced back in a big way yesterday, shooting 55.9 percent from the floor, including 10-22 from three-point range, compared to only 5-21 for the Wildcats.
"This was the first time in a while where our team played really badly on defense," O’Neill said.
Playing their third game without leading scorer Jerryd Bayless, the Wildcats relied on Chase Budinger to carry most of the offensive load.
Budinger responded with 30 points on 12-22 shooting—two short of his career high.
After a media timeout four minutes into the game, O’Neill looked to Budinger to be more aggressive on the offensive end.
Budinger responded with a strong drive to the basket and a three pointer.
Going back to the second half of Arizona’s 76-63 win over Oregon State on Thursday night, O’Neill said the star sophomore has put together three halves of aggressive basketball.
However, Budinger’s effort was not enough to derail the high-flying Ducks.
Head coach Ernie Kent switched up his traditional starting lineup, bringing Tajuan Porter off the bench and looking to Malik Hairston to exploit mismatches.
Hairston responded by tying his career high with 29 points.
"I was able to get my first couple shots to fall, and was able to help my ball club on the offensive end," Hairston said.
Slashing guard Bryce Taylor added 15, with freshman point guard Kamyron Brown tallying 13 points and seven assists.
Versatile forward Maarty Leunen might be the closest thing Oregon has to an interior player, but the 6-foot-9 Leunen did most of his damage from the perimeter, adding 13 points and 11 rebounds while flustering Jordan Hill.
"I don’t guard too many guys on the perimeter," Hill said. "Maarty is one of the most fundamentally sound players I’ve guarded. I have to give credit where it’s due."
Hill picked up his second foul at the 12:11 mark, forcing O’Neill to sit him for the remainder of the first half, when Oregon jumped out to a 46-27 advantage.
A similar situation happened in the Dec. 29 game against Memphis, when Hill was forced to sit with early foul trouble, allowing the No. 2 Tigers to embark on an early game-clinching run.
O’Neill thought about bringing Hill back earlier, but ultimately decided that a third foul would prove to be much too costly.
Hill finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
In his third consecutive start in place of Bayless, Nic Wise submitted yet another strong game, scoring 16 points and dishing out seven assists in 40 minutes of action.
"Oregon spreads the floor really well, but we have to close out on their shooters better than we did," Wise said. "The Pac-10 is a tough league from top to bottom, and you have to play your best game every time out in order to have a shot at winning."
In an effort to spark the squad before halftime, O’Neill inserted seldom-used bench player David Bagga with 37 seconds remaining.
Bagga, who typically doesn’t see the floor until the closing seconds of a blowout win, was surprised to hear the coach call his name.
He responded by stripping the ball from Hairston, leading to a Wise lay-up just before the buzzer sounded.
"It wasn’t a genius move on my part, believe me," O’Neill said. "I just didn’t know who else to put in there."
However, the Bagga spark wasn’t enough to propel the Wildcats to victory.
O’Neill admitted after the game he wanted to go small to help compensate for Oregon’s quickness, but with Bayless out and Laval Lucas-Perry electing to transfer to Michigan, Arizona simply didn’t have enough guards on the roster to counter Oregon’s attack.
"It’s no secret that we’re not a particularly quick team," O’Neill said. "Without Jerryd, that hurts us even more."
The Wildcats hope Bayless’ sprained knee is healthy for Wednesday’s game at Arizona State.
The Sun Devils, who used to be the resident Pac-10 cellar-dwellers, have won 12 of their first 14 contests, including wins over both Oregon schools.
Tipoff in Tempe is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747
Game stats
ARIZONA (10-4)
Budinger 12-22 3-4 30, Hill 5-10 2-2 12, Brielmaier 1-2 0-2 2, McClellan 2-8 3-3 8, Wise 7-14 1-2 16, Bagga 0-0 0-0 0, Dillon 0-2 2-2 2, Onobun 2-2 0-0 4, Horne 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 11-15 74.
OREGON (10-4)
Leunen 5-6 2-4 13, Hairston 11-17 4-5 29, Taylor 6-10 0-0 15, Odia 1-2 0-0 3, Brown 5-9 2-2 13, Dorsainvil 1-3 0-1 2, Porter 4-12 0-0 9. Totals 33-59 8-12 84.
Halftime—Oregon 48-37. 3-Point Goals—Oregon 10-22 (Hairston 3-5, Taylor 3-6, Brown 1-2, Leunen 1-2, Odia 1-2, Porter 1-5), Arizona 5-21 (Budinger 3-10, McClellan 1-4, Wise 1-4, Horne 0-1, Dillon 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oregon 35 (Leunen 11), Arizona 28 (Budinger, Hill 7). Assists—Oregon 19 (Brown 7), Arizona 16 (Wise 7). Total Fouls—Oregon 15, Arizona 15. A—14,575.
With huge come-from-behind victories over Texas A&M and Illinois under their belts, the No. 21 Wildcats (10-4, 1-1 Pac-10) couldn’t replicate that magic during their 84-74 loss to the Oregon Ducks (10-4, 1-1) at McKale Center.
Arizona trailed by as many as 19 during the first half to the sharpshooting Ducks, but made things interesting by closing Oregon’s lead to five before faltering down the stretch.
Each time Arizona appeared poised to recapture the lead, Oregon would hit a clutch shot to keep the Wildcats at an arm’s length.
"We can’t continually get down by 20 and try to come back," said interim head coach Kevin O’Neill. "It takes a lot out of a team to make those comebacks, especially a team shorthanded like ours."
The Ducks had lost three of four coming into yesterday’s contest, with Thursday night’s 62-54 loss at Arizona State representing the squad’s worst offensive output of the season.
Oregon bounced back in a big way yesterday, shooting 55.9 percent from the floor, including 10-22 from three-point range, compared to only 5-21 for the Wildcats.
"This was the first time in a while where our team played really badly on defense," O’Neill said.
Playing their third game without leading scorer Jerryd Bayless, the Wildcats relied on Chase Budinger to carry most of the offensive load.
Budinger responded with 30 points on 12-22 shooting—two short of his career high.
After a media timeout four minutes into the game, O’Neill looked to Budinger to be more aggressive on the offensive end.
Budinger responded with a strong drive to the basket and a three pointer.
Going back to the second half of Arizona’s 76-63 win over Oregon State on Thursday night, O’Neill said the star sophomore has put together three halves of aggressive basketball.
However, Budinger’s effort was not enough to derail the high-flying Ducks.
Head coach Ernie Kent switched up his traditional starting lineup, bringing Tajuan Porter off the bench and looking to Malik Hairston to exploit mismatches.
Hairston responded by tying his career high with 29 points.
"I was able to get my first couple shots to fall, and was able to help my ball club on the offensive end," Hairston said.
Slashing guard Bryce Taylor added 15, with freshman point guard Kamyron Brown tallying 13 points and seven assists.
Versatile forward Maarty Leunen might be the closest thing Oregon has to an interior player, but the 6-foot-9 Leunen did most of his damage from the perimeter, adding 13 points and 11 rebounds while flustering Jordan Hill.
"I don’t guard too many guys on the perimeter," Hill said. "Maarty is one of the most fundamentally sound players I’ve guarded. I have to give credit where it’s due."
Hill picked up his second foul at the 12:11 mark, forcing O’Neill to sit him for the remainder of the first half, when Oregon jumped out to a 46-27 advantage.
A similar situation happened in the Dec. 29 game against Memphis, when Hill was forced to sit with early foul trouble, allowing the No. 2 Tigers to embark on an early game-clinching run.
O’Neill thought about bringing Hill back earlier, but ultimately decided that a third foul would prove to be much too costly.
Hill finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
In his third consecutive start in place of Bayless, Nic Wise submitted yet another strong game, scoring 16 points and dishing out seven assists in 40 minutes of action.
"Oregon spreads the floor really well, but we have to close out on their shooters better than we did," Wise said. "The Pac-10 is a tough league from top to bottom, and you have to play your best game every time out in order to have a shot at winning."
In an effort to spark the squad before halftime, O’Neill inserted seldom-used bench player David Bagga with 37 seconds remaining.
Bagga, who typically doesn’t see the floor until the closing seconds of a blowout win, was surprised to hear the coach call his name.
He responded by stripping the ball from Hairston, leading to a Wise lay-up just before the buzzer sounded.
"It wasn’t a genius move on my part, believe me," O’Neill said. "I just didn’t know who else to put in there."
However, the Bagga spark wasn’t enough to propel the Wildcats to victory.
O’Neill admitted after the game he wanted to go small to help compensate for Oregon’s quickness, but with Bayless out and Laval Lucas-Perry electing to transfer to Michigan, Arizona simply didn’t have enough guards on the roster to counter Oregon’s attack.
"It’s no secret that we’re not a particularly quick team," O’Neill said. "Without Jerryd, that hurts us even more."
The Wildcats hope Bayless’ sprained knee is healthy for Wednesday’s game at Arizona State.
The Sun Devils, who used to be the resident Pac-10 cellar-dwellers, have won 12 of their first 14 contests, including wins over both Oregon schools.
Tipoff in Tempe is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747
Game stats
ARIZONA (10-4)
Budinger 12-22 3-4 30, Hill 5-10 2-2 12, Brielmaier 1-2 0-2 2, McClellan 2-8 3-3 8, Wise 7-14 1-2 16, Bagga 0-0 0-0 0, Dillon 0-2 2-2 2, Onobun 2-2 0-0 4, Horne 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 11-15 74.
OREGON (10-4)
Leunen 5-6 2-4 13, Hairston 11-17 4-5 29, Taylor 6-10 0-0 15, Odia 1-2 0-0 3, Brown 5-9 2-2 13, Dorsainvil 1-3 0-1 2, Porter 4-12 0-0 9. Totals 33-59 8-12 84.
Halftime—Oregon 48-37. 3-Point Goals—Oregon 10-22 (Hairston 3-5, Taylor 3-6, Brown 1-2, Leunen 1-2, Odia 1-2, Porter 1-5), Arizona 5-21 (Budinger 3-10, McClellan 1-4, Wise 1-4, Horne 0-1, Dillon 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oregon 35 (Leunen 11), Arizona 28 (Budinger, Hill 7). Assists—Oregon 19 (Brown 7), Arizona 16 (Wise 7). Total Fouls—Oregon 15, Arizona 15. A—14,575.
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