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Alex Analysis: Oregon Basketball Loses at Houston

By Alex Weber

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Abu Kigab #24 of the Oregon Ducks looks to pass despite defense from Nicholas Baer #51 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Connor McCaffery #30 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half of the game against Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Abu Kigab #24 of the Oregon Ducks looks to pass despite defense from Nicholas Baer #51 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Connor McCaffery #30 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half of the game against Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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For the second time in as many games, Oregon Basketball failed to beat an unranked team and now fall to 4-3 on the season. My thoughts:

Well, this is no fun. Writing about Oregon Basketball in the current climate that is. At 4-3 with losses to Iowa, Texas Southern, and Houston, this is not the ideal start to the season, obviously. Dana Altman’s job just got a whole lot tougher as his back is smothered against the wall and every Dana doubter in the continental United States is clamoring for answers, preferably on the court answers.  An easy 4 game stretch may provide some reason for optimism, but until we get into Pac-12 play, I don’t expect any pats on the back for the players or coaches. You can pencil me in as dubious of this team right now. Hopefully, the ship will be righted. Hopefully. But here are my takeaways.

Another Slow Start

In our two losses against power conference programs (Iowa & Houston), we’ve been down at halftime by a combined 30 points. That’s ABSURD! Last night was particularly egregious too. How does an Oregon squad stock full of 4 and 5-star talent muster just 18 points in the first half? How? I’m genuinely curious. We have BOL BOL, who is a 7-foot-2 pogo stick with a jump-shot! And defensively, Houston got what they wanted in the opening 20 minutes. It was like watching an exchange between a buffet server and the patron. Oregon’s defense played with about that much energy to start the game.

Oregon Defender: What can I serve you

Houston Player: (ponders the myriad of options) Ummm…I’ll have some of that open driving lane with a side of a dumb foul at the rim, please.

Oregon Defender: Why certainly!

Poor Shot Selection

The shot discipline has been putrid this season and it was again on Saturday. I know these guys are mostly pretty young but my goodness they take some wacky shots, and often early in the shot clock! The problem is that most of the players haven’t figured out their role on offense yet. Not just the youngsters either; I’m running out of hair to pull out from watching Kenny Wooten floaters. And Pritchard is more than a guy who just jacks threes. 10 in one game is far too many when you only make two. 0 assists for him as well. YUCK!

Great Comeback Effort in the Second Half

For as terrible as the opening stanza was, the Ducks clapped back in half number two. Despite the loss, I’ll take this away as a positive. On the road, down by 19 and coming off a loss to Texas Southern, most of you probably smashed your heads through your plasma TV’s (which is OK given the current TV market. Those things are cheap!) or turned them off, filing this away as another depression-inducing performance. However, they battled back behind gritty second-half performances from two FRESHMEN: Will Richardson and Bol Bol. The end was at least fun, and Oregon’s loss was under 10 points, which stupidly matters in this new NET system that replaced the RPI. We hadn’t seen a toughness like this from the 2019 Ducks yet and I’m glad we finally did.

By the way, did anyone else find it weird that the commentators claimed Houston needed to score 66 points to win when they were up 60-48 with like 2 minutes left? Just me? Fine then.

Will Richardson, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Play this man! He deserves it. 19 minutes per game, please, Dana, I’m begging you for more Will. He honestly might be my favorite player on the team next to Bol Bol. I probably screamed “Let’s go Will!” forty-five times during that comeback. I love this kid. A star in the making. 16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and admirable defense is a performance worthy of mimicking.