MBB Recap: Oregon vs Auburn

The Ducks faced off against the #21 Auburn Tigers tonight in Las Vegas, as part of the Players Era festival. Auburn jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead early, taking advantage of some poor ball control from the Ducks. Oregon would quickly tie things up at 10 all, though, leading to a back-and-forth battle for most of the first half. It was a messy half for both teams, with Auburn not shooting the ball well (37.8% from the floor, 16.7% from three), and Oregon struggling mightily with turnovers (10 in the first half alone). Sean Stewart did have a monster and-one slam, though, so that was pretty sweet to see.

The second half would play out very similar to the first, a very back-and-forth affair for basically the first 10 minutes of the half, the lead never growing higher than 4. But then, things took a turn. The Tigers started to build up a lead, using an 8-0 run to take a 68-59 lead with just 6:26 remaining in the game. Oregon would try to battle their way back but never got closer than 6 points away from Auburn, and the Tigers would take the game 84-73.

Honestly, Oregon lost this game for two very big reasons: Turnovers, and their stars getting smothered. The Ducks committed 18 turnovers tonight, and most of them were just bad/lazy passes. That can’t continue to be the norm if this team wants to compete come tournament time. I don’t believe it will be a big issue in a month or so but trying to fit this new roster of guys together, and re-integrate Jackson Shelstad into the lineup with a bunch of new guys after missing most (if not all) of training camp is a difficult assignment.

Speaking of Shelstad… He and Nate Bittle were essentially taken out of the game by the Auburn defense. They got very few clean looks at the basket and went a combined 6-28 from the floor tonight (and 2-15 from three, but most of that was Shelstad going 1-11). This team HAS to find ways to get them easy looks, even if the opposing team is trying to take them out of the game. That’s what good teams do, and that’s how they win. I shudder to think what this game would’ve looked like without Takai Simpkins putting up 22 points on 5-9 shooting. It’s still very early in the season, but if they can’t find ways to get their best players going, it’s going to be a long season.