The No. 10 Oregon men’s basketball team took care of business in another neutral-site matchup Saturday night, defeating Stanford at SAP Center in San Jose, California, 76-61.
The Ducks (11-1, 1-1 Big Ten) rolled out to an early lead, and led by a frenetic defense pushed the Cardinal (9-3, 1-0 ACC) around all night long. Stanford shot just 37.1% from the field and 8 for 30 from 3-point land to Oregon’s 43.6% shooting percentage from the field, led by Kwame Evans Jr.’s 13 points.
“A really good overall effort,” assistant coach Mike Mennenga said. “The guys’ effort was really good. We were down on the glass early and came back and were plus-6 on the boards. Our pressure in the full court — we didn’t necessarily turn them over a bunch but we disrupted their rhythm.”
Nine of the 11 Oregon players that took the floor scored, including Evans and Jackson Shelstad’s double-figure efforts, with Shelstad scoring 10. Nate Bittle nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and Oregon outrebounding the Cardinal 41-35. The Ducks committed just nine turnovers in the win.
Oregon took a double-digit lead into the half, 36-19, thanks to an 18-1 advantage in bench points and a stifling defense that held Stanford without points for the final 6:26 minutes of the first half.
“That is just indicative of our activity level,” Mennenga said. “Whether you’re getting deflections on defense or maybe you’re on the offensive side and getting a tip-out offensive rebound for an extra possession, or getting on the floor for a loose ball. All of those things, that’s what makes us who we are.”
Though the Cardinal made a late run, outscoring Oregon 23-12 over the last eight and a half minutes, the Ducks led by as many as 26 points and were never really threatened in the second half.
What’s next for Oregon men’s basketball?
The Ducks will wrap up nonconference play against Weber State at 2 p.m. Dec. 29 at Matthew Knight Arena, before getting into the thick of Big Ten play, starting with Illinois on Jan. 2 in Eugene.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Ferocious defense leads Oregon to win over Stanford in San Jose
