ASU men's basketball (10-6, 1-2 Pac-12) couldn't keep up with No. 9 Oregon's (14-3, 3-1) hot offense, falling 78-69 on Saturday night.
Each teams's point guards headlined the matchup, with ASU junior guard Remy Martin and UO senior guard Payton Pritchard finishing with 29 points and six assists each.
Redshirt senior guard Rob Edwards contributed 11 points for the Sun Devils while junior guard Chris Duarte finished with 20 points and six rebounds for the Ducks.
Pritchard took control of the first half early, scoring 15 points and handing out four assists in that time. UO shot 56% from the field and 50% from three in the first period.
ASU's offense kept up with contributions across the board, having seven players score at least one basket in the first half.
Despite a slow start to the second half, the Sun Devils kept up with the Ducks, going on a 6-0 run to stay within single digits.
But UO responded every time ASU made a dent in the deficit. ASU went on a late 9-2 run to bring the game to a five point deficit, but its momentum was stymied by timely shots from Pritchard and Duarte.
Head coach Bobby Hurley said the result of the game came down to a simple fact: "They (Oregon) shot 12 of 29 from three, we shot nine from 29 from three. We lost by nine."
Freshman guard Jaelen House felt the team generated enough good looks to win, but not enough of them went in to keep up.
"We were just missing shots," House said. "We got open shots, and we weren't knocking them down."
UO finished the game shooting 48% from the field while the Sun Devils shot 39% overall.
ASU will take on Colorado in Tempe on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. MST for its Pac-12 home opener.
Reach the reporter at jhorst2@asu.edu and follow @HorseySeven on Twitter.
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Jeffrey Horst is the digital editor-in-chief of The State Press. He previously served as the publication's sports editor and worked at Cronkite News and ArizonaSports.com.
