Ducks Scorch Nets At Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. — Five days after hitting their fewest three-pointers of the season, the Oregon men’s basketballteam bounced back in a big way from deep to win at Stanford on Thursday, 78-65.

Jadrian Tracey hit four of the Ducks’ 12 three-pointers and Jackson Shelstad made three as the UO men followed Saturday’s grind-it-out win at Oregon State by beating the Cardinal. Oregon has won back-to-back games for the first time in more than a month, and will look to make it three straight Saturday at California.

The Ducks (18-8, 10-5 Pac-12) shot 50 percent overall and 12-of-25 from three-point range, while holding the Cardinal to 41 percent shooting, including 30 percent from behind the arc. Stanford entered the game shooting 38.8 percent from three, but the Ducks turned the tables as Tracey scored a season-high 20 points, Shelstad added 19 with seven assists and five rebounds, and N’Faly Dante finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“We shot the ball well; that always helps,” UO coach Dana Altman said. “But I thought we did a lot of good things defensively. And on a night Jermaine (Couisnard) didn’t shoot it very well, we had other guys step up.”

Oregon had a 38-31 advantage on the boards overall, and improved to 10-1 this season when holding an opponent to fewer than 70 points.

“The formula’s not difficult to figure out,” Altman said. “We hold people under 70, we win most of the time; weoutrebound them, we win most of the time.”

How It Happened: Fittingly, Tracey scored Oregon’s first basket of the game, on a night when he exceeded his previous season high of 15 points in the first half alone. That helped the Ducks out to an early 7-4 lead, before Stanford ripped off an 8-0 run to pull ahead.

But the Ducks answered with 10 straight, on a pair of threes from Tracey and buckets from Dante and Shelstad. The Cardinal briefly tied it at 19-19, but Dante finished two second-chance points to put Oregon back in front, and the UO men led the rest of the way.

A three from Couisnard got the lead to 26-21, and after Stanford hit a three at the other end, Shelstad connected from long range for a 29-24 advantage. Tracey hit his third three of the first half to make it 32-28.Image

Moments later another bucket by Tracey made it 34-30, and Kario Oquendo followed with a three for a seven-point lead. Stanford answered with a basket, but Tracey hit yet another three and Oregon took a 40-32 lead into halftime.

Kwame Evans Jr. had two early baskets in the second half, the second a three-pointer for a 48-35 lead. Shelstad hit a three to push the lead to 14 at 55-41, and Evans connected from deep again for a 15-point lead at 58-43.

After Dante scored to make it 60-43, Stanford put together a 10-2 run to get back within single digits. But the Ducks answered with a 7-0 run capped by a Brennan Rigsby three-pointer and led by double digits the rest of the way.

Up Next: The Ducks play at California on Saturday (4 p.m, Pac-12 Network).