Oregon Falls Just Short in 84-81 Nail-Biter Against No. 3 Arizona

The Ducks have now lost three of their last four as Dana Altman’s seven-game win streak against Arizona is snapped.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Feb 20, 2022 12:56 AM EST

First Half

The offenses exploded at the beginning of this highly-anticipated Pac-12 matchup. 29 points and six three-pointers were scored in just the first four minutes.

Bennedict Mathurin hit two triples, but Quincy Guerrier one-upped him by making a trio of threes in the opening minutes. Guerrier’s hot start led the Ducks to a 15-14 lead at the first media timeout.

Oregon stayed true to its “Simple Plays” warmup shirts early on. The Ducks looked for the easy shot and found success on layups from Jacob Young and Will Richardson.

The Ducks ran out to a 9-0 run after an Arizona timeout. Eric Williams Jr. cashed a three-ball in between two pull-up jumpers from De’Vion Harmon, and the Ducks had silenced the raucous McKale Center fans to the tune of a 32-20 lead with 9:30 left in the first.

But it wasn’t long until the Wildcat crowd was roaring. Arizona immediately responded with a 10-0 run of its own. Kerr Kriisa got the fans out of their seats with a deep three, then Azuolas Tubelis finished two layups to cut the Ducks' lead to two.

Mathurin and Richardson traded threes, then Dalen Terry threw down the alley-oop to tie the game up at 37 and force an Oregon timeout.

Oregon used two thunderous dunks from Williams and N’Faly Dante to grab a slim lead, but Arizona stayed close behind thanks to an incredible field goal percentage of 71% in the half.

Despite Arizona’s elite shooting, Oregon led 47-45 at the half. The two stars led the way for their squads in the first – Richardson had 16 points to Mathurin’s 11.

Quincy Guerrier

Kerr Kriisa

Second Half

Dante got Oregon off to a strong start. He grabbed an offensive board and put it in with the foul, flexing with the Ducks bench after.

The Wildcats were once again quick with their response. Terry and Mathurin scored back-to-back threes from the wing, and Christian Koloko's jumper gave Arizona the 55-54 lead on a 10-2 run.

In a moment where Arizona had all the momentum, Oregon settled into the game with strong defense. But two very questionable offensive fouls on the Ducks enraged every coach and player on the Oregon side.

Guerrier turned that rage into energy. He added two more three-pointers to his statline to tie the game at 66 with 10 minutes left.

The excitement came to a halt as Richardson got hit in the head fighting over a loose ball. Without the star senior on the court, Oregon’s offense looked clueless and Arizona was able to take the 72-70 lead.

In Oregon’s time of need, Dante stepped up. He grabbed another putback, then showed nice touch on a jumper just inside the three-point line to put the Ducks up 76-72.

Mathurin converted a layup for his fourth straight 20-point performance and to help Arizona tie the game at 76 with just over two minutes left.

Kriisa hit the shot of the night, pulling up from Damian Lillard range to make it 79-76 Arizona. Young picked Kriisa’s pocket on the next play and layed it in off the glass to cut the lead to one with 42.9 seconds left.

After Arizona knocked down clutch free throws to extend the lead to 83-78, Guerrier hit a deep three to give the Ducks some hope. Guerrier hit a career-high six triples — three more than he had ever made in a game in his career.

Koloko defense on the Ducks' guards made the difference, including on the final possession where he prevented Richardson from stepping back for a game-tying three-pointer and forced a turnover to seal the 84-81 win.

Mathurin continued his Naismith Award campaign with 24 points, while Oregon got 20+ point performances from both Richardson and Guerrier.

Oregon falls to 17-10 with the sweep in the desert. The Ducks return home on Thursday looking for the sweep against No. 13 UCLA.