Oregon Ducks vs. Arizona Wildcats

Oregon guard Jason Calliste (12) had a team-high 18 points to beat the Arizona Wildcats, 64-57, in the Pac-12 regular-season finale at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene Saturday.

(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

EUGENE – As Oregon prepares for its Pac-12 Tournament opener Wednesday against Oregon State, here are four things its victory against against No. 3 Arizona Saturday could tell us about its future:

1. This is Jason Calliste's team in clutch situations: During the Ducks' 13-0 start they held to the belief that with so many offensive stars, any one of them could take the last shot in a close game. Saturday's game should officially end that democratic approach. This is Jason Calliste's team when it matters.

“I thought, ‘If we lose it's going to be on me because I'm going to shoot it regardless,’” Calliste said Saturday from the postgame podium, a comment that produced a smile and raised both eye brows for point guard and podium-mate Johnathan Loyd.

Joseph Young may be Oregon’s leading scorer and hot hand, but Calliste has shown a knack for being his team’s steady heartbeat. His three-pointer with three seconds remaining in the first half pulled UO within two and changed the mood in Matthew Knight Arena from doubting to believing. His 18 points led Oregon, and included four three-pointers in five attempts. He is shooting 51.7 percent on three-pointers and 52.3 percent overall this season.

"If I see a little daylight I'm going to go," Calliste said.

Whether late in possessions or games, Oregon has most often tried to run plays for Young but those results are mixed. The plays have either never delivered him the ball – as against UCLA in January, on the final possession down two points – or finished in long, contested jumpers after rudderless possessions – as against UCLA in February. With the nation’s leading true-shooting percentage of 72.5, however, Calliste is the best option.

“Unbelievable,” coach Dana Altman said. “He stepped up and really hit big shots. You know he's not afraid to take it. You put the ball in his hands or run something for him he's not going to shy away at all.”

2. Oregon can play defense, but is it replicable? After losing to Stanford in mid-January, Oregon's third consecutive loss, Dana Altman was asked whether he had players capable of playing "good defense," and his reply was telling of the team's mid-season slide.

"Good is relative term," Altman said. "We can be a hell of a lot better than we are right now. We don't have a rim protector right now."

Finding a rim protector in Waverly Austin – and don't forget Ben Carter's late block of likely conference player of the year Nick Johnson, too, with 29 seconds remaining – and the focus on team defense has taken a long time for Oregon. Yet its second-half chokehold against Arizona was, by any objective sense, dominating.

Oregon held the Wildcats without a field goal for 7:34 and forced seven misses. The Wildcats scored two field goals in the final minutes as the Ducks made seven.

"We worked through the deficiencies that we had," Altman said. "If we can play long enough there's still a lot more there. Ben Carter is stepping up and making some plays and Wave's performance … it's exciting. We'll have our chance next week."

3. Transition trouble: Oregon's three-point shooting in the half court saved its upset but shouldn't overshadow how important its transition points are to its success -- and how much it struggled in that area Saturday.

It would seem unlikely Oregon can afford to score just two fast-break points as it did against the Wildcats, who had 17 of their own.

Transition points have been one of the largest sources of UO's offense this season, per hoop-math.com, with 27.5 percent of its shots coming within 10 seconds after a turnover, defensive rebound or opponent field goal, and its 59 percent shooting on those attempts.

To extend its seven-game run, the Ducks must continue to look for ways to score quickly.

4. The Ducks can win in spite of their offense: The last time Oregon was as inefficient on offense as it was against the No. 3 Wildcats came Jan. 19 in a loss at Oregon State, when UO scored .96 points per possession. Saturday, the nation's top-ranked efficiency defense held the Ducks to .97 points per and a season-low of 64 points yet still watched as Oregon students rushed the court to celebrate an upset.

Why? It couldn’t defend the perimeter.

Oregon made 10 three-pointers, which was just one fewer than its made two-point field goals – on 13 fewer attempts -- and one off from tying the most allowed threes by Arizona this season. As a rule, teams do not shoot that successfully against the Wildcats, whose opponents shoot 31.3 percent from three this season.

Against almost any other team, getting close to the hoop might be the most sound strategy, but only three other Division I schools hold opponents to a lower two-point field-goal percentage than Arizona’s 41.2.

To break the Wildcats and bust out of their off-kilter offensive performance, the Ducks went deep. Few teams from here on out will carry defensive credentials as gaudy as the Wildcats, but the Ducks' three-point shooting is a dangerous weapon no matter who they play.

Now I'd like to hear from you: What are your key takeaways from Saturday's upset going forward?