Oregon Drops 12th Game in a Row To Cal, Ducks Fall 96-83

Jan 9, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks center Waverly Austin (20) and forward Ben Carter (32) react following a 96-83 loss against the California Golden Bears at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon, if they didn’t before, now has an official arch nemesis. Like Kryptonite is to Superman, the Cal Bears are to Oregon Basketball, or so it seems. Even with transfer Mike Moser, who beat Cal twice while at UNLV,  it was not enough to pick up a win on Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena. Similar to Colorado, who the Ducks lost to last week, they will not see the Bears again this season, at least in the regular season thanks to the Pac-12 schedule.

After starting the season 13-0 and beating Morgan State Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman was critical of his team not taking a step on the Defensive side of the ball. Looking back now after two losses it is easy to see where he was right. Rob Moseley from GoDucks.com brought up a key stat:

"After starting this season 13-0, and not allowing any one opponent to shoot better than .472, Oregon has lost back-to-back games in which Colorado shot .564 and Cal shot .525."

When you look at it that way it says it all. Although solving the problems on Defense won’t cure everything. You need to score points as well, which Oregon had issues with in the second half on Thursday night. The Ducks had four players in double figures against the Bears. Joseph Young led the way with 29 points, Mike Moser had 15, Senior Johnathan Loyd added 14 and Sophomore Damyean Dotson had 10.

"It’s at an all-time high. This loss makes that Stanford game a lot, lot, lot bigger.Mike Moser on Need for a Better Effort on Defense"

Oregon faces Stanford on Sunday afternoon(2pm, Fox Sports 1).