Oregon basketball weekend recap: The highs and the lows of being a Duck

The Oregon men’s basketball team took a trip to Los Angeles to take on USC and UCLA for the second time each this season. Meanwhile, the women's team stayed in Eugene and hosted in-state rival Oregon State.

Oregon men’s basketball goes 1-and-1 in LA

On Thursday, the men faced off against Bronny James and USC. Despite the star power on the Trojans’ roster, the team has struggled to find wins throughout the season. The Ducks on the other hand stand amongst the best in the conference with just three losses to Pac-12 teams.

As USC and Oregon traded baskets during the game, the Ducks made an occasional stop on defense to eke out just a few more points than the Trojans.

Dropping a dominant 20 points by the end of regulation, the Ducks were led by freshman guard Jackson Shelstad. He also had 6 assists for his teammates.

Alongside Sheltstad, center N’Faly Dante seemed to be back to his best form as he contributed 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Oregon eventually pushed open the lead and defeated the Trojans 78-69. This was the Ducks’ second win over USC this season.

In the second game of the week, the Ducks wouldn’t fair as well. Traveling just a few zip codes over, Oregon struggled to keep up with the UCLA Bruins.

Oregon’s leading scorer on Saturday was Dante with just 16 points. Shelstad struggled to find his shot, earning only 10 points himself

Meanwhile, UCLA guard Dylan Andrews was on fire from the field. Andrews went 3-3 from beyond the arc and scored 21 points for the Bruins.

The Ducks would fall to UCLA 71-63. Currently, Oregon is 15-7 overall and 7-4 in conference play. Head coach Dana Altman and the team will host the Washington schools this coming week.

Oregon women’s basketball hosts in-state rival No. 18 Oregon State

In possibly the last-ever matchup between the in-state rivals, the Ducks were the underdogs when the Beavers came to town.

The Ducks started off hot, opening up a 7-2 lead in the first quarter. However, the top-25 ranked Beavers were quick to catch back up.

As stars Raegan Beers and Talia von Oelhoffen found their footing, Oregon State came back before the half ended. Heading into the locker room for halftime, the Beavers were leading the Ducks 30-25.

Head coach Kelly Graves must have had quite the pep talk during the 15-minute break because Oregon came out guns blazing.

Chance Gray, Phillipina Kyei, and Grace VanSlooten found their shots and easily answered any points that the Beavers put on the board. At the end of the third quarter, the Ducks were only trailing by 2 points as Oregon State led 41-39.

In the final 10 minutes of this historic Pac-12 rivalry, Oregon was able to tie the game back up a handful of times. However, the Ducks’ drive in the final quarter wasn’t enough to walk away with bragging rights.

Coming down to the final seconds, Oregon State defeated the Ducks 64-60. Oregon will travel to the mountain schools, Utah and Colorado, next weekend.

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