Oregon Ducks slide by USC Trojans

Garrett Sim led the way with 20 points off of 5 of 7 shooting, and the efficient senior continues to have a strong final season on the Oregon Ducks. All was not well, however, in this narrow 65-62 victory over the now 5-14 USC Trojans. This game was too close, given that the Trojans are one of the worst teams in the country and cannot score. They showed their tough defense, and it took a flurry of three-pointers for the Ducks to clamp down and maintain the lead to win the game. The Trojans were better than expected, but the Ducks were also disappointing in this game.

The Ducks completely outshot the Trojans with an effective field goal percentage of 52.3% compared to a total of 42.6% for USC. However, turnovers were the key in this game and made it a much closer game than it should have been. The Ducks committed 19 turnovers, while the Trojans were more careful and had a turnover rate of 12%- less than half of the Ducks 25.8%.

If anyone was to win the award for the most misleading points total of the night, then it would be USC’s Maurice Jones. The guard played a team-high 34 minutes and had the most points in the game with 22, but it took him 23 shots to do this. He hit just nine of his field goals and was a wasteful 2-8 from beyond the arc. Jones did add two steals, but that wasn’t enough to rectify an extremely inefficient night.

Speaking of efficiency, the Ducks were once again more efficient than their opponent; they averaged about one point per possession, while the Trojans averaged .89 per play. This should have been a 65-57 game given this information, but things hardly end up like they should. Another statistic to note is USC’s putrid 2-13 (15.4%) performance from beyond the arc. That’s right, the inefficient Jones hit their only two three’s of the game.

Both teams are now mirror opposites when it comes to records, as the Ducks are now 14-5 and rising in the Pac-12. Although they did not play as well as they should have in this game, a narrow win in a conference game isn’t devastating; and wins are wins when looking at a team’s record.

Olu Ashaolu’s efficiency has been suspect at times this season, but nobody could fault him for his performance yesterday. Ashaolu knocked down five of the six shots he took for 11 points in 20 minutes off the bench. When Ashaolu scores in the double-digits, the team is 5-1. He added five rebounds, and the rugged Tyrone Nared also corralled six boards in 26 minutes from the bench. The Oregon Ducks might want to make sure games like these aren’t quite so close, but, as the cliche goes, a win is a win. I’m sure they’ll take it in this bipolar conference.

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