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Takeaways: Oregon Basketball Falls At Baylor

By Alex Weber

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Will Richardson #0 of the Oregon Ducks moves past defense from Tyus Battle #25 in the first half of the game during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Will Richardson #0 of the Oregon Ducks moves past defense from Tyus Battle #25 in the first half of the game during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Offensive struggles are only compounded as Oregon Basketball turns in another disheartening performance in a road loss against the Baylor Bears

Well, here we sit, 7-4 and coming off a night where the Ducks mustered merely 47 points, including just 16 in the first half. You know, generally speaking, it’s not a good sign when your favorite college basketball team has only 5 points with 5 minutes to go in the half. Fortunately, Pritchard drained couple Stephen Curry shots in the second half to make things interesting for a bit, but the game overall left a bitter taste in the hungry-for-good-basketball mouths of Oregon faithful.

Here are a few takeaways for the five-or-so of you who valiantly watched the entire game.

Pritchardson

Despite immense team-wide offensive struggles, the backcourt combo of Payton Pritchard and Will  Richardson came alive in the second stanza. I really like when Altman throws those two out there together. Pritchard is a lethal shooter and runs the team well, while Richardson is an underrated (I think) off-the-dribble scorer with a lot of room to grow. There may not be much splendor to be enjoyed from last night’s scoring performance, but Pritchard’s deep threes and Richardson’s driving were encouraging.

Defense was solid

If you’re going to fail Math class, you might as well get a B+ in Science. Friday night, Oregon turned in an F- on offense, but did well hindering the Bears’ scoring ability. Without Bol, Kenny Wooten re-assumed his position as the king of “Oh My Effing God!” blocks. The dude plays hard and erupts out of nowhere to paddle-smack opposing shot attempts constantly. He’s perhaps the only player I totally trust right now.

Aside from him, though, I thought the zone was sufficient in stopping the Bears. Let’s play more zone. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again: 20 year-olds are feeble-minded. They just are. A defense even as complex as a zone will counterbalance any offensive gameplan Coach X put in. College players have struggled since the dawn of basketball to beat a zone. That’s why Syracuse makes it to the Sweet 16 every year.

How Does Oregon Improve?

1.) Get Bol Bol back from injury.

2.) Play VJ over Louis King (for now)

3.) Get out of gates quicker in big games.

Oregon’s poor performances have one thing in common: crappy starts. Just think of losses to Houston, Iowa, and Baylor. All three involved Oregon being down double digits inside the first 10 minutes of the 1st half. In fact, in the three aforementioned contests (Houston, Iowa, and Baylor) Oregon has outscored the adversary in the second half. They can compete and beat these teams, but they have to stop digging such deep holes to surmount.

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