Ducks Stay Focused After Big Weekend

The Oregon men's basketball team headed north to Washington this week, hoping they've learned a couple tough lessons from the past.

The 15th-ranked Ducks (13-2, 2-0 Pac-12) are national darlings again after sweeping previously undefeated UCLA and USC last week. They return to the court at Washington on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN2) intending to handle the national spotlight better than they did this preseason, when the UO men were ranked No. 5 and then started 2-2.

Oregon also hopes to fare better in the state of Washington than the last time it played at UW and WSU. That was in 2014-15, when the Ducks were swept on the road trip before recovering to go 11-2 over the rest of the regular season and reach the Pac-12 Tournament final.

"That was kind of a tough trip," UO junior Casey Benson recalled this week. "That was kind of a turning point for us. That trip was kind of make-or-break for us, and we were able to bounce back, but it was pretty crucial. We want to go and play well (this time)."

The Ducks will face a dangerous Husky team that is 7-6 overall and 0-1 in conference after losing at home to WSU last week. Washington boasts perhaps the nation's premier freshman in Markelle Fultz, a projected one-and-done guard.

Fultz is averaging 22.3 points per game — second-most among freshmen in the NCAA — and also 6.8 assists, accounting for more than 45 percent of Washington's scoring production himself or by distributing.

"Fultz is unbelievable," Altman said. "He makes plays — scores from all three levels — and makes plays for others. It's a very talented group; we're going to have to play well."

Oregon will be on alert this week after regaining its footing in the national spotlight. The Ducks sunk from No. 5 to No. 24 in the polls after their two early losses, hampered by a lack of chemistry as Dillon Brooks and Dylan Ennis rejoined the lineup off foot injuries.

Now that they're fully implemented into the rotation, Oregon's ball movement has increased considerably. That said, Altman isn't counting on being able to simply outscore Washington, which averages 85.4 points per game.

"There's an old saying: defense and rebounding travel," Altman said. "Sometimes the offense doesn't. We've just got to put in our best effort defensively, our best effort on the boards.

"We're going to score some points, but we can't let them get their average. UCLA scored a lot of points on us (87) but they didn't get their average (95.8 entering last week). And we wanted to make sure they didn't."

By keeping his team focused on the basics, Altman can guard against them getting too caught up in the resurgent hype around the Ducks. Having already recoiled from the spotlight earlier this season, the UO men don't want to do so again.

They've learned enough lessons the hard way, they said.

"We don't want those fall-offs, those knockdowns, to tell us we need to play better," said junior Dillon Brooks, named national player of the week after his game-winning three-pointer against UCLA and then season-high 28 points against USC. "We need to focus better. We've done that in nonconference, and now we're ready for business."