Instant Recap: Oregon knocks off #20 Texas A&M 80-70

The Ducks had their first real test of the season against the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday Evening. Coming into the matchup, Oregon was unranked at 5-0 and Texas A&M was 4-1 ranked 20th in the nation. Prior to the game the Aggies were 19th in Kenpom rankings, while the Ducks were 34th. The Aggies only loss on the season coming into this matchup was a Quad 1 loss to UCF on the road. They have a Quad 2 win over a ranked Ohio State, and three Quad 4 wins thus far.

Oregon is again without Dezdrick Lindsay (Shoulder), Oleksandr Kobzystyi (Eligibility), and walk-on Andre Warren.

First Half:

Oregon starting Shelstad, Bamba, Tracey, Angel, and Bittle. Z. Phelps, W. Taylor, S. Washington, A. Garcia, Payne for the Aggies.

Oregon finally got on the board with a layup from Brandon Angel with 16:05 remaining in the half. Oregon trails 2-8 with 15:26 to play at the first media timeout.

A&M already has 5 offensive rebounds, and 8 overall compared to the Ducks 4 rebounds. This just feels like a very glaring game where you miss N’Faly Dante. Supreme Cook will likely see more minutes in this one because he is a physical rebounder.

Texas A&M forward Solomon Washington is down on the court, looks like he took an elbow from his teammate. Timeout with 12:53 left in the half, the Ducks still trail 5-8.

After a Kwame Evans Jr block, we reach a media timeout with the Ducks trailing 7-11. 11:58 left in the first half. Solomon Washington being out is big for Oregon, he’s a fantastic defender and crashes the boards hard. Hope he is okay however, that didn’t look great.

Consecutive 3s from Jadrian Tracey ties the game at 13 but he picks up his second foul with 9:25 left in the half. He heads to the bench and the Aggies immediately knock down a three of their own. Brandon Angel able to get to the line and makes both free throws. Ducks trail 15-16 with 9:00 left in the half.

Oregon trailing A&M 26-30 with 3:53 left in the first, some good stretches for Oregon and some ugly offensive possessions. On the possession, Supreme Cook air-balled a hook shot and then Jamari Phillips was swarmed and forced into a shot clock violation.

Ducks trail the Aggies 29-32 at the half, and I think Oregon has to be happy with where they are sitting. The Ducks haven’t held a lead in this game and a big part of that is that A&M is holding them to 31% from the field and 22% from deep. Both teams have 9 offensive rebounds, and for Oregon Supreme Cook is a big part of that.

Both Jamari Phillips and Jadrian Tracey have 2 fouls. Tracey has 6 points in 7 minutes played right now so him being on the bench has really hurt the Ducks offense. Despite Bamba’s shooting percentage (20%), he might be the best player so far. He has recorded 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and a block through a half in Vegas. Another really rough game for Jackson Shelstad, shooting 2/8 from the field and 1/6 from deep. Interestingly he was held without an assist in the first half, and only had 1 rebound.

Second Half:

Ducks tied 36 a piece with the Aggies, 16:15 remaining in this contest.

Refshow is starting to takeover now in the second half. Duck can’t lay a hand on an A&M player without them flopping and getting a call. Ducks just got called for a foul on that Jace Carter putback and nobody even touched him. Closest player was Supreme Cook but the replay clearly shows he didn’t lay a hand on Carter.

Supreme Cook picks up a technical with 13:51 left in the half, Aggies falling all over the floor. Cook now has 4 fouls thanks to a personal foul on the same possession. Ducks trail 38-44, they need to hit a 3-pointer desperately.

Ducks finally call a timeout, everything has gone cold offensively outside of Brandon Angel. Ducks are down by 10 thanks to a lack of defensive effort as well. Leaving wide open shots from deep isn’t going to help you back into the game. Oregon is now shooting 37.5% from the field, and 27.3% from deep. Texas A&M has been called for one less foul and has 4 more offensive rebounds than the Ducks.

Oregon trails 48-56 with 9:53 remaining in the half. Jace Carter gets a delay of game call after headbutting the ball following a layup. Might not matter in the grand scheme of things, but a peculiar foul nonetheless.

The Ducks go on a major run in a very short amount of time, turning the Aggies over several times. Ducks are down 2 points with Tracey at the line for an and-one. After Tracey’s successful and-one, the Ducks have 9 unanswered points and A&M calls a timeout. 57-58 Aggies lead with 8:05 left in the game. Ducks have made their last 9 field goals and are shooting 69% from the field in the 2nd half.

14-0 run active for the Ducks over the last 2:25 and they now lead 62-58 with 6:41 to go in the game. Timeout for the Aggies, Buzz Williams absolutely disgusted with his team’s performance. The run ends at 16-0, before Shelstad gets called for an incredibly weak call sending Wade Taylor to the line. He makes them both, making it a 64-60 Oregon lead. A bad foul by Jadrian Tracey leads to 2 more easy points for the Aggies. Now 64-62 with 5:56 to go.

Oregon allows Texas A&M to go on a run and find themselves down 69-69 with 3:55 to play.

With 1:00 to go the Ducks led 71-70 before Jackson Shelstad hit an incredibly difficult floater on one end. The other end, Brandon Angel gets a steal and the Ducks lead 73-70 with Angel at the line. Angel makes both free throw attempts and Oregon leads 75-70 with 34.9 seconds to play. Texas A&M calls a timeout immediately after the free throws.

A miss from Andersson Garcia leads to a Shelstad rebound. He is fouled and makes both free throws, Ducks lead 77-70. Another miss from Texas A&M and a rebound leads TJ Bamba to be at the line. Bamba gets four free throws and knocks down 3 of the 4.

Ducks win 80-70 over No. 20 Texas A&M in a brawl of a game.

Wow what a game, this team showed incredible grit and determination down the stretch. Oregon shot 45.5% (25/55) from the field, 28% (7/25) from deep, and 74.2% (23/31) from the FT line. The Ducks did a fantastic job of limiting their turnovers, only having 9 in this contest. They were also able to get 10 steals in this one, to go along with 7 blocks. Absolutely fantastic effort for about 75% of the game from this team, and I expect them to get even better.

My top performers of the night were Brandon Angel, Jackson Shelstad, and TJ Bamba. While Bamba did shoot 4/12 from the field, he made up for it with 4 steals and 2 blocks. Shelstad had a big second half, scoring 11 of his 16 in the final twenty minutes of gametime. Brandon Angel shot 5/6 in this one and still finished with 16 points, I wish he shot even more. The Ducks will be back in action tomorrow against the San Diego State Aztecs, who just trounced Creighton.