Payton Pritchard made a game winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left in overtime to give the No. 8 Oregon Ducks a 64-61 win over the Washington Huskies Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
“In the second half their pressure just kept wearing on us,” Coach Mike Hopkins said on his team’s second half collapse.”It looked like we got fatigued. I probably should have subbed a little bit more.”
In what looked like would be a run away win for the Huskies, the Ducks rallied after getting down by as much as 16 points. A 15-2 Oregon run in which cut UW’s lead to 50-47 with under five minutes remaining. And with 1:08 remaining Payton Pritchard made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 54-54. A pair of Isaiah Stewart free throws on the next possession gave UW 56-54 lead with 34.5 seconds remaining. But Oregon would tie it again at 56-56 after a Shakur Juiston layup with 22 seconds remaining. Jamal Bey missed a potential game winning 3-pointer as time expired – sending the game into overtime.
Coach Mike Hopkins admitted after the game that he did not do a good enough job at subbing players in the second half. Washington scored just 19 points in the second half and were outscored by Oregon – 31-19.
In overtime, Isaiah Stewart tied the game at 61-61 with 48.4 seconds remaining. After a missed Oregon shot, UW could not secure the rebound which led to Oregon getting the ball with 21 seconds left – with the shot clocked turned off. And it was none other than Payton Pritchard who made a step-back 3-pointer over Jamal Bey with 3.2 seconds remaining to give the Ducks the win.
“Our No. 1 focus on the whole game was Pritchard,” Hopkins said on preparing to face Oregon.”We didn’t execute that. You lose a guy like that who means so much to the team. He’s the head of the snake. You got to makes sure he doesn’t have a chance to even see the basket. You got to force someone else there to beat you. He’s an exceptional player and he was the No. 1 thing on the scouting report and we didn’t defend it too well.”
Pritchard finished with 22 points that included six 3-pointers.
Isaiah Stewart did everything he could to get Washington a much needed victory. But his 25 points, 19 rebounds, and five blocks were not enough.
Marcus Tsohonis played 36 minutes at point guard. The true freshman scored 14 points.
Jaden McDaniels after missing Thursday’s game against Oregon State with an ankle injury shot 1-of-9 from the field. McDaniels finished with five points and eight rebounds.
Takeaway
This loss was a killer for the Huskies. They had Oregon on the ropes and they blew a 16-point lead in the second half. This win would have been a big one against a top-10 team. The stagnant offense in the second half mirrored their 12-point blown lead at Stanford. Nineteen second half points is unacceptable. Going forward the Huskies must find a way to be less stagnant and get better shots down the stretches of games.
Looking ahead
Washington next travels to Utah to face the Utes on Thursday January 23rd. The Huskies will then face Colorado on Saturday January 25.
