The game opened up with Oregon taking a quick 5-2
lead. Kansas then made two straight hoops and took
the lead 6-5. When Luke Jackson sank a three-pointer
moments later, Oregon regained the lead and Kansas
would never see it again.
Oregon wound up taking a 10-point lead at times in the
first half, but lost it by halftime, when Kansas cut
it to a 47-43 game. Halftime couldn't have come at a
better moment for the Ducks, as they seemed to be
struggling in the final minutes of the first half.
The second half started with an 8-3 Oregon run that
gave the Ducks a 55-46 lead. It went back and forth
from then on out. Kansas never took the lead, but
anytime the Ducks would make a run, Kansas would come
right back and narrow the deficit. Many times Oregon
would look a tad sluggish in their offense after a
small run and would allow Kansas right back into the
game.
"Those times when they came back on us were when we
got out of our own game plan," Oregon Coach Ernie Kent
told OSN after the game.
After Oregon forward Jay Anderson made a jumper with
4:45 to go, Kansas scored five straight points to tie
the game at 74 with 4:00 to go. Oregon came right
back however, and after a Luke Ridnour missed jumper,
Luke Jackson grabbed the rebound and went right back
up to give Oregon the lead again. Jackson was fouled
on the play by Wayne Simien, giving him a chance to
put the Ducks up three with a free throw, but he
missed the shot, giving Kansas the ball back with 3:00
to go and being down only two.
Kansas' Michael Lee made the front end of a one and
one but missed the second shot, so Oregon still held
the lead. Luke Jackson made two free throws and then
stole a Kansas pass and fed the ball ahead to Luke
Ridnour who gave Oregon an 80-75 lead with 2:25 to go.
Keith Langford then made the first of two free throws
with 1:53 left putting Kansas down four and giving the
Jayhawks the feeling that they were right with Oregon
in this ballgame. Luke Ridnour put all Oregon doubt
away, however, when he came down the left side of the
floor and drilled a clutch three pointer to put the
Ducks up seven with 1:17 left. In the final minute,
Oregon didn't look back until the clock had four
zeroes on it and the Ducks were victorious 84-78.
Oregon's bench was one of their keys in this game.
Starters would get tired or in foul trouble and the
bench would come on and do a very solid job. Jay
Anderson in particular hit some very key shots off the
bench and scored seven points.
"I can't say enough about Jay Anderson, Andre Joseph
and Ian Crosswhite and the jobs they did today," Kent
said.
Leading the scoring for the Jayhawks was Kirk Hinrich
who had 24 points in 39 minutes. Keith Landford,
Michael Lee, and Wayne Simien also finished in double
figures with 21, 11 and 10 points respectively.
Another key for the Ducks today was stopping Nick
Collison. Collison finished with only seven points in
24 minutes. The Ducks got him in foul trouble early,
and even when he was in the game, Brian Helquist,
Robert Johnson, Jay Anderson and Ian Crosswhite did a
great job defending him.
Portland's own Aaron Miles was also fairly ineffective
today, scoring only four points in 36 minutes on 1-11
shooting.
Co-players of the game Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour
lead all scorers with 26 and 25 points each. Jackson
was also 2-3 from three point land and grabbed nine
boards. Ridnour also added nine points and seven
rebounds. Robert Johnson was the only other Duck
player in double figures with 12 points. Johnson
chalked up his second double-double of the year, also
grabbing 10 rebounds.
The Ducks also tied Kansas on the boards today with
each team grabbing 40 rebounds. Ernie Kent was happy
about his team's effort rebounding.
"We knew it would be a physical game in the pain and I
am so proud of our boxing out and rebounding," Kent
said.
Not only was today a big win for this year's Oregon
Ducks basketball team, but it was also Ernie Kent's
99th career victory.
The Oregon Ducks will next face the Pepperdine Waves
in their first road game of the year. Oregon will
play in Malibu, California on Saturday, December 14 at
7:30pm. The game will be broadcast on OSN.