So how did Oregon blow out Arizona back on Feb. 4, exactly?
Let us count the numbers: Oregon shot 65.2 percent from the field, had 26 assists for 30 made shots, hit 16 of 25 3-pointers and outscored UA in fast-break points 14-4, all while a sellout crowd of 12,364 made arguably the loudest noise since the Ducks moved from McArthur Court back in 2011.
“They went on a roll like I’ve never seen before,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “There was just nothing you could do. I think they made 16 of 21 at one point.”
Oh, and as Oregon’s Dillon Brooks is well aware of, the Ducks limited Lauri Markkanen to just five shots – only one of which the Finnish big man made.
“We played almost a complete game,” Oregon’s Dillon Brooks said. “We were sharing the basketball really good. We were rebounding it and we were really defending them. We never gave Markkanen a single shot. And when we did mess up it was only twos. Every shot he took was contested. Our crowd was into it and we were really focuses. We really wanted to beat them.”
Now, they are aware somebody really wants to beat them.
“I know Arizona, they’re gonna probably be ready for us if they win,” Oregon guard Tyler Dorsey said before the UA-UCLA game tipped off.
To beat them, Miller said, the Wildcats will not only have to defend the 3-point shot but also execute aginst a different type of zone defense than UCLA threw at them: Oregon runs a switching match-up zone that somewhat resembles a man-to-man.
“Tonight (against UCLA) our ability against the zone was a big turning point in terms of winning or losing,” Miller said. “We executed really well against their zone. Hopefully we can do the same thing” Saturday.
