Stuckey situation
EUGENE, Ore. – Eastern Washington had a tough enough task Friday night when it faced off against No. 22 Oregon on the road.
But to do so without its leading scorer? Well, that was just too much to overcome.
Playing without do-everything sophomore guard Rodney Stuckey for nearly the entire game, the Eagles fell 100-74 to the Ducks (9-0) in front of 7,780 at McArthur Court.
It was the first men’s basketball meeting between the schools, and the loss ran Eastern’s winless streak against ranked opponents to 10 straight games. It was also the sixth straight loss against a Pac-10 opponent for the Eagles (5-6).
Of greater concern for Eastern, however, was the status of Stuckey, who was taken out of the game after only 4 minutes, 13 seconds because of back spasms.
He received treatment on the bench during the first half, but never took off his warmups in the second half.
“It started tightening up on him during pregame warmups and we tried to stretch it and tried to give it a go, but it just wasn’t going to work so we got him out of there,” Eastern coach Mike Burns said. “We’ll go back home and try and get it healed up as fast as we can.”
Stuckey first had troubles with his back on Monday against Santa Clara. He scored a career-low 12 points against the Broncos.
He started the week averaging 26.7 points per game – third best in the nation – but with Friday’s performance, coupled with the Santa Clara game, and Stuckey’s average has dropped to 23.1 over the last five days.
“One of the things I told my team after the game is that we need to be ready to play without Rodney,” Burns said. “I thought throughout the first half our kids did a pretty good job of that. So much of what we get offensively comes through him because of his ability to score and pass. It was good to see our guys step up that challenge for the first 20 minutes.”
The Eagles, who never led, trailed 14-9 when Stuckey left, but twice they pulled within a point of the lead in the first half. The last came 7:43 before halftime when Paul Butorac hit a jumper to cut Oregon’s advantage to 32-31.
But the Ducks answered with seven straight points, including a 3-pointer and layup by Bryce Taylor to go up 39-31. The Eagles trailed 46-37 by the break.
Taylor led a group of five Oregon players who scored in double figures with a season-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Malik Hairston also added a season-high 20 for the Ducks, who are off to their best start since winning their first 10 in 1996.
Butorac scored 16 to lead the Eagles, while Michael Taylor had 14 points and Derek Risper scored 12.
The Eagles struggled on offense at the start of the second half as they turned the ball over four times and made just one of their four shot attempts in the opening 4 minutes. The Ducks countered with a 13-2 run to go up 59-39.
“We had some possessions where we were really careless with the basketball, and you can’t have that against a Top 25 team,” Burns said.
The Eagles found success inside, scoring on five of their next six possessions to get within 61-50 with 12:48 to play, but Oregon answered again with an 8-0 run to halt any thoughts of a comeback.
(22) Oregon 100 Eastern Washington 74
Eastern Washington (5-6)—Williams 4-9 0-1 8, Taylor 5-11 2-2 14, Butorac 7-13 2-3 16, Krayem 3-10 0-0 7, Stuckey 1-5 0-0 2, Penoncello 2-4 1-2 7, Humphrey 0-1 0-0 0, Zumwalt 2-5 0-0 5, Risper 5-6 2-4 12, Moore 1-1 1-3 3. Totals 30-65 8-15 74.
Oregon (9-0)—Hairston 9-13 2-3 20, Taylor 8-10 6-7 24, Leunen 4-5 2-3 10, Brooks 6-15 3-4 16, Porter 4-8 0-1 10, Platt 0-0 0-0 0, Odia 2-2 0-0 6, Zahn 2-4 2-3 6, Schafer 0-1 1-2 1, Catron 2-4 2-3 7. Totals 37-62 18-26 100.
Halftime—Oregon 46, Eastern Washington 37. 3-point goals—Eastern Washington 6-24 (Penoncello 2-4, Taylor 2-6, Zumwalt 1-4, Krayem 1-7, Stuckey 0-1, Williams 0-2), Oregon 8-17 (Odia 2-2, Taylor 2-3, Porter 2-3, Catron 1-2, Brooks 1-5, Hairston 0-2). Fouled out—Butorac. Rebounds—Eastern Washington 26 (Williams 7), Oregon 42 (Leunen, Taylor 8). Assists—Eastern Washington 18 (Taylor 5), Oregon 20 (Brooks 5). Total fouls—Eastern Washington 24, Oregon 20. A—7,780.