Ducks Take To Road For Homestretch

The friendly confines of Matthew Knight Arena, where the Oregon men's basketball team has won an NCAA-leading 42 straight games, no longer will offer refuge for the Ducks in 2016-17.

A game out of first place in the Pac-12, and generally projected for a No. 2 seed into the NCAA Tournament, the UO men will need to prove themselves on the road for the remainder of this season. That includes the final three games of the regular season, beginning Wednesday at California (6 p.m., ESPN2).

The No. 6 Ducks (24-4, 13-2 Pac-12) head out onto the road on the heels of an emotional Senior Day victory over Colorado on Saturday. Seniors Chris Boucher and Dylan Ennis enjoyed big games in front of friends and family, and want to keep the momentum going this week in the Bay Area.

"My mom told me, just stay focused," Boucher said. "She was happy, I was happy and it's a great memory for me. If it was my last game, it would have been a hard goodbye. With more games, I'll definitely play harder and stay focused, because it's almost done."

Based on its win over Arizona in their only the matchup this season, Oregon can win the Pac-12 by tying the Wildcats in the conference race. But the Ducks remain a game behind Arizona since their loss at UCLA; the Wildcats and Bruins meet this Saturday, and the UO men want to keep pace in the event Arizona stumbles.

"We're going to have to play well; we're going to have to take care of business," UO coach Dana Altman said. "Cal is fighting for an NCAA berth, and they'll give us everything. And Stanford on (Saturday, its) Senior Day? It's a tough road trip to be taking this time of year."

The Ducks were reminded a year ago how dangerous the Bay Area trip can be. Oregon took a six-game winning streak to Cal in mid-February of last year, before allowing the Golden Bears to shoot .557 and dominate the boards, 39-26, in a 20-point win.

"They punched us in the mouth early, and we didn't respond," UO junior Casey Benson said. "We can't let that happen this year."

In the early going Wednesday, the Ducks would like to set a tone that carries over one theme from their 86-63 win over the Golden Bears in Eugene earlier this season, and reverses another.

In that 23-point win on Jan. 19, Oregon limited Cal big man Ivan Raab to four points on 2-of-10 shooting, and six rebounds. Boucher and fellow UO post Jordan Bell will work to similarly limit the projected NBA lottery pick in Wednesday's rematch.

"We don't want him to get going," Boucher said. "We want to play hard from the first minute, and every guy that goes against him, try to make it hard on him."

Of Raab's six rebounds in Eugene last month, however, five were on the offensive end. Overall, California grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in that game, converting them into 15 second-chance points.

Second-chance points were Oregon's Achilles' heel last week against Utah, an issue the Ducks addressed successfully against Colorado. Wednesday's game in Berkeley will match the nation's No. 54 offensive rebounding team in Cal, according to KenPom.com, against the Ducks' No. 193 defensive rebounding.

"That's going to be a huge focus for us," Benson said. "We have to limit them to one shot. (Cal and Stanford) are both big and they're both athletic, but we've got to make it tough on them."