Devoe, Ducks Too Much For Cardinal
Don Smalley

A trend is appearing early in the Pac-12 Conference. As Devoe Joseph goes, so do the Ducks.

The transfer from Minnesota had a career high 30 points to propel Oregon to an impressive 78-67 victory over Stanford Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

The 78 points was the most the Cardinal had given up this season as they fell to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play. On the other side of the ledger, Oregon improved to 11-4 on they year and 2-1 in Pac-12 play.

"I just got a lot of good looks tonight. We were going fast and it got them in mixed up situations and I just got open," said Joseph, who shot 9-of-15 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range.

It was a good rebound game for Joseph. He had struggled mightily in Washington, but found his stroke once again at home. Oregon as a team shot well. The Ducks hit 25-of-48 from the field for 48 percent and 8-of-17 from long distance.

"I didn't approach this game any different than at Washington," said Joseph. "My teammates trusted me and they found me open tonight."

EJ Singler was the only other Duck to go into double digits with 13 points. Garrett Sim added nine and Tony Woods made his presence known with eight points and five boards. Joseph also led Oregon with seven rebounds.

Stanford was led by Josh Owen's 19 points. Aaron Bright added 14. But the Cardinal struggled from the field (27-of-62), including 8-of-25 from the three-point line.

"Our second half game was well played," coach Dana Altman said. "Our intensity was better, our free throw percentage was high and we outscored Stanford in second chance points. We played as a team."

The two teams went back and forth for most of the first 20 minutes with Oregon taking a slim 34-32 lead into the locker room. Opening the second half with a 7-2 run gave the Ducks a bit of breathing room with a 41-34 lead.

But following a much-needed time out, Stanford shot its way back into the game and much too quickly Bright's lay-up got the Cardinal within a point, 41-40. But the Ducks held firm, scoring six points in a row - four free throws and a thundering one-handed slam from Singler driving on the right baseline.

That awakened the sparse crowd of just 6,199 and Altman credited the fan enthusiasm down the stretch as one of the factors that helped the Ducks close out the Cardinal.

But the Ducks weren't quite yet out of the woods. After Johnathan Loyd found Tyrone Nared on an alley-oop dunk, Stanford took a brief 50-49 lead on a John Gage three-pointer that gave the Cardinal one last lead.

Joseph was wide open for consecutive threes that gave Oregon a 55-50 advantage with 8:51 left, Joseph trading high-fives with a fan after drilling the second from deep in the right corner.

Nared added a jumper and Joseph once again nailed a three and Oregon was on top 66-58 with 5:11 remaining. The Cardinal weren't able to close the gap down the stretch thanks to some great shooting by the Ducks from the charity stripe. Oregon was 20-of-26 from the line for the night, but 18-of-22 in the second half alone.

The Ducks had missed having Nared on the floor for the past several games with an injured knee. Wearing a brace, the senior had just five points and five rebounds on the stat sheet, but brought a toughness and scrappy play Stanford couldn't match.

"Tyrone gave us a lot of energy and said he felt good," Altman said. "Sometimes when you don't play five or six games, you start to miss the game and you get a sense of urgency to come back and play your best."

Oregon will now host Cal on Sunday for a 4:30 tip.