Ducks Blow Past USC In Second Half For 82-61 Home Victory
750 The Game Staff
Oregon men’s basketball once again seems to be peaking at the right time as the calendar flips to March.
The Ducks used a second-half sprint on Saturday to take down USC 82-61 at Matthew Knight Arena. It is Oregon’s fifth straight win and improves their overall record to 21-8 and 10-8 in Big Ten Conference play with two conference games to go in the regular season.
The Ducks remain outside the AP Top-25 despite the win streak, though they are receiving 37 votes, behind VCU (85) and Vanderbilt (85).
Keeshawn Barthelemy led Oregon with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 4-6 from three. Jackson Shelstad had 19 points including 3-6 from downtown. Nate Bittle had 15 points and 7 rebounds while blocking five shots.
The Ducks outscored the Trojans 43-27 in the second half.
Oregon returns to action Tuesday night hosting Indiana (6:00 p.m., FS1). The regular season concludes Sunday when the Ducks visit Washington followed by the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis the following week.
More from Oregon Athletics media release:
Euphoric Crowd Celebrates Fifth Straight Win
By Rob Moseley
EUGENE, Ore. – The ghosts of McArthur Court migrated across campus Saturday. They can go ahead and take up residence in Matthew Knight Arena with Senior Day coming up next week.
The Oregon men’s basketball team won its fifth straight game Saturday, and brought the house down in the process. The Ducks beat USC, 82-61, stretching the lead to 20 for the first time on a Keeshawn Barthelemy three with 4:20 left in the game that sparked an eruption from the home crowd of 10,257.
“That’s as loud as I’ve heard it all season in here,” UO sophomore Jackson Shelstad said. “Kee started that. Everybody was making shots, making big plays and the crowd was just behind us today.”
The Ducks (21-8, 10-8) opened March by strengthening their case for a first-round bye in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, and solidifying their projection as an NCAA Tournament team. They have one more chance to burnish their résumé at home, when they host Indiana on Tuesday.
Oregon came into the day leading the country in wins during the month of March since Dana Altman took over as head coach in 2010-11, with 72. They pushed it to 73 on Saturday, and will look to add another against the Hoosiers on Tuesday.
“We’ve just gotta come out ready to play Tuesday for Senior Night,” said Barthelemy, who led the Ducks with 20 points Saturday, one more than Shelstad. “One of those nights we’ve just gotta put it all out there.”
How It Happened: The matinee began inauspiciously for the home team, with USC scoring on six straight possessions in the opening minutes. That gave the Trojans a 15-4 lead, and prompted a timeout from Altman less than 4 minutes into the game.
“They just came out hungrier than us,” Shelstad said. “They were playing harder than us, they were up 5-0 on the boards, they were hitting shots. They had all the momentum, but we settled down and started getting stops.”
TJ Bamba scored out of the timeout and Barthelemy followed with a pull-up jumper. After the Trojans answered that bucket, Nate Bittle scored to spark a 10-0 run that gave the Ducks their first lead of the night, 18-17.
USC’s last lead was at 27-24, with Brandon Angel scoring to get the Ducks within one and Bamba completing a go-ahead three-point play moments later. Bittle flushed an alley oop from Bamba for a 7-0 run that made it 31-27, and Oregon took a 39-34 lead into halftime.
Midway through the second half, it remained a five-point game at 52-47. But Jadrian Tracey hit a three that sparked an 8-2 run capped by a Barthelemy three for a 60-49 lead. USC fought back within seven, but Oregon then scored 16 in a row, a run that included back-to-back threes by Barthelemy that generated euphoria from the crowd, followed by a Shelstad three.
Oregon’s second-half surge was fueled by a defensive effort that limited USC to 23.3 percent shooting, with Bittle blocking four shots in the half.
“Nate was phenomenal,” Altman said. “Second half, he owned the paint.”
Up Next: The Ducks host Indiana on Tuesday (6 p.m., FS1).