How it happened: Oregon men’s basketball’s losing streak reaches three games

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A season that started with such promise has begun to spiral for Oregon.

For the first time in three seasons, the Ducks are on a three-game losing streak, with the last of those losses coming Sunday night inside Matthew Knight Arena when Nebraska knocked off No. 18 Oregon 77-71 in a Big Ten Conference men’s basketball game.

The Ducks (16-6, 5-6 conference), who started the season 9-0 and who were 16-3 just nine days ago, made the first basket of the game and then never led again. Oregon hadn’t lost three straight since the middle of February 2023, a span of 66 games over three different seasons. It also matches the Ducks’ longest losing streak in 10 seasons.

Jackson Shelstad, who was coming off a scoreless effort in a 26-point loss to UCLA on Thursday, led Oregon with 16 points, Brandon Angel scored 15 and TJ Bamba had 13 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists before fouling out in the final minute.

But the Ducks were outshot 51%-40% overall, made just five of their 20 3-point attempts and were outrebound 35-32, making it the third straight game they’ve been outrebounded and the fifth time in their last six games.

Oregon’s TJ Bamba, center, goes up for a rebound against Nebraska’s Rollie Worster, left, and Braxton Meah during the first half Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.

The Cornhuskers (14-8, 4-7) are the third straight opponent to shoot better than 50% from the field against the Ducks, and they did it by thriving inside as they were 22 of 28 on two-point attempts.

“They drove it by us all night,” Oregon coach Dana Altman lamented. “They simply played harder. There’s no other explanation. … Our guys were tight. They knew how bad we needed this game and we really struggled offensively to get going. Had a lot of good looks but didn’t finish anything around the basket and obviously didn’t shoot the 3 well, again.”

Oregon went into Thursday’s game against UCLA shooting 34.2% from 3-point range on the season but has made just 8 of 43…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/happened-oregon-mens-basketballs-losing-041020288.html

Author : The Register-Guard

Publish date : 2025-02-03 04:10:00

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