Another double-digit second-half deficit, another comeback victory for the Oregon men’s basketball team.
The Ducks improved to 6-0 on Tuesday with an 80-70 win against No. 20 Texas A&M as it opened the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
And all it took was a 20-point swing in the final nine minutes.
Oregon trailed 58-48 with 9:11 to play when it went on a 16-0 run over the next 2:48 to go up 64-58.
The Aggies (4-2) evened the score with six points from the free-throw line and it was still tied at 70-70 with 1:21 to play when the Ducks closed on a 10-0 run, with all but two of those points coming from the free-throw line.
“That was a great game for us,” Oregon assistant coach Mike Mennenga said in a postgame radio interview with KUJZ-FM. “Going in, that was something we were wondering about our team. Can we match the physicality of a top-20 team? But our guys fought and they competed.”
TJ Bamba led Oregon with 18 points, Jackson Shelstad and Brandon Angel scored 16 each, and Jadrian Tracey had 11 points.
The Ducks, who trailed 32-29 at halftime, outshot the Aggies 61.5%-27.0% from the field in the second half and scored 20 points off 13 turnovers.
Those numbers helped Oregon overcome Texas A&M’s dominance on the boards. The Aggies outrebounded the Ducks 44-38, including 21 offensive rebounds that led to 25 second-chance points.
Oregon has now rallied from a double-digit deficit three times in the their last four games having also survived scares against Portland and Oregon State.
Up next for Oregon men’s basketball
The Ducks will play San Diego State (3-1) at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The Aztecs opened their tournament with an upset of No. 19 Creighton on Tuesday, 71-53.
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 upsets Texas A&M to stay undefeated
