University of Oregon
Baylor
First Major Test Comes At Baylor
11/14/16 | Men's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
Now up to No. 4 in the polls, Oregon plays its first road game of the season Tuesday at Baylor (12:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2).
The Oregon men's basketball team finishes up a home-and-home series with Baylor in Texas on Tuesday, two days shy of a year since they first played – a year in which the Ducks' national profile has exploded.
When the Ducks and Bears met last season, it was on the day Oregon first entered the top 25, at the bottom spot in the poll. Baylor was No. 20, before the Ducks pulled out a gritty seven-point win that helped set the course for their 31-win, Pac-12 championship season that ended in the Elite Eight.
Fueled by those accomplishments, Oregon entered this season as conference favorites and in the national top-five. Entering Tuesday's matinee (12:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2), the Ducks are up to No. 4 according to The Associated Press, the highest ranking in school history.
With those laurels come potential pitfalls, too. The Ducks know they'll be challenged to muster the same hunger they summoned for last season's upset of Baylor.
"Last year we were kind of licking our chops because we were the underdog," junior forward Jordan Bell said Friday after Oregon opened its season by beating Army. "This year, media's like, 'You guys are so good.' Honestly, we need to take that mentality like we did last year, like underdogs. Obviously we're going to get everybody's best game, like we got Army's best game. We've got to come out with energy and go for it."
The Ducks beat Army 91-77, leading by as much as 20 in the first half before taking their foot off the gas in the second. That lack of a killer instinct was lamented postgame by UO coach Dana Altman and his players.
Oregon allowed the Black Knights to shoot .500 in the second half. For the game, Army took advantage of 17 turnovers by the Ducks, turning them into 19 points. And the Black Knights outpaced the Ducks in fastbreak points, 18-8.
"Two areas we like to win, points off turnovers and fastbreak points, we got kicked in both of them," Altman said. "Those are two areas we definitely have to address."
Altman said communication issues contributed to breakdowns in Oregon's transition defense. The combination of turnovers and those breakdowns – from veterans, not just newcomers – helped keep the Black Knights in the game after halftime. And they provided two points of emphasis in practices between the opener and Tuesday at Baylor.
One positive from the opener was rebounding, always high on Altman's list of priorities. Oregon outrebounded Army, 42-30.
"I think we did a pretty good job on the boards, actually boxing out this time," Bell said.
Baylor returned six letterwinners from a team that went 22-12 and reached the NCAA Tournament last season. The Bears lost forwards Taurean Prince and Rico Gathers, who combined to average 27.1 points and 15.1 rebounds per game.
The analystics web site kenpom.com currently ranks Oregon at No. 9, and Baylor at No. 31. But the site has their game as essentially a coin-flip, with the Bears enjoying homecourt advantage and the Ducks playing on the road for the first time.
Baylor opened its season Friday with a 76-61 victory over Oral Roberts. With both teams at 1-0, and Baylor at home, the Bears were established as pregame favorites, giving Oregon an opening to embrace underdog status.
"That comes from leadership within the team," Altman said. "They haven't been doing a real good job of listening to my warnings here, and so I hope the leadership – Jordan and the guys gotta talk about it. It's their ball team. They're going to make the decision of the identity for their team. We give them some suggestions, but they're going to have to change the way they approach it."
After sputtering in the second half against Army, the Ducks said they're ready to do so Tuesday at Baylor.
"It's going to be a really tough game for us," junior forward Roman Sorkin said. "It's going to be the first test against a really good team. So I'm really excited for that."
