okoro
Photo by: Samuel Marshall/Eric Evans Photography
MBB Game Notes: Portland State
11/03/18 | Men's Basketball
Oregon opens the 114th season of men's basketball by hosting Portland State Tuesday at 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Network).
THE STARTING FIVE
• 1 – The Ducks have won 20 straight home openers. The last team to defeat Oregon in a home opener was Tuesday's opponent - Portland State. The Vikings edged Oregon 56-54 in the 1997-98 home opener.
• 2 – Oregon's 2018 recruiting class was ranked third nationally, which is the highest in program history. The class includes five-star recruits Bol Bol and Louis King, and four-star signees Miles Norris, Francis Okoro and Will Richardson.
• 3 – 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.
• 4 – 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).
• 5 – Payton Pritchard enters his junior year with 312 career assists. That puts him on pace to break Kenya Wilkins' UO career record of 614. Pritchard needs four assists to pass Terrell Brandon for eighth (315, 1989-91).
• +1 – Kenny Wooten enters the season with 92 career blocked shots. That's just one block out of fourth (93, Bob Fife, 1989-93) and 24 out of the top three (116, Blair Rasmussen, 1981-85).
BENCH – Dana Altman comes into the 2018-19 season needing 26 wins to become the school's all-time winningest coach. Additionally, Altman needs just three victories to surpass Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Hobson for second in UO coaching victories. Altman has 210 career victories through eight seasons at Oregon.
Hobson won 212 games as the head coach at Oregon for 11 years (1936-47), including the 1939 NCAA Championship. Altman enters the season just 25 wins behind Oregon's current career leader, Ernie Kent, who won 235 games in 13 seasons (1998-2010).
SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE
The Vikings return two starters from a team that went 20-14 a year ago and was invited to the CIT. Among those 20 wins were victories over Stanford and California. Portland State averaged 85.2 points per game last year to rank third nationally. The Vikings were also second nationally in steals (9.8) and led the country in turnover margin (+5.4).
WESTERN OREGON RECAP
A short-handed Oregon men's basketball team still managed to cruise to an exhibition victory Thursday night, beating Western Oregon, 77-58, before 7,697 fans in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks played without projected starters Payton Pritchard (bruised ribs) and Paul White (attending a funeral). But the UO men got enough highlight moments from freshman phenom Bol Bol and company to beat the Wolves, and hint at their potential over the course of this season. Perhaps struggling to adapt to the absence of the regulars, the Ducks went back-and-forth with the Wolves in the opening half. Bol's first field goal came on a dunk for a 6-4 lead — when he was the first man down the floor despite closing out on a corner three-point attempt at the other end. The lead remained just two at halftime, 29-27. Oregon gave itself some cushion with an 11-2 run coming out of halftime. Bol had three of the five field goals during the run, capping it with a baseline jumper for a 40-29 lead. He added several highlights late in the game, slamming home an alley oop from Victor Bailey Jr. with 4:56 left, and dropping in a fadeaway three-pointer for Oregon's final field goal with 1:03 left. Bol finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, leading five players in double figures. Francis Okoro added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Bailey scored 13, and Kenny Wooten added seven points, nine rebounds and four blocks. The Ducks shot 55.1 percent and had a 45-33 advantage on the boards, though they committed 19 turnovers with Pritchard watching from the bench.
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).
DUCKS SIGN NATION'S TOP RECRUITING CLASS FOR 2018-19
Oregon's 2018 recruiting class, consisting of five-star C Bol Bol, five-star F Louis King, four-star F Miles Norris, four-star F Francis Okoro and four-star G Will Richardson, was the ranked the highest in school history (No. 3 by 247Sports; No. 4 by ESPN). It is Oregon's third straight top-12 recruiting class.
THE STARTING FIVE
• 1 – The Ducks have won 20 straight home openers. The last team to defeat Oregon in a home opener was Tuesday's opponent - Portland State. The Vikings edged Oregon 56-54 in the 1997-98 home opener.
• 2 – Oregon's 2018 recruiting class was ranked third nationally, which is the highest in program history. The class includes five-star recruits Bol Bol and Louis King, and four-star signees Miles Norris, Francis Okoro and Will Richardson.
• 3 – 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.
• 4 – 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).
• 5 – Payton Pritchard enters his junior year with 312 career assists. That puts him on pace to break Kenya Wilkins' UO career record of 614. Pritchard needs four assists to pass Terrell Brandon for eighth (315, 1989-91).
• +1 – Kenny Wooten enters the season with 92 career blocked shots. That's just one block out of fourth (93, Bob Fife, 1989-93) and 24 out of the top three (116, Blair Rasmussen, 1981-85).
BENCH – Dana Altman comes into the 2018-19 season needing 26 wins to become the school's all-time winningest coach. Additionally, Altman needs just three victories to surpass Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Hobson for second in UO coaching victories. Altman has 210 career victories through eight seasons at Oregon.
Hobson won 212 games as the head coach at Oregon for 11 years (1936-47), including the 1939 NCAA Championship. Altman enters the season just 25 wins behind Oregon's current career leader, Ernie Kent, who won 235 games in 13 seasons (1998-2010).
SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE
The Vikings return two starters from a team that went 20-14 a year ago and was invited to the CIT. Among those 20 wins were victories over Stanford and California. Portland State averaged 85.2 points per game last year to rank third nationally. The Vikings were also second nationally in steals (9.8) and led the country in turnover margin (+5.4).
WESTERN OREGON RECAP
A short-handed Oregon men's basketball team still managed to cruise to an exhibition victory Thursday night, beating Western Oregon, 77-58, before 7,697 fans in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks played without projected starters Payton Pritchard (bruised ribs) and Paul White (attending a funeral). But the UO men got enough highlight moments from freshman phenom Bol Bol and company to beat the Wolves, and hint at their potential over the course of this season. Perhaps struggling to adapt to the absence of the regulars, the Ducks went back-and-forth with the Wolves in the opening half. Bol's first field goal came on a dunk for a 6-4 lead — when he was the first man down the floor despite closing out on a corner three-point attempt at the other end. The lead remained just two at halftime, 29-27. Oregon gave itself some cushion with an 11-2 run coming out of halftime. Bol had three of the five field goals during the run, capping it with a baseline jumper for a 40-29 lead. He added several highlights late in the game, slamming home an alley oop from Victor Bailey Jr. with 4:56 left, and dropping in a fadeaway three-pointer for Oregon's final field goal with 1:03 left. Bol finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, leading five players in double figures. Francis Okoro added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Bailey scored 13, and Kenny Wooten added seven points, nine rebounds and four blocks. The Ducks shot 55.1 percent and had a 45-33 advantage on the boards, though they committed 19 turnovers with Pritchard watching from the bench.
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).
DUCKS SIGN NATION'S TOP RECRUITING CLASS FOR 2018-19
Oregon's 2018 recruiting class, consisting of five-star C Bol Bol, five-star F Louis King, four-star F Miles Norris, four-star F Francis Okoro and four-star G Will Richardson, was the ranked the highest in school history (No. 3 by 247Sports; No. 4 by ESPN). It is Oregon's third straight top-12 recruiting class.
Players Mentioned
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