Oregon turns up the heat in the second half to blow past Arizona State

LAS VEGAS –– The 1st seed Oregon Ducks faced off against the 8th seed Arizona State Sun Devils today after ASU’s nail-biter victory over the Washing State Cougars on Wednesday.

Oregon’s offense struggled to make shots to start the game as they missed a contested layup and a wide open look from the corner. This slump lasted less than a minute and a half until Will Richardson confidently took the ball down court at the start of the second minute and splashed from the top of the arc.

Following Richardson’s bucket and an additional three from Eugene Omoruyi, the Ducks entered into a three minute scoring drought while the Sun Devils knocked down a few buckets to bring the score within one.

Arizona State hit vital shots and kept Oregon’s shooting percentage as low as 33 percent in order to take over the lead about 10 minutes into the game.

“We were a little straight up and down, went through some nervousness there, nervous energy,” Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman said about the Ducks’ first half slump.

After a timeout called by ASU with 7:39 left in the half, the Ducks seemed to get into their normal grove; knocking down shots and containing the Sun Devils’ offense. Oregon was able to expand their lead to as wide as 11 points.

UO’s Chris Duarte, the AP Pac-12 Player of the Year, did not see his normal playing time in the first half as he collected two fouls with five minutes still left until halftime. His teammates were clearly ready to step up to the plate to fill his intermittent absence as Richardson shot for 71.4 percent from the field to put up nearly a third of the Ducks’ points in the half.

“Each and every day presents its own problems, its own opportunities, and I went about it in a positive way, just uplifting my teammates and just staying positive throughout the whole season,” Oregon senior guard says about his team’s performance today and throughout the year.

Going to the locker rooms, the Ducks led the Sun Devils 35-27.

A technical foul was called on Sun Devils’ sophomore forward Jalen Graham to kick off the half. Duarte went 1-2 at the line followed by an ASU rebound and turnover that resulted in a big time three for LJ Figueroa.

Oregon ran away with the game in the second half; putting on a dominant offensive performance and going up by as many as 24 points.

The Ducks are heading to the semifinals where they will face off against the winner of the OSU versus UCLA game that is playing later today. The semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.