The effort got better in the second half and the Ducks started to find some flow and offensive rhythm. After trailing 44-29 at the half, they rallied to get within 60-59 when Dezdrick Lindsay made a pair of jumpers with 6:15 to play.
Dana Altman's old school, the Creighton Bluejays closed it out with a 16-7 run to win 76-66.
Playing without senior center Nate Bittle, who sat out the game with a sprained ankle, Oregon turned to 6-9 junior Sean Stewart, and he responded with a big game, leading the team with 18 points. The guards struggled however. Between them Takai Simpkins and Jackson Shelstad pushed up 25 shots and made just six, 1-9 from beyond the arc.
The two didn't made a 3-pointer until Shelstad pulled up from 28 feet with :56 seconds to play in the game. As a team, the Ducks were 1-15 from distance, seven percent. The team did cut turnovers down from 19 to nine, but there's a lack of ball movement or organization.
Ducks struggle for shooting touch and consistency in 3-loss visit to Vegas
Often possessions deteriorate to getting frustrated, one player going one-on-one with the others standing around. In the first half the team went through a stretch where they missed 13 shots in a row, allowing the Bluejays to pull away by 15 just before the break.
Cold shooting and scoring runs have been the Ducks' bugaboo. In two losses earlier in the week they suffered 18 turnovers each time.
Now 4-3, Dana Altman and the players have only a few days to figure it out. Big Ten play begins Tuesday with a game against USC at Matthew Knight Arena, 7 p.m. PT on FS1. The Trojans are 7-0, led by junior guard Ray Rice, who averages 20.3 points a game.