Even though the Ducks switched conferences, they still managed to weasel their way into Gill Coliseum, continuing their dominance over the Beavers, as the Beavers missed a last second shot to fall 78-75 to the Oregon Ducks.
The Beavers controlled the pace of most of the entire game, leading it for over 32 minutes. It wasn’t until late in the second half that the Ducks surged back on a 17-5 run that evened the score at 66 apiece.
“We learned quite a lesson tonight,” OSU head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “I thought we got a little bit too individual in the second half, we stopped moving the ball, working inside out. Then we turned it over nine times in the second half after keeping it in control in the first half.”
Michael Rataj secured 20 points, a season high, with 10 rebounds, five offensive and five defensive, to secure his third double-double of the season in front of a record crowd of most students at the game, 3,267.
“I feel like this game showed us what we need to work on,” Rataj said. “Defensive crackdowns and zones we just got to work on. I feel like we did a lot of good stuff and bad stuff, especially defending the three-point line late.”
Another record on the night was Ducks’ Nate Bittle notching a career-high 23 points, with 14 boards of his own. Of those points, 17 came in the second half, with most coming in crunch time. A senior on the team, Bittle battled through injury and sickness last year, only suiting up for five games. Now healthy, he fought through the tough defensive assignment of Parsa Fallah.
“I mean, they looked like two battering rams,” Tinkle said. “We tried to go with Matt (Mathew Marsh), with a little more size and strength, even threw Max (Maxim Logue) in there for a little bit. Got to give Bittle credit; he’s gotten bigger and stronger, and I’m glad that he is healthy after last year. What I’m disappointed in, is we are supposed to absorb that contact but then leave our feet and contest the damn shot. Time and time again, we just walled up and let him, with his seven-foot frame, shoot it right in.”
This continues the winning streak for the Ducks, as the Beavers have not beaten out Oregon since Jan. 23, 2021. This marks the 365th matchup between the teams, an NCAA Division I record for most matchups between two teams, dating back to 1903.
Liutaurus Lelevicius recorded 13 points, all coming in the first half. Along with him, Josiah Lake II added nine more points to help the Beavers outscore the Ducks in bench points 27-19.
A key theme to the game was on the defensive end, with Rataj bolting down the court for a chase-down block on Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad. Nate Kingz had an equivalent block when he sent a ball four rows deep in the stands on a corner three-point attempt.
The Beavers leave Corvallis for the first time this season, heading to Denton, Texas, to face the North Texas Mean Green on Monday, Nov. 25 at 5 p.m.
