Men’s Basketball Recap: Oregon Ducks vs. Texas A&M Aggies Players Era Tourney

Man, Oregon seems to be allergic to non-stressful games lately. The Ducks flew to Las Vegas this week to compete in the Players Era Tournament. Their first game is today against #20 Texas A&M. It was a very frustrating game to start with as Oregon took pretty good shots in the first half, but they just weren’t falling. The Ducks went 9-for-29 (31%) from the field in the first half and shot even worse three-pointers (4-for-18, for 22%). A&M, however, wasn’t much more efficient: The Aggies shot 12-31 (38.7%) and 6-19 from three goals (31.6%). But what really highlighted A&M early on were the offensive rebounds, which piled up to 9 in the first half, leading to 11 second-chance points. However, the Ducks were able to slow it down after a timeout midway through the half, which helped keep things pretty close. The Aggies led 3.32-29 after the first half.

The second half immediately became more heated, with many fouls against both teams right in front of the goal. Brandon Angel and Jackson Shelstad hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the half to give Oregon its first lead of the game, but the Aggies stormed back behind a very athletic zone defense to take a commanding 56-46 lead with just over 11 points remaining in the game in the ball game. But then Oregon, like seemingly every other half this season, flipped a switch. I don’t know what was said during a Dana Altman timeout after the Aggies went up by 10 points, but something in that group changed things. The Ducks immediately followed that timeout by going on a 16-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 64-58 lead. From there it was very back and forth, both teams trading the lead until Oregon took a 71-70 lead on a Kwame Evans Jr. free throw with 1:00 left, a lead they wouldn’t give back. A floater from Shelstad and some free throws from Angel, Shelstad and TJ Bamba were all Oregon needed to tie the game and give them the 80-70 win.

I feel like I say it after every game, but even though it wasn’t the prettiest game to watch, a win is a win. And that’s all that matters. Jadrian Tracey played an important role in the second half, as did TJ Bamba and Brandon Angel. If they can play as consistently today as they did in the second half, Oregon will be a very difficult team to beat. Because somehow they just find a way to win.

The Ducks’ next game is against San Diego State tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, November 27th at 4:00 pm on MAX.

“Sco Ducks!