USC Squeaks by #16 Oregon, 84-82

The loss drops the Ducks to 13-1 overall, and 1-1 in the Pac-10.

Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - Aaron Brooks’ 31 points wasn’t enough, as the USC Trojans handed the #16 Oregon Ducks their first defeat of the year, 84-82 Thursday night at McArthur Court.

Brooks was fouled behind the three point line with 1.4 left in regulation.

He made the first, but the second bounced out, ending the Ducks hope for a victory.

USC (12-4 overall, 2-1 Pac-10) was lead by Nick Young who had 19 points and 7 rebounds.

Trojans forward Taj Gibson and guard Gabriel Pruitt added 18 points a piece as all five USC’s starters scored in double digits.

All five Oregon starters also reached double digits in scoring.

Ducks forward Maarty Leunen had 12 points and 14 rebounds, while Bryce Taylor, Adam Zahn, and Chamberlain Oguchi each had 10 points.

USC shot 55 percent from the field compared to the Ducks 43 percent.

The Trojans hit on 50 percent of their shots from behind the three point line compared to the Ducks who hit just 35 percent.

The nation’s top-ranked team, UCLA, visits McArthur Court for a Saturday morning showdown with Ducks.

Tip-off is set for 11:00 AM.

FSN will show the Oregon/UCLA game live nationally.

USC-Oregon Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Ernie Kent:

"With only four turnovers and five guys in double figures, you're going to win a lot of games. When you allow the other team to shoot 63 percent from the field and 60 percent from three point territory in a single half, that was the difference in the game."

"We've got to get back to playing tougher defense because everyone at this level in the Pac-10 is a good team. We need to deny their star players the ball and make someone else beat us. They have three kids that are great players and the freshman [Taj Gibson] is going to be a great player as well."

"When our team sees a zone defense, their eyes should light up, but we just couldn't knock down open shots tonight. I give Aaron Brooks a lot of credit for keeping us in this game, he made some big three pointers down the stretch."

Oregon Player Quotes:

Aaron Brooks

On last set of free throws:

"They were just routine free throws and I needed to hit all three to tie it up. The second one felt good but it just hit the back of the rim."

"I felt we had some good looks inside, we're a good shooting team and we had a lot of open looks, we just weren't hitting them."

"We have a big game now against UCLA on Saturday and we can't let this game and USC beat us twice."

"On Saturday we need to work hard; we've already lost our first PAC-10 game at home so now we need to get redemption against UCLA and show them what MAC court is all about."

Maarty Leunen:

"They really forced us to play more of a perimeter game, we probably should have taken it inside more."

"This is a really disappointing loss for us at home. We didn't execute our game plan but we have to give credit to them, they played and shot the ball really well."

"I think we had the opportunites to win but we weren't able to come through, we just need to come back and ready to play against UCLA."

Bryce Taylor:

"I think we relied a lot on our outside jumpers. When we see a zone we need to recognize that and get the ball in the middle more."

"We didn't shoot the ball well at the beginning of the game which is unacceptable. We come here and practice here everyday so there are no excuses to not shoot well especially early in the game."

"Saturday is a must win game especially at home. We need toput this game behind us, watch film and prep for a big game against UCLA on Saturday the number one team in the country."

USC Coach Tim Floyd:

“We’re very fortunate to win this game against a great basketball team. I can see why they (Oregon) are undefeated, and they are going to have a great chance to win this league.”

“We had some guys play huge. I thought Gabe Pruitt only having one turnover was big for us because we have been turning the ball over a lot lately.”

“I thought our movement without the ball was better than it has been in a long time.”

“We couldn’t guard the dribble for the first 30 minutes, so we were forced to switch to the zone. They were just driving to the rim at will. Switching to the zone was our only chance to stop that.”

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