Oregon and Washington State each shot lights out, but the Ducks were relentless from the perimeter against the best three-point defense in the conference and it earned them a win in Pullman for the first time since 2019.
Brennan Rigsby (18 points) and Kario Oquendo (15) each made four three-pointers, Jackson Shelstad (14) and Jermaine Couisnard (16) each hit a pair, and Jadrian Tracey made his lone attempt from behind the arc in the final minute to help Oregon secure an 89-84 win over Washington State Saturday night at Beasley Coliseum.
Oregon (12-3, 4-0 Pac-12) shot a season-high 58.2% from the field, including 14 of 24 from three, its most since it made 15 against Oregon State on March 7, 2021. The stellar performance came against a Washington State team that entered the night holding teams to 38.8% from the field, 26th nationally, including a Pac-12 best 29.6% from behind the arc.
“We hit some shots, hit a lot of shots,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said on postgame radio. “But we got into a period there where we just exchanged baskets. Our defense, really disappointing there. I think we got a little too happy; we were hitting shots and exchanged baskets a little too much, especially on the road. … We’ve got to tighten that up because we’re not going to shoot it that well every night.”
Oregon’s shooting was particularly critical down the stretch as its 12-point lead with 7:29 to go was cut to 84-82 with 1:50 to play. The teams traded misses and Tracey drained a three at the end of the shot clock to put the Ducks up by five, then Keeshawn Barthelemy made a pair of free throws with 9.1 seconds left to seal it.
The Ducks had 18 assists on 32 baskets, with Shelstad, Couisnard, Tracey and Kwame Evans Jr. each dishing out three assists.
“We needed every one of them (the threes) but we moved the ball there pretty good,” Altman said. “I thought our ball movement was so much better tonight than it was against Washington. It’s one of the reasons we got so many good looks. Other than Kario’s bank all of our threes were fairly uncontested and I thought a lot of it was pretty good ball movement.”
Couisnard had seven of Oregon’s 28 rebounds, another area UO won where WSU typically has an advantage. The Cougars entered the night with a 7.7 rebounding margin.
“Jermaine, when he’s on the floor we’re just a better team,” Altman said. “He just holds us together, gives us a purpose defensively – he’s our best defender. I thought he was really good again.”
Myles Rice had 22 points and seven assists and Jaylen Wells had 15 points and six rebounds to lead five players in double-figures for Washington State (10-5, 1-3), which had won the last three meetings of the series in Pullman.
It was Oregon’s first win at Beasley Coliseum since March 6, 2019 and will be its last trip there in conference play.
“Last couple of years we hadn’t played worth a darn here,” Altman said. “So it was good.”
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