Oregon Ducks down Arizona State in 1st place battle in Pac-12
Jan 25, 2024, 9:14 PM | Updated: Jan 26, 2024, 10:37 am
Oregon’s bench scoring and elite second-half shooting helped the Ducks to an 80-61 win over Arizona State in Eugene on Thursday.
The Ducks (14-5, 6-2) took sole possession of first place for the time being in the Pac-12 standings and improved to 10-0 on the season at Matthew Knight Arena for the first time since 2019-20. The Arizona Wildcats can share first place with a win over Oregon State on Thursday.
ASU fell to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in Pac-12 play on the season.
ASU had won its last two games in Eugene, including three of the last four in total against the Ducks, but Thursday’s game was a much different story.
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Arizona State led 20-10 with eight minutes remaining in the first half but it was all Oregon after that. While Oregon shot 34% in the first half, the Ducks shot 69% in the second half.
ASU allowed 52 points in the second half, including allowing Oregon to go on a 15-0 run to take a 62-47 lead. Arizona State went nearly six minutes without scoring as the Ducks made 10 shots in a row.
Oregon’s length proved to be a problem for Arizona State. Center Nate Bittle returned for the Ducks and made just his fourth appearance of the season. The junior was coming off left wrist surgery after getting injured in the third game of the season.
Oregon’s 33 points off the bench were led by Keeshawn Barthelemy’s 12 points on 5-6 shooting.
Sun Devils guard Jose Perez was a bright spot for ASU. The grad student scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting.
The Sun Devils will look to regroup on Saturday when they travel to Corvallis to face Oregon State.
