Ducks Face Iowa in 2K Empire Classic

Oregon opens the Championship Rounds of the 2K Empire Classic by facing Iowa Thursday at 6 p.m. PT (ESPN2). On Friday, the Ducks will either meet No. 15 Syracuse for the first time ever, or play UConn for the third consecutive season. In their last meeting, a 2012 NIT second round game, the Ducks (108) and Hawkeyes (97) set the Matthew Knight Arena record for most combined points - 205.

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Friday against Eastern Washington, Dana Altman tied Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Hobson for second on the UO career coaching wins list. Altman and Hobson, the only two men to lead Oregon to the Final Four, both have 212 career wins.
• 2 – DouBOL-DouBOL: Bol Bol became the first freshman in UO history to open his career with back-to-back double-doubles. He had 12 points and 12 rebounds against Portland State and followed that with 23 points and 12 rebounds against EWU.
• 4 – With three blocks in the season opener against Portland State, Kenny Wooten - in just his 37th career game - passed Bob Fife (93, 1989-93) for fourth on the UO career blocks list with 95.
• 5 – Payton Pritchard entered his junior year on pace to break Kenya Wilkins' UO career assists record of 614. Pritchard moved past former NBA all-star Terrell Brandon (315/1989-91) against Eastern Washington for eighth with 323 career assists.
• BENCH – Frontline. The average height of Oregon's post players is 6-10. That includes Bol Bol (7-2), Miles Norris (6-10), Luis King (6-9), Francis Okoro (6-9), Paul White (6-9) and Kenny Wooten (6-9).
• BENCH – Young Fresh Fellows. Of Oregon's 13-player roster, 77 percent (10) are either freshman or sophomores. The three outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.

DUCKS AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
This will be Oregon's first games at Madison Square Garden since the Luke Jackson-led 2004 NIT Final Four team. The Ducks also played NIT games at the Garden in 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1999. Senior Paul White is the only current Duck who has played as a collegian at the Garden, something he did a handful of times as a freshman and sophomore at Georgetown in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

FRESHMEN DEBUTS
Bol Bol made a splash with a double-double (12-12) in his Oregon debut against Portland State, and then followed that with another double-double (23-12) versus Eastern Washington. Bol is the first UO freshman to open his career with back-to-back double-doubles. Against Portland State, Francis Okoro was efficient with 10 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes. Will Richardson also saw brief minutes and netted seven points in eight minutes.

VETERANS LEAD THE WAY
Oregon only has three upperclassmen on the roster, and all three started the season opener versus Portland State. Junior Payton Pritchard led the Ducks with 22 points, senior Paul White added 15 points and senior Ehab Amin had four points and six rebounds. Pritchard had 10 points and eight assists in his second outing versus Eastern Washington, while White reached double figures in the second straight game with 11 against the Eagles.

DUCK MEN AND WOMEN MAKE HISTORY AS TOP PAC-12 PRESEASON PICKS
The Oregon men's and women's basketball teams made history when both teams were predicted to win the conference in their respective preseason polls. It is the first time in conference history that the preseason selections to win the league in men's and women's basketball have come from the same school. The only other time the Duck men were picked first in the preseason poll was 2016-17. Oregon shared the league title with Arizona that year. The Ducks received 288 points and 16 first-place votes in a poll of media members. UCLA was second with 264 points (six first-place votes), followed by Washington (249), Arizona (205) and USC (203).