Oregon basketball: Will Richardson has historic night as Ducks top Nevada
Oregon basketball is back to .500 on the season at 5-5 and showed some offensive fireworks in a 78-65 win over Nevada on Saturday night.
The storyline of the game was that of sixth-year player Will Richardson who is the most experienced player on the team. There were discussions before halftime of a triple-double given how Richardson was playing. At the final buzzer, Richardson did something that had not been done in twenty years. He became just the third Oregon basketball player to net a triple-double.
In the post-game press conference, he said the final few rebounds came from his teammates who kept saying they needed to get the ball to Will and they did it via tipping the ball to him, which is the epitome of teamwork and a selfless attitude that is what a Dana Altman team is all about.
The final line for Richardson was 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Richardson showed what he can do when he is fully healthy on Saturday night. He can be a big-time contributor. Another player who shared the spotlight was Quincy Guerrier who had one of his best games in an Oregon uniform.
Guerrier finished with 26 points hitting 7 of his 13 shots from the floor and landing 7 for 8 of his free throws. Overall, the Ducks hit better than 40 percent from the floor. Despite 11 turnovers, Oregon outrebounded Nevada 44 to 36 for the game thanks in part to N’Faly Dante. Dante had three blocks and a steal.
Following a rough start to the season with plenty of injuries, Oregon is now starting to get healthy. The reps in practice are starting to show some on-court chemistry. The Ducks have somewhat of a lighter schedule through the Christmas break and will remain home to face non-conference opponents.
Oregon welcomes UC Riverside on Wednesday, December 14th before hosting Portland on Saturday, December 17th, and closing out its non-conference schedule with Utah Valley on Tuesday, December 20th.
Want your voice heard? Join the Autzen Zoo team!