The No. 18 ranked Ducks (2-0) may have come away with a 24-point victory against Western Carolina (2-1), but it wasn’t necessarily representative of how the majority of the game went. Up until the 15-minute mark of the second half, the visiting Catamounts were very much a part of the game.
Moving forward, Oregon will need to get out to a faster start.
For the Ducks, it was a memorable day on the stat sheet. Recent transfers Joseph Young and Mike Moser had their best games of the season thus far and it was consistently shown throughout the game.
Young finished with a career-high 36 points (most since Tajuan Porter’s 38 against Portland State), while Moser added 26 points and five rebounds. Both players combined for 18-26 shooting from the field and 20-22 from the charity stripe to finish the game.
“The lane was open, so I just felt like attacking,” Young said. “That’s one thing for the new rule: if you attack and they put a hand on you, that’s an automatic foul. So I took advantage of that, got to hole and got fouled.”
Also having a good game was forward Elgin Cook, who finished the game with 16 points and four rebounds. Cook was the centerpiece of a crucial late game run midway through the second half.
“I think it was an eight-ten point game at the time and when we finished we had a 28-point lead and I thought Elgin (Cook) was a big part of it, both on the offensive end, defense, rebounding,” Altman said. “He’s a talented young man, there’s so much more in the tank that we gotta get him to dig down there to find it, but he’s talented.”
Redshirt sophomore Elgin Cook (23) is fouled by a Catamount defender during the second half. The No. 18 Oregon Ducks play the Western Carolina Catamounts in their home opener at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 13, 2013. (Andrew Seng/Emerald)
It was Oregon’s highest scoring game since the 2012 NIT where they recorded 108 points against Iowa. The Ducks finished the game shooting 65.3 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from beyond the arc.
In the first half, the Catamounts were neck-and-neck with the Ducks. With the help of Brandon Boggs and James Sinclair, the Catamounts were actually within one of the Ducks with two minutes remaining in the first half and it was a direct product of owning the paint.
At the end of the first half, the Catamounts led the Ducks 17-12 in the rebounding department and were down 41-39.
To open the second half, the Ducks hit two threes, which set the tone for the remainder of the half. Aside from a one-man show down the stretch by senior guard Trey Sumler, who finished the game with a team-high 29 points after missing two games to suspension, the Ducks managed to pick up their play on both sides of the ball and kept their foot on the gas pedal.
Midway through the half, the Ducks went on a 14-6 run to take a 71-55 with just under 12 minutes to play. During this stretch, the Ducks shot 4-6 from the field and added four Young free-throws.
“In the second half, we shot the ball extremely well,” Altman said. “Offensively, a lot of good things in the second half in particular, the ball movement was outstanding. Defensively, this team’s got a long ways to go. A very good offensive performance saved us, but defensively and on the board, we’ve got a long way’s to go.”
The Ducks will now take a week off before facing Utah Valley at home. Tip-off is set for a 6 p.m., start at Matthew Knight Arena.
Noteworthy
– Joseph Young records career-high 36 points (most since Tajuan Porter’s 38 against Portland State).
– Mike Moser records season-high 26 points.
– Oregon scores most points since 2012 NIT game against Iowa.
– Elgin Cook records season-high 16 points.
– Early in the first half, the Catamounts held a 9-0 advantage on the boards.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim