Oregon extended its win streak to six games Saturday night.
It took an impressive rally for the Ducks to get there, however.
Oregon overcame an 18-point deficit to defeat California 80-73 in a Pac-12 men’s basketball game inside Matthew Knight Arena.
Jermaine Couisnard had 18 points for the conference-leading Ducks (13-3), who improved to 5-0 for their best start to Pac-12 play since the 2016-17 Final Four season.
An announced crowd of 6,748 braved the ice and snow storm in Eugene to witness Oregon improve to 9-0 at home this season.
“The crowd was great tonight," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "I didn’t know if we’d have anybody show up. … When you’re down 18 and stuck in the mud like that, the crowd really picked us up.”
The Golden Bears (6-11, 2-4) went up 41-23 with 3:59 to play in the first half, but Couisnard led the Ducks on a 16-2 run over the final minutes to trim their deficit to four points — 43-39 — heading into the break.
Couisnard made three 3-pointers during that stretch and finished the first half with 12 points and four 3-pointers.
Oregon made each of its final six shots from the field to end the half, including a pair from reserve guard Jadrian Tracey, who had 14 points overall.
Oregon completed the comeback from its large deficit when point guard Jackson Shelstad hit a 3-pointer with 15:08 to play to put the Ducks up 46-45, capping a 23-4 run.
“The energy level was bad, they were getting whatever they wanted, 41 points in 16 minutes, it really had a bad feel to it,” Altman said. “I thought Jermaine did a great job of getting the guys going. We hit a couple shots and got our energy going.”
Oregon took the lead for good with 12:17 to play when reserve guard Keeshawn Barthelemy knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Ducks ahead, 51-49.
Shelstad and Barthelemy also had 12 points each. Shelstad added a team-high six rebounds and Barthelemy had a team-high five assists.
With Tracey and Barthelemy leading the way, the Ducks' bench had 39 points. Cal's bench scored 11.
“When we went into the season, we thought our depth was going to be one of our big things, one of the things we could really count on," Altman said.
Jaylon Tyson, the leading scorer in the Pac-12, paced Cal with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Fardaws Aimaq also had 18 points and nine rebounds. Aimaq had 14 points in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting but didn’t make his only field of the second half until there was just 1:39 to play.
N'Faly Dante returns for the Ducks
The night also saw the return of all-conference center N’Faly Dante, who had been out with a knee injury since playing in the season-opener on Nov. 6.
The senior had eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, two rebounds and a block in 17 minutes off the bench.
Dante had six points and a block in eight minutes during the first half but he also had a plus/minus of -13 as the Ducks struggled at both ends of the court when their star big man played.
“We don’t move for him," Altman said. "We throw it to him and then everybody is used to him just scoring and we all just stood and watched. We put him in really bad spots. Again, we gotta get used to playing with him again, we gotta get more movement when we throw the ball to him so they can’t double him as easy, and (we need to) spread the floor a little better.”
That improved in the second half, with Dante playing key minutes down the stretch when Oregon needed to close out the win.
“I thought defensively there late, he really did a good job," Altman said. "He put a thought in their mind when they got in the paint.”
What's next for Oregon?
The Ducks are on the road this week with games against Colorado at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Boulder, and against Utah at noon Sunday in Salt Lake City.
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