It wasn’t going to be easy, but Oregon almost appeared to be making it harder than it needed to be in their rescheduled game against Washington State.
An extremely cold start from the Cougars (0 for their first 9 three-point attempts) had them fighting from behind in the first half, but Oregon still led by only six at halftime, 35-29. The lead seesawed in the second half until some high-energy plays by Franck Kepnang and some assertiveness by Will Richardson pushed Oregon in front down the final stretch.
After going ahead 62-53 on Richardson’s corner three with 1:00 to go, it looked as though the Ducks had this game wrapped up, but Washington State hit a quick three, stole the ball on the ensuing inbound, then hit another three to cut the lead to 62-59.