The No. 17 Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team didn’t play bad on the road on Thursday afternoon against the Colorado Buffaloes (12-2, 1-0 Pac-12). In fact, the Ducks (8-2, 3-1) had pretty decent performances from the usual suspects — Chris Duarte led with 27 points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks; Eugene Omoruyi scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds and LJ Figueroa added 10 points.
Pretty decent against a very good Colorado team, led by senior McKinley Wright IV, who is expected to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists before his college career is over (If accomplished, Wright joins Oregon stars Ron Lee and Payton Pritchard, Pooh Richardson (UCLA) and Luke Walton (Arizona).
Apparently, the Ducks enter a bizarro vortex whenever they cross the Rockies, where wins are tough to come by against a talented opponent.
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Take a look at last season, for example, when an unranked Colorado upset No. 4 Oregon. Guess where? I’ll give you a hint: It rhymes with “folder.” After this week’s loss, the Ducks are now 0-10 on the road against Colorado, eight of those games under future hall of fame coach Dana Altman. We’ve got to give credit to Wright (he’s a stud, no doubt), but he hasn’t been playing in Colorado for the past decade.
Defense leads to offense. @C_Duarte5 keeping the Ducks in it with a HUGE 3.
Colorado leads 73-69, 2:02 remaining in the second half.
Catch the end on @FS1. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/WwoqrMRcQS
— Oregon Men’s Basketball (@OregonMBB) January 7, 2021
What kind of witchcraft has befallen our beloved Ducks? Is it the curse of the Buffaloes? Did an evil sorcerer put a curse on Altman? Is Oregon’s road bus haunted? What will it take for the Ducks to shake this wretched hex and CAST THESE DEMONS OUT?
You tell me Ducks fans. What went wrong on Thursday? After 10 losses in Boulder, this is starting to look similar to the Bambino’s 86-year curse of the Boston Red Sox. Perhaps we just have to wait another century before the jinx wears off?
Jordan Ingram
San Diego, California
Top photo by Eugene Johnson
Jordan is a lifelong Duck fan currently living in San Diego. Jordan graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, after serving a prestigious fellowship with the Washington State House of Representatives. Upon graduation, he worked as an English language teaching assistant for the Spanish Ministry of Education’s Ambassadorial Program in Monforte de Lemos, Spain. Jordan has worked as a journalist, writer, and editor in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and California, covering a wide range of topics, including sports, local politics, and crime. He is VERY excited to be writing about his beloved Oregon Ducks.
