Ducks can’t rally this time

It’s been a disturbing trend for the Ducks men’s basketball team, but more often than not, Oregon has gotten away with it with late rallies.

Not this time.

The offense just wasn’t there and the Ducks couldn’t muster up enough hoops as Oregon fell to Purdue 65-58 at Matthew Knight Arena Saturday afternoon. The Ducks dropped to 15-3 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten action. Purdue improved to 15-4 overall and 7-1 in conference action.

Oregon beat itself up for much of this game, and bad shot selection, silly turnovers, and a lack of rebounding were its downfalls. One solace the Ducks can take away is that most of their mistakes are fixable mistakes, but there’s a lot of fixing before the Ducks host Washington Tuesday night.

Oregon vs. Purdue Keys to the Game

• The Ducks and Boilermakers traded buckets for much of the first half. Point guards Jackson Shelstad and Fletcher Loyer matched up against each other and it was as advertised on both ends of the floor. They both got their teams going offensively.
• But it was defense that ruled for much of the day. Neither team could get into much of an offensive rhythm. Purdue shot 32 percent in the first half and Oregon was just 9-of-33 from the field (27 percent) before the break. The Duck did lead 31-30 at the half.
• Buckets were still hard to come by after the break, especially for the Ducks. They scored a whole two points in the first eight minutes and the Boilermakers built a 41-33 lead with 11:53 left.
• A three from Jadrian Tracey ended an 11-0 Purdue run and it was 41-36 with 11:00 go.
• Shelstad managed to keep the Ducks in the game just when Purdue threatened to extend its six-point lead. But the Oregon guard stole a pass and went coast-to-coast and made it 52-48 with just 3:48 remaining.
• That was as close as Oregon would get as Purdue pulled away late thanks to a combination of bad shot selection, flagrant fouls and silly turnovers.

Oregon vs. Purdue Players of the Game

• Nate Bittle: 18 points, 6 blocks
• Jackson Shelstad: 15 points, 5 rebounds
• Brandon Angel: 10 points
• Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue): 23 points

Oregon vs. Purdue Notable Stats

• 3-pt FG: Oregon 7-of-29, Purdue 2-of-12
• Points in the Paint: Purdue 28, Oregon 22
• Offensive Rebounds: Purdue 12, Oregon 5

What’s Next for Oregon Ducks?

• Jan. 18 — vs. No. 20 Purdue Boilermakers
• Jan.  21 — vs. Washington Huskies
• Jan. 25 — at Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Jan. 30 — at No. 22 UCLA Bruins
• Feb. 2 — Nebraska Cornhuskers
• Feb. 5 — at No. 19 Michigan…