A season that started with such promise has begun to spiral for Oregon.
For the first time in three seasons, the Ducks are on a three-game losing streak, with the last of those losses coming Sunday night inside Matthew Knight Arena when Nebraska knocked off No. 18 Oregon 77-71 in a Big Ten Conference men’s basketball game.
The Ducks (16-6, 5-6 conference), who started the season 9-0 and who were 16-3 just nine days ago, made the first basket of the game and then never led again. Oregon hadn’t lost three straight since the middle of February 2023, a span of 66 games over three different seasons. It also matches the Ducks’ longest losing streak in 10 seasons.
Jackson Shelstad, who was coming off a scoreless effort in a 26-point loss to UCLA on Thursday, led Oregon with 16 points, Brandon Angel scored 15 and TJ Bamba had 13 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists before fouling out in the final minute.
But the Ducks were outshot 51%-40% overall, made just five of their 20 3-point attempts and were outrebound 35-32, making it the third straight game they’ve been outrebounded and the fifth time in their last six games.
The Cornhuskers (14-8, 4-7) are the third straight opponent to shoot better than 50% from the field against the Ducks, and they did it by thriving inside as they were 22 of 28 on two-point attempts.
“They drove it by us all night,” Oregon coach Dana Altman lamented. “They simply played harder. There’s no other explanation. … Our guys were tight. They knew how bad we needed this game and we really struggled offensively to get going. Had a lot of good looks but didn’t finish anything around the basket and obviously didn’t shoot the 3 well, again.”
Oregon went into Thursday’s game against UCLA shooting 34.2% from 3-point range on the season but has made just 8 of 43 combined (18.6%) in the last two games, including 5 of 20 on Sunday.
Guard Keeshawn Barthelemy, who started against Nebraska in place of forward Jadrian Tracey, had an especially off night as he was 2 for 11 from the field and 0 for 5 from 3-point range.
It’s not just the deep ball giving the Ducks trouble. They’ve also combined to shoot 40.5% from the field in the losses to the Bruins and Cornhuskers, including 40% against Nebraska when they made 24 of 60 attempts.
The poor shooting on Sunday started early as Oregon found itself in a 15-point deficit, 32-17, with 4:53 to play in the first half. The Ducks made just seven of their first 25 shots during the opening 15 minutes, including a 3-for-14 start.
Oregon rallied with an 11-0 run in the final minutes before going into halftime down 34-28. It was the Ducks’ 10th halftime deficit of the season.
Twice they cut their deficit to four points in the second half, but never closer.
Brice Williams scored 29 to lead Nebraska, and Juwan Gary had 23 points.
“I thought they outworked us, especially in the first half,” Altman said. “When they took that 15-point lead they were just flying around and more connected than we were and that’s just really disappointing.”
What’s next for the Oregon Ducks?
The Ducks are back on the road for a two-game road swing through Michigan. Up first is a 3:30 p.m. game Wednesday against the Wolverines (16-5, 8-2) at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. They’ll then play No. 7 Michigan State (18-3, 9-1) at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan, No. 17 in the NET rankings as of Sunday, has won two straight against Penn State (76-72) and Rutgers (66-63) and is 10-0 at home this season.
The Spartans, No. 20 in the NET, had their 13-game win streak end Saturday with a 70-64 loss to USC in Los Angeles, where they’ll remain through a 7 p.m. game Tuesday against UCLA.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon men’s basketball falls to Nebraska as losing streak continues
