Ducks Carry Six-Game Winning Streak Into Rivalry Game with OSU

For the complete release with full notes, statistics, etc., please view the PDF version

EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Oregon men's basketball team (10-4, 2-0 Pac-10) will host Oregon State (6-8, 0-2 Pac-10) this Sunday at McArthur Court in Eugene. Tip-time for the Ducks-Beavers contest is slated for 7:30 p.m. (PST). Single-game tickets are for sale online at goducks.com or in-person sales are available at the Casanova Center Ticket Office and via phone at 541-346-4461 (toll free: 1-800-WEB-FOOT).

UO, which has won its last six games, is coming off a 90-79 road win over No. 17 Washington. OSU lost 99-48 to Seattle Wednesday night in Corvallis, equaling the worst loss in school history. The 51-point margin of defeat came via the same score that the Beavers suffered on Jan. 23, 1997 at Arizona.

Oregon State has a 181-150 advantage in the series history with Oregon, with the two schools splitting last year's meetings. UO won the last outing, a 79-69 home win over OSU on March 1, 2009. The Beavers took the first meeting, a 57-54 win in Corvallis on Jan. 31, 2009. The last time Oregon State won at Mac Court was back on March 6, 1993, a 54-48 decision over the Ducks.

OREGON - OREGON STATE LIVE COVERAGE
• TV: Fox Sports Net; Steve Physioc, play-by-play; Marques Johnson, color commentary
• Radio: Oregon Sports Network; Jerry Allen, play-by-play; 590-AM, KUGN in Eugene/Springfield; Coverage begins at 7 p.m.
• Satellite radio: None
• Internet: Links to live streaming audio and statistics at goducks.com. Follow UO men's basketball on twitter @duckbasketball for in-game updates and the latest news on the squad.

BRANDON TO HAVE JERSEY RETIRED IN PREGAME CEREMONY
This Sunday's game with Oregon State will feature a jersey retirement ceremony for Terrell Brandon. The former UO and NBA standout was the 1991 Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year. Brandon still holds the UO school record for single-season scoring average (26.6 ppg during the 1990-91 season).

UO will be celebrating the final Pac-10 men's basketball season at McArthur Court with commemorative ticket giveaways and honorary captains for the final nine games at the 83-year-old facility. All ceremonies will take place approximately 15 minutes prior to tip-off.

LOOKING AHEAD AT THE SCHEDULE
Oregon will host Arizona State and Arizona next weekend (Jan 14-16). The UO-ASU game is slated for Thursday at 5:30 p.m. (PST), while the game against the Wildcats is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

PORTER BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD, PAC-10 RECORDS IN REACH
In the first half of Oregon's 95-64 home win over UC Davis Saturday, Nov. 14, senior guard Tajuan Porter set a new school record for career 3-pointers. He passed Orlando Williams (1991-95) who held the previous mark with 282 made 3-pointers in 112 games. Porter has made 308 (now 308-of-786, .392) in 108 games played (complete list on page 6).

Porter needs 35 more 3-pointers to break the Pac-10 Conference record held by Arizona's Salim Stoudamire who made 342 career 3-pointers from 2002-05. Porter is also on pace to eclipse the Pac-10's 3-point field goals attempted record held by Arizona State's Stevin Smith who took 891 career 3-pointers from 1991-94.

PORTER NOW NINTH IN CAREER SCORING AT OREGON
Senior guard Tajuan Porter took over ninth place in career scoring at Oregon (1,570 points in 108 games), passing Blair Rasmussen who tallied 1,554 points in 114 career games from 1981-85. He is 74 points shy of moving into a four-way tie for sixth place with 1,644 points (Stan Love, Fred Jones, Malik Hairston). Ron Lee (1972-76) is Oregon's all-time leading scorer, recording 2,085 points in 112 career games. Lee, UO's only 2,000-point scorer, averaged 18.6 points per game over his four-year career with the Ducks. If Porter continues to score at his 14.5 ppg clip, he will be on pace to move into fourth place in school history (behind Lee, Luke Jackson and Anthony Taylor).

Last season Porter became the 29th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark. Porter reached the milestone in the Ducks 84-77 road win over UC Irvine. He is the 10th player to do so under Ernie Kent, and the fifth player in the last four seasons (Brooks, Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, Maarty Leunen) to eclipse the figure under Kent's direction.

LAST TIME OUT: OREGON 90, WASHINGTON 79
Oregon shot a season-high 53 percent from the field en route to a 90-79 road win over No. 17 Washington last Saturday at Bank of America Arena in Seattle. The win was the Ducks' sixth straight, improving their overall mark to 10-4 and 2-0 in Pac-10 Conference play. The Huskies dropped to 10-3 on the year and 1-1 in league play.

Sophomore guard Malcolm Armstead led the Ducks in scoring with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting. The 6-0 transfer from Chipola College finished with six assists (to just two turnovers) while adding three steals in 36 minutes of action. Fellow sophomore Michael Dunigan recorded his second straight double-double, finishing with 21 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Senior guard Tajuan Porter had 16 points (4-of-8 on 3-pointers) to go with four assists in playing a team-high 37 minutes.

It was Oregon's first road win over Washington since its 85-73 victory on Feb. 17, 2001. With the win Thursday at Washington State and Saturday's at UW, it marked the first time since the 1999-2000 season that the Ducks swept road games at the Washington schools. It also marked the first time in school history that UO defeated a ranked UW team in Seattle (0-9 previously).

The Ducks made 35 if their 66 field goal attempts, going 7-of-17 on 3-pointers for 41.2 percent. Oregon ended up 13-of-17 from the free throw line, despite not shooting a free throw in the first half. Washington made 22-of-35 free throw attempts (62.9 percent). UW was limited to 44.8 percent shooting from the floor (26-of-58), while making 5-of-18 on 3-pointers.

Isaiah Thomas scored a game-high 25 points to lead three Washington players in double figures. Quincy Pondexter (16 points) and Venoy Overton (14 points) also scored in double figures.

DUCKS HAVE STRONG QUARTER IN THE CLASSROOM
Six of UO's 15 men's basketball players recorded a 3.0 or higher in the most recent fall term.

OREGON CONTINUES REBOUNDING ADVANTAGE
Oregon has a 9-1 record this season when out-rebounding opponents (1-2 when out-rebounded, 0-1 with even number of rebounds). The only time the Ducks have out-rebounded their opponent and lost came in the road loss to Missouri, where UO held a 43-35 rebounding advantage.

The Ducks have a 193-134 edge in offensive rebounds through 14 games, with that leading to the UO's 206-137 advantage in second-chance points this season.

Sophomore center Michael Dunigan leads UO in rebounding (5.8 rpg), one of four Ducks posting 4+ boards per outing (E.J. Singler - 4.4, Jamil Wilson - 4.1, Jeremy Jacob - 4.1). Dunigan is averaging a team-best 1.9 offensive rebounds per game.

CEREMONIES PLANNED FOR FINAL MAC COURT PAC-10 GAMES
UO Athletics has announced it will celebrate the final Pac-10 men's basketball season at Mac Court with commemorative ticket giveaways, a pair of jersey retirement ceremonies and honorary captains for the final nine games at the venue. List of the honorary captains: OSU (Jan. 10) - Terrell Brandon; ASU (Jan. 14) - Charlie Warren, Bill Frieder; ARIZ (Jan. 16) - John Dick, Lute Olson; UCLA (Jan 28.) - Larry Holiday, Bill Walton; USC (Jan. 30) - Greg Ballard; STAN (Feb. 18) - Ron Lee; CAL (Feb. 20) - Chuck Rask, Glenn Moore, Darrall Imhoff; WASH (March 4) - Dick Harter; WSU (March 6) - Kenya Wilkins, George Raveling.

KENT UO'S ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH
Head coach Ernie Kent became Oregon's all-time wins leader with the Ducks' 84-77 road win over UC Irvine on Dec. 21, 2008. Kent, now with 229 career victories at UO, moved by Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Hobson who boasted an 11-year mark of 212-124. Kent has a career record of 229-161 in his 13th season with the Ducks.

• 319-241 career coaching record (19th year)
• 2002 Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year
• Seven postseason trips (NCAA and NIT)
• Five NCAA tourneys in the last nine years
• Two Elite Eight appearances since 2002
• Two NIT Final Fours (1999, 2004)
• Only coach in Pacific NW to take his team to an Elite 8 this decade (two times, '02 and '07)
• 142-52 (.731) record at McArthur Court
• 73-31 record against teams from Pacific NW
• Coached four first round NBA Draft selections

DUCKS WITH 711 WINS AT HISTORIC MCARTHUR COURT
With the victory over Portland on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, the Oregon Ducks captured their 700th win in games played at McArthur Court in Eugene. Oregon now has 711 home wins at Mac Court, with the Ducks 8-2 in home games this season. Head coach Ernie Kent has a 142-52 (.731) career record at UO's home facility over the last 13 seasons.

The 2009-10 season is scheduled to be the last full campaign at McArthur Court for the University of Oregon men's basketball team. UO is scheduled to move into its new facility, Matthew Knight Arena, by the start of Pac-10 Conference play for the 2010-11 season. More about the new facility on page 6 of this release.

Oregon is 42-16 in home games since the 2006-07 season. The Ducks went 16-2 at Mac Court in 06-07, a campaign where they went 26-7 overall en route to an appearance in the NCAA Regional Final (an 85-77 loss to eventual champion Florida | Midwest Regional - St. Louis)

DUCKS' BOUNCE-BACK HISTORY
Oregon has produced a winning record following four of the program's 20-loss seasons: 15-10 in 1922-23 (7-24 in 1921-22), 13-11 in 1957-58 (4-21 in 1956-57), 16-10 in 1972-73 (6-20 in 1971-72) and 15-14 in 1989-90 (8-21 in 1988-89). It didn't happen in 1992-93 (10-20 after going 6-21 in 1991-92) and 1993-94 (10-17 after going 10-20 in 1992-93).

Additionally, the only three Ernie Kent teams to finish without a winning record also bounced back. A record of 13-14 in 1997-98 turned into 19-13 and a trip to the NIT Final Four in 1998-99. A mark of 14-14 in 2000-01 turned into 26-9, a Pac-10 championship and the NCAA Elite Eight in 2001-02. The Ducks' 15-18 record in 2005-06 turned into 29-8, a Pac-10 Tournament championship and another NCAA Elite Eight appearance in 2006-07 (GW, 2009).

MATTHEW KNIGHT ARENA COMING SOON (VISIT MACTOMATT.NET)
Matthew Knight Arena construction is underway with its completion now just over a year away. UO will inhabit the 12,500 seat facility beginning with Pac-10 play of 2010-11.

MactoMatt.net (formerly godunks.net) is a website specific to the arena, including information, seat viewers and gifting opportunities. The customary 24-hour webcam, downloadable media and blogs by UO coaches and staff are also incorporated into the new website.

Highlights of the arena information section include video fly-throughs of the arena bowl, concourse level, club rooms and the facility's exterior. Fifteen different comparison features are also built-in, accenting the differences in restrooms, concourse width, seat size, parking, in addition to many of the other amenities for the new facility. Fans can track the arena's progress with an interactive timeline which details the past and future development.

MactoMatt.net's seat viewer section takes the fans into the arena for a virtual look from all four ticketing areas: terrace seating, loge seating, premier seating and student seating. A downloadable seating chart is also available in this section.