Oregon coach Dana Altman was looking for a much better effort than what his team gave this past Tuesday when it needed overtime to defeat Portland.
He got it on Sunday afternoon, as the Ducks improved to 4-0 with an 82-61 nonconference men’s basketball win against Troy in front of an announced crowd of 5,394 inside Matthew Knight Arena.
Five days after having to rally from a double-digit deficit late in the second half against the Pilots, Oregon never trailed against the Trojans and shot nearly 52% from the field while also keeping Troy in check from 3-point range (3 of 25).
“We did play a lot harder,” Altman said. “We got after it better than we did Tuesday night. “
Five players scored in double figures for the Ducks. Keeshawn Barthelemy led the way with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 3 for 4 from 3-point range and 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. Barthelemy scored 13 in the first half to help Oregon build a 38-23 lead at the break.
TJ Bamba had 13 points and Nate Bittle had 12 points and eight rebounds. Point guard Jackson Shelstad didn’t score, but he had six assists and six rebounds.
“For us it was just a mentality thing,” Bamba said. “The way we were thinking coming into the (Portland) game, I felt like we played down to our opponent and we wasn’t playing hard enough. The following days we just took it serious in practice, fine-tuned some things and just worked on playing harder.”
Supreme Cook debuts for Ducks
The transfer from Georgetown finally got on the court for Oregon and was impressive in his 13 minutes of action, as the 6-foot-9, 230-pound fifth-year forward had 11 points and five rebounds. He was 4 for 5 from the field and 3 for 3 from the free-throw line.
Cook missed the first three games as he was still recovering from an offseason knee procedure.
“Everything,” said Altman when asked what he liked about Cook’s debut. “Supreme did his job. He knows and takes pride in what he is. He’s posting up hard, and not only is he posting up, but you could two or three guys worried about him after he got a couple buckets. … He gave us a big lift.”
Cook averaged 10.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last season, with starts in all 32 of the Hoyas’ games. He led the Big East with 3.8 offensive rebounds per game.
Guard Ra’Heim Moss misses game
Altman said the reserve guard banged his knee in practice on Friday and was still sore during shootaround Sunday morning.
“I think he’ll be ready Thursday, but we’ll see,” Altman said.
Moss, a senior transfer from Toledo, was averaging 3.7 points and 4.0 rebounds through the first three games, and was tied for the team lead with five steals.
Up next for Oregon
The Ducks head to Corvallis on Thursday for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Oregon State in what will be a battle of unbeatens inside Gill Coliseum and streaming live on ESPN+.
The Beavers (4-0) are also off to an undefeated start, with their last win coming Friday against Cal-State Fullerton, 70-51.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon men’s basketball continues undefeated start with a win vs. Troy
