Oregon Pummeled by Washington State 94-74 in Regular Season Finale

The Cougars dropped a season-high 16 threes on the Ducks — the most Oregon has given up in a game in four years.

Author:
Joe Zochert
Publish date:
Mar 5, 2022 7:06 PM EST

Before the game, Will Richardson was a late scratch from the game with a head injury, according to Head Coach Dana Altman. Despite his scoring issues as of late, the Ducks missed his presence, but most importantly, his playmaking.

First Half

The Ducks started their first offensive possession with a shot clock violation after Mouhamed Gueye split a pair of free throws. De’Vion Harmon got the Ducks on the board the next time down with a layup to get the 2-1 lead.

Noah Williams got the Cougars on the board with back-to-back triples, and Michael Flowers and Efe Abogidi both hit jumpers to get them out to a quick 11-4 lead.

Jacob Young got the jumper then Eric Williams Jr. knocked down a three to make it 9-11. Franck Kepnang, in his third start of the season, slammed it home to get within 11-13.

The moment was short lived as Flowers knocked down his first three of the game, followed by another triple by his teammate Andrej Jakimovski to extend the lead to 21-13. Oregon struggled to defend the three as the Cougars started 4-7 from behind the arc.

Jakimovski continued the three-point trend as he hit two more threes for a quick nine points as WSU took a 27-17 lead.

N’Faly Dante and Rivaldo Soares then made four free throws along with a sweet floater by Young to cut the deficit to 23-27.

The Ducks and Cougars swapped buckets that involved a nasty alley-oop by Gueye that woke the Cougars up. Noah Williams hit another three — his third of the first half — stretching the lead to 36-27.

After a pair of Quincy Guerrier free throws, Young stripped Flowers of the ball as he was fouled in transition. He split the trip to get the game to 30-36. The Ducks began to look more aggressive as they were flying all over the place on the defensive end.

Flowers then knocked down another three. Abogidi continued the momentum with a reverse dunk and a pretty fadeaway jumper over Dante to make it 43-30 for four of his dozen first-half points.

The WSU forward wasn’t finished as he volleyball spiked Harmon's layup attempt with three seconds left in the first half. The Cougars thoroughly outplayed the Ducks to get a 46-32 lead.

The first half was a shooting gallery for the Cougars as they shot 9-19 (47.4%) from three. They shoot 33.8% from beyond the arc for the season.

Dante was disengaged throughout the first half. In eight minutes, the junior didn’t get a field goal and looked lost on both ends. He was targeted in pick and rolls along with looking passive on offense.

Quincy Guerrier

Mouhamed Gueye

Second Half

The Cougars continued the first-half script as Tyrell Roberts cashed two more threes to make it 52-35 after Harmon scored a layup high off the glass for Oregon.

Oregon started turning over the ball as Young dribbled it off his foot, Nathan Bittle was called for a moving screen and Guerrier traveled as WSU's lead ballooned to to 56-39. The Ducks had 14 total turnovers for the game.

Altman switched to a more aggressive full-court press to try to spark some sort of run. It didn’t matter as WSU’s TJ Bamba knocked down another three to extend it to a 61-39 game. The Cougars were getting everything they wanted on both ends of the floor.

It was over from there as the Ducks and Cougars were just exchanging buckets as the momentum of the game never shifted ever again. During this stretch, Young was the lone bright spot for the Ducks as he finished with 14 points in the half and 21 points for the game.

WSU’s senior Will Burghardt put the cherry on top as he hit a three on Senior Night for his first points of the season. The senior hit the Cougars' 16th three of the game — a season high.

The Ducks were thoroughly stomped as they were without Richardson to help initiate the offense. However, it was their perimeter defense that led to this collapse as Abogidi destroyed the Ducks, on the inside which didn’t help against the three-point barrage.

Abogidi finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes, and Williams led the Cougars in points (19) and assists (8). It was a well-rounded game for the home team as they had five players in double-figures for the game.

Outside of Young, there isn’t much for the Ducks to be happy about. Both Williams Jr. and Kepnang added 11 points each in this lopsided loss. The Ducks will need to lick their wounds and hope that they get Richardson back for the Pac-12 Tournament next week.

Oregon clinches the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will face the No. 12 seed Oregon State on Wednesday.