University of Oregon
Utah
Seniors Look To Stay Unbeaten At MKA
02/15/17 | Men's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
Chris Boucher and Dylan Ennis are 33-0 at home in their careers entering games against Utah on Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN) and Colorado on Saturday (noon, FOX).
The paths taken by Dylan Ennis and Chris Boucher the last several years were circuitous, to say the least. Oregon's two scholarship seniors summited peaks and endured valleys, taking them from Eastern Canada, through various U.S. colleges and universities, across the continent to the West Coast.
This weekend in Matthew Knight Arena, there's another peak to reach. Ennis and Boucher - as well as walk-on senior Charlie Noebel - will be celebrated during Senior Day ceremonies Saturday when the No. 7 Ducks (22-4, 11-2 Pac-12) host Colorado, after kicking off the weekend against Utah on Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN). Should the Ducks sweep their final homestand of this season, they'll have gone 35-0 at Matt Arena during the two years Boucher and Ennis were on campus.
"That's going to be a story for me to say, that in my two years I never lost here," Boucher said Wednesday prior to practice. "So I want to keep that going."
The odds that both Boucher and Ennis would be feted at Oregon's home finale this weekend are slimmer than Boucher's 6-foot-10, 200-pound frame. Boucher was late to the game of basketball, and overcame a humble upbringing in Montreal before developing into one of the NCAA's most unique threats. Ennis spent a season at Rice and then two at Villanova before joining the Ducks as a graduate transfer.
But Ennis' fifth year was derailed by a foot injury last season that limited him to two games. Boucher, meanwhile, was considered a senior in 2015-16 while his eligibility history was sorted out. Thanks to the efforts of Oregon's compliance office, each was granted another season of eligibility, and they've been key cogs as the Ducks try to repeat as Pac-12 champions.
"They've been a lot of fun to work with," UO coach Dana Altman said. "Two guys that have meant a lot to us the last two years, and that we're really going to miss."
The past two seasons have seen a role reversal for the two seniors. A year ago, Ennis was reduced to cheerleading on the bench as he nursed his foot injury. Boucher started 35 of 38 games, earning honorable mention all-conference and first-team Pac-12 all-defense mention while becoming the third D-I player since 1996-97 to have both 100 blocked shots and 35 made three-pointers.
This season, it's been Boucher coming off the bench, since a midseason ankle injury; he's still averaging 12.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Ennis, meanwhile, is one of two players to start all 26 games this season. He leads the Ducks at 30.3 minutes per game, while contributing 10.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and immeasurable heart as a leader and defender.
"I've done that my whole life," said Ennis , who is in line to play in his fourth straight NCAA Tournament, two each with Villanova and Oregon. "I've led guys, we've won a lot and I do the dirty work. I feel like that's what my knack is."
Boucher said he's become a more mature player in his second season with the Ducks. One way that's shown is through his willingness to play off the bench – and take advantage of the in-game scouting it allows him to do.
"You see who's scoring, what they're trying to do, the tempo of the game," Altman said. "If we're not rebounding, he can try and give us a lift, which he's done. If you sit there and study it, you do have some advantages, no doubt."
Along with junior Casey Benson, Boucher has taken to the reserve role in Pac-12 play. That hasn't prevented him from leading the Ducks from time to time, such as Boucher's 29 points at Washington State, and his double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds against Stanford.
"It's a team sport," Boucher said. "Together we're a really good team. I've realized a lot of stuff, compared with last year when everything was new."
This weekend's games will be of further importance to Boucher because his family will be in Eugene, and watching him play in person for the first time in his life. His mother, Mary, was scheduled to arrive in town Thursday with Boucher's step-father, brother and sister, he said.
Ennis also feels tugs on his heart strings this week. His girlfriend, Oregon women's player Megan Trinder, was recently hospitalized for a few days after experiencing complications in the wake of knee surgery.
But Trinder was out of the hospital as of earlier this week, and under home care provided in part by Ennis. Her quick recovery has only added to the warm feelings experienced by Oregon's scholarship seniors as they enter their final homestand this week.
Their paths to this point in the 2016-17 season might have been rocky, but they have the potential to end at the highest of peaks.
"I've set myself up to possibly be a national-title contender," Ennis said. "Everything I wished for, it happened here."
