EUGENE — The people who coordinate Oregon’s pregame player introductions may have actually done Oregon fans a disservice Thursday night.
The hype going into the night’s game against Utah swirled around the “Electric Green” uniforms unveiled that morning on the school’s Instagram account.
Some people ran with the theory, reporting that the neon-colored uniforms would glow in the dark. Unfortunately, as a university official confirmed prior to the game, the uniforms did not, in fact, glow in the dark on their own.
They were just very bright — bright enough, actually, that the blacklight strobing during player introductions pulsated off the uniforms in a glowing fashion.
It was a cool effect, but one that cost the sixth sellout crowd of the season the chance to see whether or not the players were actually emitting light themselves.
They were that hot Thursday.
In the Ducks 79-61 win over the Utes, Jordan Bell had 17 points, seven rebounds and one of his five blocks came via a full-court chase down with Oregon up 18 midway through the second half.
Dillon Brooks had 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, with two of those coming over the out-stretched hands of the 6-foot-10 David Collette, who was the latest Utah player put on a poster by Brooks. He then followed with a three-pointer on Oregon’s next possession.
And Tyler Dorsey continued his torrid shooting, finishing with 16 points after sinking each of his first four attempts. He’s averaging 19.25 points over his last four games.
But here’s the thing about a game in which the Ducks’ win was so convincing that not only Charlie Noebel played, but new walk-on Evan Gross’ appearance sent PA man Don Essig scrambling for a roster: Oregon coach Dana Altman didn’t really think the Ducks played all that well.
The Ducks were out-rebounded by the Utes 38-31 and Utah outscored the Ducks 19-3 in second-chance opportunities.
It’s a stat that mattered little in an 18-point win, but one that Altman spent the majority of Thursday’s postgame press conference dissecting.
“That was a big disappointment,” he said. “Usually with a number like that, you don’t win the game. With Colorado and Cal coming up, two of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league, it’s a very disappointing stat.”
He wasn’t upset about everything. He liked that the Ducks assisted on 18 of 31 field goals. The 10 blocks and five steals complimented a very strong night defensively for Oregon, as a Kyle Kuzma-less Utah squad shot just 38 percent.
But Altman circled back to the rebounding, where he joked that Gross, in his one minute of action, was able to grab as many rebounds — one — as Brooks did in 27 minutes.
“We did hold them to 38 percent, and If you take the nine putbacks off that we really did play well defensively,” Altman said. “Those 19 second-chance points kind of takes all your effort defensively off the board.”
While Altman’s concerns may come across as a coach searching for areas to criticize after a resounding win, his mind was already focused on Saturday when a Colorado team that beat Oregon 74-65 three weeks ago and out-rebounded the Ducks 41-38 visits Matthew Knight Arena for Oregon’s home finale.
The Ducks are in a position where they can’t afford another slip up, as Arizona’s win Thursday night kept the Wildcats a game ahead of the Ducks in Pac-12 standings.
UCLA, which only plays once this week, sits a game and a half behind the Ducks.
The Ducks say they’re playing better now than they were at the start of the season and their 23-4 record — after starting 2-2 — reflects that. Now, they want to continue that pace here in the final stretch of conference play.
“I think every month we’ve gotten better and better,” Bell said. “We’re a totally different team than when we played in Maui, and at Baylor. If we played those teams again, I think we’d win. I think we’re making steps consistently.”
But how about those uniforms, coach?
“Remember when you had two uniforms, home and away? Life was a lot simpler,” Altman joked. “They were bright. They had those neon lights.
“The guys liked them.”
— Tyson Alger
talger@oregonian.com
@tysonalger
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