Oregon delivers season-best shooting performance to capture marquee road win over Washington State

The Oregon Ducks produced their best offensive showing of the season to add another gutsy road win to their resume on Saturday.

Oregon topped Washington State, 89-84, in Pullman to complete a road sweep of the Washington schools. The Ducks are now 12-3 on the season and 4-0 in Pac-12 play, despite the fact that they have been without starting big men N’Faly Dante and Nate Bittle for the majority of the season.

Brennan Rigsby poured in a season-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting including 4-of-5 from three-point range.

Jermaine Couisnard added 16 points, seven rebounds, and three steals. Kario Oquendo (15 points) and Jackson Shelstad (14 points) also produced big offensive nights.

Myles Rice led Washington State with 22 points and seven assists.

Coming into the weekend, Washington State was holding opponents to 29% three-point shooting this season — 55th best in the nation and best in the Pac-12. But the Ducks torched the Cougars and finished the evening 14-of-24 (58.3%) from downtown.

Oregon shot a season-high 32-for-55 (58.2%) from the field.

How it happened

The Ducks raced out to a quick 10-2 lead thanks in part to some early sharpshooting from Rigsby. The junior guard poured in eight points over the first seven minutes, including a pair of three-pointers.

At the 13:16 mark of the first half, though, Oregon’s lone healthy center, Mahamadou Diawara, picked up his second foul and headed to the bench.

As has often been the case this year, the Ducks were forced to proceed with a heavy dose of four-guard lineups while Kwame Evans Jr. served as the de facto center.

The Cougars used their length and athleticism to disrupt Oregon’s for the remainder of the half. Rice and Jalen Wells reached stepped into the lane for steals, and Washington State chipped away at the Ducks’ lead.

The Cougars cut the Oregon lead to 24-20 with 9:34 to go in the half. But Shelstad immediately answered back with a baseline, stepback jumper to make it a six-point game.

From there, the game turned into a shootout.

The Ducks and Cougars seemingly traded buckets on every possession. Oregon shot 18-for-26 (69%) in the first half, including 7-of-11 (63%) from three-point range.

Washington State, meanwhile, shot 13-of-25 (52%) from the field.

The Ducks took a 46-41 lead into the break, despite committing some sloppy turnovers and fouls late in the half.

Once the second half began, Oregon showed no signs of slowing down.

Rigsby buried a pull-up jumper on the Ducks’ first possession of the half. Then, Couisnard grabbed a steal and found Rigsby for a three-pointer at the other end.

Washington State answered back with an Andrej Jakimovski three-pointer, but then Shelstad immediately responded with another three at the other end to push Oregon’s lead to 54-44.

For the next eight minutes, or so, the Ducks managed to keep the Cougars at arms length. But Washington State recaptured some momentum when, with 10:06 to go, Wells buried a three-pointer to cut the Oregon lead to 69-63.

But the Ducks pushed their lead back to eight after Keeshawn Barthelemy knifed his way to the basket, drew a foul, and then knocked down the two ensuing free throws.

But Washington State refused to go away quietly. The Cougars continued to chip away at the Oregon lead and used a late 9-3 run to time the Ducks’ lead to 84-82 with 1:12 remaining.

But Jadrian Tracey put the game on ice with a deep three-pointer at the end of the shot clock to push Oregon’s lead back to five points with 40 seconds to go. From there, the Ducks did enough at the free throw line to close out the game.

Up Next

Oregon will host Cal (4-10, 0-3 Pac-12) on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. PT at Matthew Knight Arena.