Time off obviously didn’t seem to help the ducks, who were 4-1 before Thanksgiving. Since the break, Oregon has gone 0-2 against unranked opponents. Instead of ducks, Oregon looked more like groundhogs digging themselves further into a hole with all the turnovers in the half against the Cougars. Houston went on an 18-3 run in the first to stretch their lead to 20 points with less then four minutes remaining before closing out the half 37-18.
Facing their first true road game of the season, Oregon had simply no answer for Houston offensively, or defensively. The guard play by Armoni Brooks and Nate Hinton went simply unmatched and despite Oregon’s attempt to claw back into the game in the second half, the deficit was insurmountable.