Oregon starts fast, fades late in loss to Colorado

As has been the case all too often over the past several months, the Oregon Ducks started strong but sputtered down the stretch in a pivotal game on Thursday.

Oregon fell to Colorado, 79-75, at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. Despite looking down and out during the final minutes of regulation, the Ducks had an opportunity to tie the game and force overtime on their final possession of the night.

But a deep, contested three from Jermaine Couisnard with five seconds left in regulation fell short, sealing the win for the Buffs.

“We made so many defensive mistakes for — what is today, March 10th? Whatever the hell it is,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “Just, gave them baskets. We had seven turnovers and they had 13 points on them. Just layups. … Just made a lot of defensive mistakes. Espeically in the second half.”

With the loss, Oregon fell to 19-12 on the year and 11-8 in Pac-12 play.

Jackson Shelstad led UO with 23 points and six assists on 10-of-15 shooting. N’Faly Dante scored 20 points on 10-of-10 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Couisnard, who dealt with illness during the week and was limited during practice, scored 17 points, including 14 in the second half.

But Colorado dominated Oregon on the boards. The Buffs out-rebounded the Ducks 36-24 on the night.

“If you shoot 50% — I know we missed some threes, we only shot 33% from three — but you shot 53% at home and you score 75 points, you oughta win the game,” Altman said. “If you get beat by 12 on the boards. … in a one possession, two possession game, every one counts.”

Even with standout freshman Cody Williams, a projected lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, sidelined, Colorado flashed plenty of offensive firepower. Tristan da Silva led the Buffs with 22 points, J’Vonne Hadley scored 20, and KJ Simpson added 17.

Oregon got off to a strong start and raced out to an 11-2 lead behind some strong play from Shelstad. The freshman point guard was aggressive from the get-go and was effective as both a playmaker and a scorer.

Throughout the first eight minutes of the game, Shelstad racked up nine points and three assists. But as the half went on, the Ducks’ lead began to evaporate.

Colorado used a 15-4 run midway through the half to cut Oregon’s advantage to 22-21 with 9:18 to go.

From there, the two teams traded jabs, but neither could create much separation. With 56 seconds left before the break, Shelstad buried a three-pointer to give Oregon a 37-35 lead.

But Simpson answered with a pull-up jumper to knot the game at 37-37 at halftime.

Throughout the first half, Dante and Shelstad combined for 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting. The rest of Oregon’s players scored 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting during that same stretch.

“(Shelstad) got a couple shots down early and got it going,” Altman said. “Got a couple shots down early (at Arizona on March 2) but. … Any shooter, if you get a couple down early, it always helps. i thought he did a really good job there being aggressive when he knew the shots were going. He got a few good looks.”

The Ducks managed to keep pace with the Buffs early in the second half. But as the game wore on, Oregon’s short bench became a factor.

Shelstad and Dante kept the Ducks in the game, though. With 6:39 to go, the latter found the former for a baseline layup to knot the game at 61-61.

Two minutes later da Silva exploited a defensive lapse from the Ducks to give the Buffs a 64-61 lead. On Oregon’s ensuing possession, Dante made a poor pass that Simpson picked off and converted into a transition dunk.

Altman opted for a timeout after that, but it didn’t provide any sort of spark. Shelstad launched a three early in the shot clock that was off the mark, and the Buffs responded with two layups in the span of 30 seconds to push their advantage to 70-61.

Couisnard provided the Ducks some hope when he converted a tough layup and then stole the ensuing inbounds pass from Colorado and buried a fadeaway three. That sequence cut the Colorado lead to 70-66 and brought the home crowd to life.

Eddie Lampkins and Dante traded buckets after that, and Dante put back another layup two possessions later to cut Colorado’s lead to 74-72 with 41 seconds left.

Simpson hit a pair of free throws at the other end to make it a two-possession game, but Couisnard refused to go away quietly. The senior guard quickly buried a three to cut Colorado’s lead to one.

After that, Dante delivered what, at first galnce, looked like a game-defining moment. With the shot clock winding down, da Silva drove to the hoop for an open layup. Dante came soaring in from the weak side and blocked the attempt and the ball appeared to have deflected off a Colorado player.

After a video review, though, officials ruled that an Oregon player had last touched the ball, and the Buffs retained possession. Javon Ruffin hit a quick layup on the inbounds pass to make it a three-point game, opening the door for the Ducks to tie the game on their final possession.

But, with five seconds to go, Couisnard was forced to heave a deep, contested three-pointer that fell well short.

Oregon will close out the regular season against Utah on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Eugene.

“We’ve just gotta win the game first,” Dante said. “Everything else will come after that. … We’ve just got to win Saturday and then think about after.”