BERKELEY, Calif. — The Oregon Ducks were happy to get a conference win on the road, but dissatisfied with their own play after a victory over a struggling California team.
MiKyle McIntosh had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Oregon beat California, 66-53, on Thursday night, sending the Bears to their ninth straight defeat to match the second-longest losing streak in school history.
Troy Brown had 16 points and Elijah Brown added 15 for the Ducks (15-7, 5-4 Pac-12), who never trailed and held a double-digit lead for much of the game.
Oregon won easily despite committing 17 turnovers and allowing California to grab 19 offensive rebounds.
“We could have won by a lot more points,” McIntosh said. “You take the win, but you’ve got to learn from this.”
Oregon coach Dana Altman said his team was far too sloppy, saying the Ducks should have focused on being more careful with the ball after 11 first-half turnovers. Instead, they had two more turnovers early in the second half, including an ill-advised lob from near midcourt.
“I’m just disappointed in the turnovers and the offensive rebounds that we gave up. We’re fortunate they didn’t finish some of their putbacks,” he said. “That’s just not good basketball. We didn’t make the adjustments we needed to make.”
Oregon opened the game with a 9-0 run, holding the Bears scoreless for the opening 6:24, during which Cal missed six shots and had six turnovers. The Ducks led 34-26 at the half.
The Bears got within 53-47 midway through the second half, but Oregon responded with an 8-0 run to put the game out of reach.
“We always knew that if we kept the game close throughout, we can make a run at any time,” Cal forward Justice Sueing said. “But those defensive lapses where we gave them a layup, a dunk or let them get an open shot kind of hurt us.”
Don Coleman had 16 points to lead Cal (7-16, 1-9), which is headed for its first losing season since 2006-07. Marcus Lee, who averaged 20 points in his previous three games, fouled out after scoring two points.
California had a 10-game losing streak in 1961-62. The Bears also had nine-game skids in 1979-80 and 1954-55.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: The Ducks won their fourth straight game against Cal, tying their longest such streak against the Bears. Oregon also had a four-game winning streak in 1972-74. Cal leads the series 84-61.
California: The Bears are on track to lose 20 games in a season for the third time in 110 basketball seasons, having done so only in 1987-88 (9-20) and 1978-79 (6-21). Cal didn’t start regularly playing 20 games in a season until 1930-31.
CLUNK, CLUNK
The game could have been a lot closer if Cal had made its free throws The Bears went 9 for 20 from the foul line, including just 2 of 8 in the first half.
REBOUNDING DEFICIT
Oregon won despite getting outrebounded 36-31. The Ducks have been outrebounded seven times this season, and this was just the second win they’ve had in such games. Oregon is 12-1 when holding the rebounding advantage.
NO THREES
Darius McNeill is fifth on the Cal list for 3-pointers by a freshman with 46, but he couldn’t find his range against Oregon, going 0 for 8 from beyond the arc.
UP NEXT
Oregon travels across San Francisco Bay to face Stanford on Saturday.
California hosts Oregon State on Saturday. The Beavers have not won in Berkeley since 2009.
