Chris Duarte Breaks Down Dominant win Over Iowa
Oregon entered Monday's matchup against Iowa having gone 10 days without facing competition. After a brutal stretch of games to close out the regular season, some rest was definitely in order--but you can't slack in March.
Despite the long break, the team knew it was going to have to strike first to get the win. Duarte attributed part of that urgency to falling short of the Pac-12 tournament title in Las Vegas.
"We didn't play well in Las Vegas," he said. "We just tried to leave it all out there. We were the underdog, so we came out playing hard."
Dana Altman's squad knew it would need scoring from more than the usual stars like Duarte and Eugene Omoruyi. Duarte said the game plan revolved around how the Ducks would respond to prolific scorer Luka Garza.
"We knew Garza was gonna get his points," he said. "Our plan was to get stops and play defense--play hard and get on the boards. That's what we did."
The Dominican guard has made a name for himself as a premier scorer in the Pac-12, but he excelled at setting up other scorers Monday in Indianapolis.
"I'm just trusting my teammates and they're trusting me to make good plays for them. I know they're gonna get on me and they're gonna help, so I just find my teammates wide open and they did a good job at shooting the ball."
The win in the NCAA tournament means a bit more to players like Duarte who leads a group of veterans onward to face USC in the Sweet 16.
"It feels great for everybody--especially for guys that haven't been here like Eugene (Omoruyi), Eric (Williams Jr.), myself," Duarte said. "We are very excited about it and we hope we keep doing this and keep going, keep moving on."
Duarte hopes the momentum from his 23-point showing and the team's hot shooting continue in Oregon's next matchup against the USC Trojans Sunday.
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