Victor Bailey goes for a loose ball against Houston in the first half.

If Monday's 89-84 loss to Texas Southern was a terrible loss, how would Oregon's players and head coach Dana Altman describe Saturday night's first half against Houston?

Needing to play better basketball on the road and claiming to have had one of their best practices of the year leading up to the game, the Ducks played one of their worst halves of the season. The Ducks were dominated on both ends of the floor from the start to finish and trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half. Oregon committed 10 turnovers, allowed Houston to grab nine offensive rebounds, and couldn't get into any kind of offense when they possessed the ball. When they did shoot, Oregon was terrible there too. The Ducks shot just 33-percent from the field.

The second half was much different for the Duck and found themselves trailing Houston by nine with nine minutes to play with better play on both ends of the floor. With less than a minute the Ducks were trailing by as few as two points. But Oregon's comeback fell short and the Ducks couldn't overcome the hole the Ducks dug for themselves in the first half. The Ducks (4-3) fell 65-61 to Houston (6-0).

The Ducks will leave Houston what the outcome would have been had they played even remotely as well in the first half as they did in the second.

Bol Bol led the Ducks with 23 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots. Fellow freshman Will Richardson added 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists off the bench.

Payton Pritchard scored eight points but didn't register any assists for the first time all season.

Oregon finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field.

Houston was led by Armoni Brooks' 22 points and nine rebounds. Houston finished with 23 points off the bench, made 18 of their 23 free throws, and assisted on 14 of their 19 made field goals.

The Ducks tried to make a run at Houston to start the half with six points in the first three minutes of the second half and trailed 37-24. The run, however, was shortlived. Houston hit back to back three-pointers to push the lead back to 19 within 90 seconds.

The first half the Ducks didn't show much of a fight when things didn't go their way. In the second half was different. After seeing Houston's lead grow back to 19 points, the Ducks fought back. Bol hit a three-pointer and then impacted a Houston shot on the other end. The Ducks grabbed the missed shot and Payton Pritchard hit a three-pointer to cut the lead back down to 13, 46-33 with 13 minutes to play.

Will Richardson converted a layup on Oregon's next offensive possession to complete an 8-0 run and cut the Houston lead to 11, 46-35.

The Ducks got the lead to under 10 points, 46-37 after a Payton Pritchard layup, and then the Ducks fell apart. Houston went on a 5-0 run in 90 seconds and killed any momentum the Ducks gained. The Ducks trailed 51-37.