Entering the 2014-2015 college basketball season, it is was widely considered that the only team in the Pac-12 with a returning group less experienced than the Oregon Ducks were their rival Oregon State Beavers.
Even with the emergence of Gary Payton II for Oregon State and the continued excellence of Oregon’s Joseph Young, these two teams were considered over-achieving once the preseason ended as Oregon held an 11-3 record and the Beavers were 9-3.
When these two teams met in their respective Pac-12 openers in the 343rd edition of the Civil War, it was Young leading the way as the Ducks never trailed en route to a 71-59 win.
“As soon as I woke up this morning,” Young said when asked if he knew he was going to play well tonight.
Young entered the game in somewhat of a shooting slump over his previous six games, averaging 18.2 points on 45-percent shooting (39-for-86) from the field and an abysmal 38-percent (19-for-50) from three-point territory.
He broke out of that slump in a huge way as he scored 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 5-for-6 from deep. It seemed that whenever the Ducks needed a big shot, Young was able to provide the answer, but did so in a way where he wasn’t forcing the issue and creating turnovers.
“Shot selection — coach in practice has been like ‘this is a good shot, this is a bad shot,’ and I’m starting to learn more,” Young said. “I didn’t distribute that much tonight because I had the hot hand but I want to do more of distributing, rebounding and helping my team out on the defensive end.”
After scoring 13 points in the first half, Young really took control in the second half by going 4-for-4 from three-point territory and a 2-for-2 effort at the free throw line.
Oregon State tied the game at 29-all on two free throws by Olaf Schaftenaar but Young then went on a quick 5-0 run by himself to give the Ducks a little bit of breathing room.
Young was up for the challenge again after a Beavers jumper cut Oregon’s lead to 38-35 with 16:11 to play. He hit back-to-back three pointers to stretch the Ducks’ lead to nine, prompting Oregon to not look back.
It wasn’t just Young who led the way for the Ducks as Elgin Cook added 18 points and nine rebounds, while Dillon Brooks posted 10 points (all in the second half). Jordan Bell also finished with eight points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
“He (Bell) did very well — the last couple days of practice, he’s been down low, bending his knees and doing a good job,” Young said. “He’s (Cook) physical — getting some shots up and this is the most I’ve ever seen him in the gym.”
Just like the previous game against UC Irvine, the Ducks jumped out to a big lead against Oregon State only to squander it later in the half.
Oregon had leads of 14-2, 16-4 and most notably 23-13 with 5:11 to play in the half but saw the Beavers battle back to tie the game at 27 before a Young jumper gave the Ducks a 29-27 halftime lead.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for Oregon as it hosts No. 7 Arizona on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena
“We’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot more progress to make,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka