By Rob Moseley
EUGENE, Ore. – After surviving a scare earlier in the week, the Oregon men’s basketball team flashed the potential Sunday to be scary good.The UO men welcomed newcomer Supreme Cook to the lineup for the first time Sunday, and the big man helped the Ducks cruise to an 82-61 victory over Troy before 5,394 fans at Matthew Knight Arena. It was a welcome bounce back after Oregon needed overtime to beat Portland on Tuesday.“We did play a lot harder,” UO coach Dana Altman said. “We got after it better. We did play much harder than we did Tuesday night, so that was good. I liked our activity, I thought we had some good traps, I thought we rotated a lot better. So we did play a lot better than we did the other night.”Keeshawn Barthelemy followed up his hot shooting that sparked Tuesday’s come-from-behind win by leading the Ducks with 15 points Sunday. TJ Bamba added 13, Nate Bittle had 12 points with eight rebounds and Cook had 11 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes, as the senior transfer from Georgetown made his UO debut after recovering from a knee injury.“It felt pretty good,” Cook said. “Being out so long, I kind of forgot the feeling of being in a game. But it felt really good being out there and playing with my teammates.”How It Happened: Oregon’s improved activity was apparent from the start Sunday, as Troy was held without a field goal for the first 6:32 of the game. Five different Ducks scored as the UO men jumped out to a 12-1 lead before the Trojans connected from the field.After Troy closed within 12-6, Barthelemy hit a three to spark a 9-0 run by the Ducks that included two thunderous dunks by Cook in his first action in a UO uniform. They scored another seven straight later in the first half and took a 38-23 lead into halftime.A three-pointer by Bamba and a bucket from Jadrian Tracey to open the second half got the lead to 20 for the first time, at 43-23. Troy got back within 17 a couple of times, but six straight UO points capped by a bucket from Bittle made it 56-33, and Oregon led by at least 20 the rest of the way.The lead eventually got as high as 28, at 74-46 with 3:03 to play, on an 8-0 run for the Ducks sparked by a three-point play from Cook.Notable: Ra’Heim Moss was not in uniform Sunday after suffering an apparently minor knee injury in practice Friday. Altman said Moss hopes to be ready when the Ducks play Thursday at Oregon State. … Altman tweaked his starting lineup Sunday, inserting Tracey after the senior averaged 13 points through the Ducks’ first three games. … Though sophomore Jackson Shelstad went scoreless Sunday, he had a game-high six assists and also grabbed six rebounds. … The win kept alive Oregon’s status as the only school in the country to be undefeated in football, women’s basketball and men’s basketball so far in 2024-25.Up Next: The Ducks are at Oregon State on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN+).
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