Oregon men's basketball breaks curse in Boulder with win against Colorado
Oregon’s curse in Boulder has been broken, but its successful start to 2022 continues.
The Ducks got defensive Thursday night as they smothered Colorado in a 66-51 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory at the CU Events Center.
It was their first win in 11 road games against the Buffaloes, with eight of those losses coming during coach Dana Altman’s first 11 seasons at Oregon.
“Every series is different and we’ve struggled against these guys,” Altman said. “I don’t get too high after a win and I don’t get too low after a loss. … I haven’t really thought that much about it. I think the biggest thing is the next game and we’ve got to move on.”
The victory was also the eighth in nine games for the Ducks (14-7, 7-3 Pac-12), who are stacking wins as they attempt to work their way back into NCAA Tournament contention.
“We’re on to the next one now,” said senior guard Jacob Young when asked about snapping the losing streak at Colorado. “That wasn’t really a big thing going into here. We just came down here trying to get the ‘W’ and now we’re on to the next one.”
Young had a game-high 21 points and was instrumental in giving the Ducks momentum heading into what was a game-sealing second-half performance for Oregon.
With his team trailing 34-29 with 2:24 left in the first half, Young scored the Ducks’ final seven points, including a 3-pointer as time ran out to put Oregon up 36-35 at the break.
That shot, a step-back jumper from the top of the key, led to the 10th lead change of the first half and the final one of the game.
“I just said we need to go into halftime leading, so I just tried to go for it all before the half ended,” said Young, who had 16 points in the first half and finished the game making 8-of-17 from the field.
Related: Oregon stuns No. 3 UCLA in OT as Dana Altman gets 700th career win
“I thought he really took good shots in the first half and a lot of them, we needed something to happen,” Altman said. “We were kind of stuck in the mud there. Our movement offensively wasn’t very good.”
Oregon’s only loss since mid-December came against Colorado last week when the Buffaloes overcame a 42-37 halftime deficit to win 82-78 at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Buffaloes had no such rally in them Thursday, as the Ducks held them to 16 points in the second half and closed the game on a 26-11 run over the final 16:45 after Colorado evened the score 40-40.
Of Oregon’s 30 second-half points, 19 came off turnovers as the Ducks’ swarmed the Buffaloes on defense, getting eight steals as Colorado turned the ball over 13 times.
For the game, Oregon had a season high 12 steals and scored 25 points off 20 turnovers by the Buffaloes. It was the most steals by the Ducks in a game since also getting 12 against Colorado on Feb. 13, 2020.
Previously: Oregon men's basketball sees win streak halted in home loss to Colorado
Oregon also outshot Colorado 42% to 39%, though the difference in the second half alone was 46%-24% as the Buffaloes made just six field goals after halftime.
“Defensively our energy in the second half was good,” Altman said. “Created those turnovers, which gave us a little pop.”
Point guard Will Richardson also finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go with five steals and three assists. Forward Quincy Guerrier had nine points and nine rebounds, and forward Eric Williams Jr. had nine points and seven rebounds.
Keeshawn Barthelemy had 16 points — all in the first half — to lead Colorado (13-9, 5-7), which was without coach Tad Boyle, who was away from the team after a positive COVID-19 test earlier in the week.
The Ducks came into the night 58th in the NET Rankings and a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. A win against the Buffaloes won’t be the win that secures the Ducks a postseason bid, but a loss could’ve been detrimental.
“Like coach said, we took a lot of punches at the beginning (of the season) but we can’t take any more,” Young said. “Every game we’re going into it 1,000% knowing that we have to win and we have to fight to win. That’s what we’re preaching to each other right now and we’re lifting each other up.“
Utah up next
Oregon has a 7-1 record since the calendar flipped to 2022, beginning with a 79-66 win against the Utes at Matthew Knight Arena on New Year's Day. It was a tone-setting victory for the Ducks, who trailed 35-29 at halftime before rallying for the rout.
The only success Utah (9-14, 2-11) has had since then came Thursday when it beat visiting Oregon State 84-59 in a battles between the worst teams in the conference. The Ducks, meanwhile, are tied with Washington (12-8, 7-3) for fourth place in the Pac-12, behind Arizona (18-2, 8-1), UCLA (16-3, 8-2) and Southern California (19-3, 9-3). For what it's worth, Oregon is 3-0 against those other four teams.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
Oregon at Utah
Projected Oregon (14-7, 7-3 Pac-12) starters
De'Vion Harmon, 6-2, Jr. (10.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg)
Will Richardson, 6-5, Sr. (14.8 ppg, 3.3 apg)
Jacob Young, 6-3, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
Quincy Guerrier, 6-8, Jr. (8.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
N'Faly Dante, 6-11, Jr. (8.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
Projected Utah (9-14, 2-11) starters
Marco Anthony, 6-5, Sr. (8.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Branden Carlson, 7-0, Jr. (13.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
Both Gach, 6-6, Sr. (10.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg)
Rollie Worster, 6-4, So. (7.6 ppg, 3.2 apg)
Riley Battin, 6-9, Sr. (5.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
Time: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City
TV/Radio: Fox Sports 1/KUJZ-FM (95.3)
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon men's basketball breaks curse in Boulder with win against Colorado
