Following Thursday’s win against Utah, the Ducks improved to 13-0 to start the season, the first time Oregon had accomplished that since the 2006-07 season. That Oregon team went to the Elite Eight before falling to eventual national champion Florida. They also lost their 14th game of the season.
Maybe this year’s team wanted to follow that example to a “T,” because they also dropped their shot at a 14th win on the season, falling 100-91 Sunday afternoon to Colorado in Boulder.
Jason Calliste had a huge 3 to close the first half.
One of only seven undefeated teams in college basketball coming into Sunday’s game, Oregon had managed to win its first 13 games largely on the strength of offense, which led the nation, averaging 89.2 points per game coming into Sunday.
Offense wasn’t a problem yesterday, but their 258th-ranked defense was, giving up 100 points to a Colorado team that was 89th in scoring coming in – a ranking that is sure to climb following their triple-digit output against the Ducks.
After closing the first half on a wild three-pointer by Jason Calliste, the Ducks came out firing in the second half to take a 58-48 lead on a Mike Moser three with 14:32 remaining.
But then Oregon surrendered 52 points in less than 15 minutes, enough for Buffs to run away with their fourth straight win over the Ducks, dating back to the 2012 Pac-12 tournament. The Coors Event Center continues to be a house of horrors for the Ducks, who have lost every game there since Colorado joined the Pac-12 conference.
Mike Moser led the Ducks with 24 points and 7 rebounds on Sunday.
The Buffs won behind a career-high 27 points by guard Askia Booker, who continued a long-time tradition of nameless players having career games against the Ducks. Booker teamed with backcourt mate Spencer Dinwiddie to total 50 points on the night.
Meanwhile, Oregon got 24 from Mike Moser – his third game of the season with at least 24 points – and who was also 9-of-15 from the field, grabbing seven rebounds.
The Ducks will try to get back on the winning track when they return home to Matthew Knight Arena for a weekend series against the Bay Area schools, starting with their contest Thursday night against the California Golden Bears.
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Nathan Roholt is a senior writer and managing editor emeritus for FishDuck. Follow him on Twitter @nathanroholt. Send questions/feedback/hatemail to nroholtfd@gmail.com.