Men’s Basketball Recap: Oregon Ducks vs Texas A&M Aggies Players Era Tourney

Man, Oregon seems allergic to non-stress games lately. The ducks flew over to Las Vegas to attend Players Era Tournament this week with their first game coming today against #20 Texas A&M. It was a very frustrating game to watch early, with Oregon taking pretty good shots throughout the first half, they just weren’t falling. The Ducks ended up going 9-29 (31%) from the floor in the first half and shot an even worse percentage from three (4-18, for 22%). A&M, on the other hand, wasn’t much more efficient, with the Aggies shooting 12-31 (38.7%) and 6-19 from three (31.6%). But where A&M really made their mark early was on offensive rebounds, piling up 9 in the first half, leading to 11 2nd chance points. However, the Ducks were able to slow this down after a timeout around midway through the half, which helped keep things pretty close. The Aggies led by 3, 32-29, after the first half.

The second half was immediately more chippy, with plenty of foul calls on both teams right out of the gate. Brandon Angel and Jackson Shelstad hit back-to-back 3s to open the half, giving Oregon their first lead of the game, but the Aggies would storm back behind a very athletic zone defense to take a 56-46 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the ballgame. But then, as they have done in seemingly every 2nd half this season, Oregon flipped a switch. I don’t know what was said during a Dana Altman timeout after the Aggies went up 10, but something in that huddle changed things. The Ducks immediately followed that timeout by going on a 16-0 run over the next 5 minutes to take a 64-58 lead. From then on it was a lot of back and forth, with both teams trading the lead until one Kwame Evans Jr. free throw gave Oregon a 71-70 lead with 1:00 left, a lead they would not relinquish. A floater by Shelstad, and some clutch free throws by Angel, Shelstad and TJ Bamba was all Oregon needed to close out the game and give them the 80-70 victory.

I feel like I say it after every game, but even if it wasn’t the prettiest game to watch, a win is a win. And that’s all that matters. Jadrian Tracey played a big role in the second half, as did TJ Bamba and Brandon Angel. If they can consistently play like they did in the 2nd half today, then Oregon will be a tough, tough team to beat. Because somehow they just find a way to victory.

The Ducks next game is against San Diego State tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday 27 November at 16:00 at MAX.

Scoo Ducks!