Oregon beats Washington State 78-69
E.J. Singler led the way with 23 points and tough, no-nonsense defense, as the Oregon Ducks completed their season sweep of the Washington State Cougars with a 78-69 victory in Eugene. The Ducks did not suffer from “winners hangover” after a huge blowout victory over the Washington Huskies on Thursday, and the Ducks have dominated both Washington teams. The game wasn’t always a comfortable one for Oregon, because there were 9 lead-changes and 13 ties in the game. It took some clutch three’s in order to re-gain the lead. The Ducks clamped down on defense at the end of the game and cruised in the final minutes to a 78-69 victory.
The Cougars shot exactly 50% from the field in last night’s game, and Brock Motum was easily the most important player for Wazzu. Their star who holds a 24.1 PER this season notched a team-high 17 points on 6-12 shooting. Motum also added five assists and rebounds apiece.
Coming off the bench, Mike Ladd put forth a key 13-point performance in 25 minutes (6-8 from the field) for the Cougars. D.J. Shelton was the only other bench player to receive significant minutes, and he went 3-4 on the same amount of minutes and also had six rebounds and two blocks.
Star guards Devoe Joseph and Garrett Sim both had 16 points on 11 shots, and Sim actually went 4-7 from three-point range. Both guards showed why they are two of the better players in the conference and averaged a combined 1.19 points per play. Joseph had four assists and Sim had three, but neither of them could match Singler’s all-world performance last night.
Those 23 points from Singler came off of a fantastic 8-12 shooting performance, and he also managed to knock down 3 out of his 4 three-point attempts. His six rebounds and three assists only make his night look even better, and, combined with only one turnover and great defense, Singler had one of the best games for a Duck this season (+27 EFF).
Carlos Emory put up double-digit points off of the bench again, as he put 12 points on the scoreboard for the Oregon Ducks in 26 minutes of play. Emory has been on a hot streak recently, but he did cool down last night as far as shooting goes (3-7). Still, he is an important piece off of the bench, and he is best suited for this crucial bench role. He shouldn’t be starting, solely because they need his quality production off of the bench. Emory added eight rebounds in a +16 EFF night.
As usual, the Oregon Ducks were brutally efficient and had a 55.3/55.0/83.3 shooting performance against Washington State on a night when both teams were hitting shots. The Ducks basically knocked down everything and averaged 1.33 (!) points per possession, while the Cougars also found success and averaged 1.20 points per play themselves.
The better team certainly won in this affair, and the Oregon Ducks are now a steady 9-4 in conference play. Dana Altman is the man in Eugene, and the Ducks are ready for anything in this conference. Meanwhile, the Cougars can be content with the fact that they managed to play well on offense on the road, and Brock Motum is the man in Pullman right now. Regardless, the Ducks were beautiful offensively, but their perimeter defense could stand to improve. Another good win for the Ducks and more fire in their loins, as they gear up for a Pac-12 tournament run.
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