3 up, 3 down in Arizona’s loss to Oregon

There were a couple good things but mostly bad.

The Arizona Wildcats saw their three-game ending streak come to an end in dismal fashion Saturday, getting blown out by the Oregon Ducks 73-47 in Eugene.

Our full recap can be found here, and here three positive and negative takeaways from the loss.

3 Up

Dylan Smith’s First Half

In the first half, it looked like it looked there was a good chance that Arizona’s matchup with Oregon in Eugene was going to be remembered as “The Dylan Smith Game.” The junior wing finished the half with a team high 14 points on 5-7 shooting and was the sole reason Arizona was able to walk into the visitors locker room tied.

Unfortunately he went scoreless in the second half when the Wildcats only mustered 16 points.

Arizona’s Rebounding

In a game where Arizona struggled in almost every category, I have to give credit where it’s due to an area that hasn’t been a strong point. The Wildcats tied the Ducks in the rebounding battle at 36, even with Chase Jeter sidelined.

Devonaire Doutrive led Arizona with 8 rebounds, with Ira Lee finishing the night with 7 himself. This is a result of the guards making an effort to crash the boards in a time of injury. Justin Coleman finished the night with 5 rebounds and Dylan Smith snagged 4. It was a valiant effort that was overshadowed by incompetence in other areas.

Brandon Williams

Finishing the night as the teams second-leading scorer with 12 points, Brandon Williams has found himself as the No. 1 option on this Arizona team. Shooting 50 percent form the floor, he also did his work extremely efficiently .

It was a good sign to see Williams shooting six free throws on the night. He can be such a dynamic athlete when he is completely fit. It looks like he trusts his knee to be able to drive into the trees and make something happen.

WOW BRANDON WILLIAMS

Williams gets his man in the air, puts up a fadeaway as his defender comes down on him and it goes in after hitting eleventy billion parts of the backboard and rim.

Can complete the 3-point play after a TV timeout ... which comes :20 after a TV timeout

— AZ Desert Swarm (@AZDesertSwarm) March 3, 2019

3 Down

Arizona’s turnovers

Even though Arizona finished the first 20 minutes with 7 made threes and shooting 45 percent, the Wildcats found themselves tied with the Ducks. The reason? 11 turnovers. It didn’t make things easier that Oregon only had one, and was struggling to get anything in going as they finished the half shooting 35 percent.

If Arizona had any shot at winning in Eugene, they couldn’t afford to give the home a chance to hang around. If the Wildcats had just half of the turnovers the game would have had a much different complexion.

Second half shooting

After scoring a respectable 31 points at half, the well dried up for the Wildcats. Arizona managed to miss 21 of the next 26 shots from the field, allowing the Ducks to pull away for good. It was painful watching the Wildcats put up shot after shot that you could tell the guy who was shooting it seemed to believe it wasn’t going in. And all credit to Oregon for their defense and opportunistic offense, they made shot after locked down Arizona’s guards the entire second half.

Only 3 Wildcats scored in the second half vs. Oregon:

Brandon Williams - 10

Justin Coleman - 4

Jake DesJardins - 2

— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) March 3, 2019

Brandon Randolph

In a game where Arizona was looking for any scoring option to get themselves back into the game or push ahead, Brandon Randolph couldn’t follow up his efficient performance he put in on Thursday, finishing the game with 3 points on 1 of 9 shooting. The sophomore just seemed to be out of sync and forcing his shot all night.

The first shot of the night he took was a long two-pointer as he slightly faded away, and that was a microcosm of high night Randolph seemed to settle for long jumpers instead of trying to get to the line by driving.

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