Oregon men’s basketball defeats Troy to keep its undefeated start intact

Oregon coach Dana Altman was looking for a much better effort than what his team gave this past Tuesday when it needed overtime to defeat Portland.

He got it on Sunday afternoon, as the Ducks improved to 4-0 with an 82-61 nonconference men’s basketball win against Troy in front of an announced crowd of 5,394 inside Matthew Knight Arena.

Five days after having to rally from a double-digit deficit late in the second half against the Pilots, Oregon never trailed against the Trojans and shot nearly 52% from the field while also keeping Troy in check from 3-point range (3 of 25).

“We did play a lot harder,” Altman said. “We got after it better than we did Tuesday night. “

Oregon’s Supreme Cook dunks the ball against Troy during the first half at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

Five players scored in double figures for the Ducks. Keeshawn Barthelemy led the way with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range and 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. Barthelemy scored 13 in the first half to help Oregon build a 38-23 lead at the break.

TJ Bamba had 13 points and Nate Bittle had 12 points and eight rebounds. Point guard Jackson Shelstad didn’t score, but he had six assists and six rebounds.

“For us it was just a mentality thing,” Bamba said. “The way we were thinking coming into the (Portland) game, I felt like we played down to our opponent and we wasn’t playing hard enough. The following days we just took it serious in practice, fine-tuned some things and just worked on playing harder.”

Supreme Cook debuts for Ducks

The transfer from Georgetown finally got on the court for Oregon and was impressive in his 13 minutes of action, as the 6-foot-9, 230-pound fifth-year forward had 11 points and five rebounds. He was 4 for 5 from the field and 3 for 3 from the free-throw line.

Cook missed the first three games as he was still recovering from an offseason knee procedure.

“Everything,” said Altman when asked what he liked about Cook’s debut. “Supreme did his job. He knows…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-mens-basketball-defeats-troy-012015035.html

Author : The Register-Guard

Publish date : 2024-11-18 01:20:00

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