All good things must come to an end eventually. Tonight, the Arizona Wildcats found that out the hard way.
No. 18 Arizona’s 49-game home winning streak was snapped Thursday night at the hands of the No. 23 Oregon Ducks, 83-75.
Dillon Brooks led the game with 24 points and Dwayne Benjamin added 15 as the Ducks (17-4, 6-2) overcame a 13-point deficit in the first half to beat the Wildcats.
Ryan Anderson led Arizona players with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Gabe York added 18 for the Wildcats (16-5, 4-4) who shot an impressive 61 percent from the field.
“I just want, on behalf of the team, to apologize to the fans and especially the players and coaches that have come before us,” Anderson said after the game. “All of the guys that put work into this streak. The players that gave us all the beautiful facilities that we have. These last two games, we haven’t lived up to the standard that is held here at Arizona, especially effort wise and attention to detail.”
The turnovers proved to be the undoing for Arizona. The Wildcats had 19 compared to Oregon’s six. The Ducks turned these turnovers into 21 points. Anderson and Kadeem Allen each had five.
“Very proud of 49 in a row,” head coach Sean Miller said. “Nation’s longest win streak. Lot of great players and moments. For it to come down tonight, I’m glad it was Oregon. I think they represent all of the qualities that are good in basketball. They’re a terrific team. That’s who we lost to.”
It was a tale of two halves for both teams, as Arizona seemed to be coasting to an easy victory in the early parts of the first half.
The Wildcats started the game off 8-8 from the field and jumped to an early 18-7 lead in the first six minutes of the game. York found Kadeem Allen for an alley-oop for the first points of the game, as well as getting an and-one dunk from Anderson a few minutes late. York and Anderson each had seven apiece during that stretch.
“We made a lot of shots. I don’t care who you are, you’re not going to continue to make every shot you take,” Miller said. “When we didn’t, we turned the ball over. We needed the stops, and to be a tough defensive team, and we weren’t. We had some guys come in the game playing for Oregon.”
The Wildcats had shot the ball 73 percent from the field in the first half, and 61 percent for the whole game. Oregon shot 51 percent for the game, but the Ducks also shot 21 more shots than Arizona.
Oregon came out of halftime on an 11-4 run, including a 3-pointer from Elgin Cook to give the Ducks their first lead of the game at 49-46. Oregon never trailed again as the Wildcats were only able to tie them at 64 after a Parker Jackson-Cartwright 3-pointer.
Arizona found their largest lead at 13 after Jackson-Cartwright hit a three to give them a 26-13 lead.
However, Arizona began to cool off as Oregon hung in the game despite the early troubles The Ducks trimmed the lead to one right before halftime after former Arizona commit Tyler Dorsey knocked down a layup before the buzzer.
“I’ve never been more down looking at a team I coached,” Miller said. “Leadership, effort, togetherness, playing for the win. Right now things are going to get worse before they get better.”
Arizona will look to get back on the winning track at McKale as they host the Oregon State Beavers Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.
