Oregon’s east coast trip ended on a sour note with a sloppy loss to a Rutgers team that had been tied for last place in the conference. The Ducks out-shot the Scarlet Knights 45% to 43% (41% to 33% from
beyond the arc), won the rebound battle 43-32, and had an advantage of 21-8 in 2nd chance points. It still wasn’t enough. Rutgers rallied from an 8 point deficit at halftime to take the lead before a late surge by Oregon forced overtime. The Scarlet Knights got hot and took the game 88-85 to escape the Big Ten basement and send the Ducks into an existential crisis.
Oregon took an early 13-10 lead on a 3-pointer from Lin and held it until 9:18 left in the first when Rutgers came back to tie. The Scarlet Knights had a two point lead briefly but Oregon went on a run of their own and retook the lead off another bucket from Lin. The Ducks never trailed for the remainder of the first half, leading by as much as 9 and going to the locker room with a 45-37 advantage.
The Ducks were hot from the floor (over 50%, even from 3-point range), but problems were already starting to show. Early on it was clear that this officiating crew was not shy about blowing the whistle, and a number of Oregon’s starters were already in foul trouble. Worse, Rutgers already had an advantage in points off of turnovers, a trend that would only be exacerbated in the second half.
Rutgers began whittling away at Oregon’s lead, thanks in large part due to free throws. The Scarlet Knights consistently drove to the iron and the Duck’s defense got them to the line, Rutgers went 17-19 from the charity stripe in the second half while Oregon only went 2-2. By 3:11 remaining the Scarlet Knights were up by 6, but 4 field goals by Lin (three from 3-point range) tied the game in regulation and sent the teams to overtime.
Rutgers heated up again in overtime, but the Ducks were spent. For the first time in the game Oregon had more opportunities for free throws than their opposition, but only went 2-5 in the extra period. The missed opportunities at the line were the precise margin of defeat. Sloppy play doomed the Ducks, losing the turnover battle 7-17. Perhaps most telling of all Rutgers got 58 points (more than half!) from their bench, while Oregon had a mere 10. When the stars hit a cold spell, there was no answer on the floor for the Ducks.
The Ducks will return to Matthew Knight Arena to take on Ohio State on Thursday at 7:30PM. The game can be seen on BTN.
