Ducks Host UCLA on Thursday

Oregon hosts UCLA Thursday at 6 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena (ESPN).

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Oregon leads the Pac-12 in scoring defense (63.6 points per game) and field goal percentage defense (.383). The Ducks have held all but one opponent (Oregon State) below 50 percent shooting from the field, while nine opponents haven't reached 40 percent from the field.
• 2 – Freshman Louis King had a breakout game last Saturday against Oregon State. He recorded his first collegiate double-double with season highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds.
• 3 – The Ducks are second in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage at 76.0 percent. Oregon has hit 70 percent or better from the line in 10-of-14 games this season.
• 4 – Under Dana Altman, Oregon is 149-17 when holding opponents under 70 points, including a 115-9 mark the last six seasons.
• 5 – Francis Okoro became the 10th different Duck to start a game this season. That's a single-season high during the Dana Altman era, and the most for the Ducks since 2009-10, when 11 different Ducks made at least one start.
• BENCH – Oregon has had double digit steals in back-to-back games, including a season-high 14 at Boise State on Dec. 29. The Ducks had just one game (San Diego) with double digit steals the first 12 games of the season...Payton Pritchard comes into the UCLA game needing 15 points for 1,000 in his career.

8-MAN BALL
For at least this weekend, the Ducks will only have eight scholarship players available, plus a couple of walk-ons. Bol Bol is out for the year after suffering a foot injury in December. Kenny Wooten suffered a broken jaw Dec. 21 at Baylor. After the fall term, Abu Kigab announced he would transfer from Oregon. Combined, that trio averaged 30.2 points, 17.2 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game. Bol was Oregon's top scorer (21.0 ppg), rebounder (9.6 rpg) and shot blocker (2.7 bpg), while Wooten is the Ducks' No. 2 rebounder (4.9 rpg) and shot blocker (1.6 bpg).

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Of Oregon's 12-player roster, 75 percent (9) are either freshman or sophomores. Duck freshmen have logged 938 minutes so far this season (67.0 minutes per game). The three veteran outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.

PRITCHARD PASSES JONES IN ASSISTS; EYES 1,000 CAREER POINTS
Payton Pritchard entered his junior year on pace to break Kenya Wilkins' UO career assists record of 614 and he's also increased his scoring to approach 1,000 career points. Pritchard moved past former NBA Slam Dunk champion Fred Jones (367/1998-02) for seventh on the UO career assists list Dec. 29 at Boise State and now shows 377 career assists. Luke Jackson (2000-04) is sixth with 424 assists. Pritchard also has 985 career points coming into the UCLA game. With 15 points, he will become the 37th 1,000-point scorer in school history.

WHITE FILLS IN ON FRONT LINE
With Bol Bol and Kenny Wooten sidelined with injuries, Paul White has stepped us his effort the last five games. He leads the Ducks in scoring, averaging 12.0 points per game, over that span. He has scored in double figures in four of those five games, including 14 and 13 in the two games with Boise State, and a season-high 15 versus Oregon State.

KING LOUIE BREAKS OUT
Freshman Louis King had a breakout game Jan. 5 against Oregon State with his first career double-double. He had season highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds. King made his Oregon debut Dec. 8 against Omaha and made efficient use of his minutes. He scored 11 points on four-of-six shooting from the field (three-of-four 3FG) in 16 minutes. He missed the first seven games of the season recovering from a knee injury he suffered in high school.

VJ PROVIDES A SHOOTING SPARK
Victor Bailey Jr., who ranks sixth in the Pac-12 in three-point field goal percentage (.435), has provided a spark with four double-figure scoring efforts in his last even games. He had just two double-figure games in Oregon's first seven contests. Bailey Jr. is also shooting .958 from the free throw line (23-of-24).

RICHARDSON RISES
Freshman Will Richardson set a season high in scoring in four consecutive non-conference games. He had seven points against Syracuse, 10 against Green Bay, 13 versus Texas Southern and 16 at Houston. On the year, he's shooting 56 percent from the field and also dishing out 2.1 assists per game.

NORRIS SEES FIRST VARSITY ACTION
Freshman Miles Norris made his varsity debut Dec. 15 against Boise State. He scored his first career points Dec. 18 versus Florida A&M. His mother Christina (Metzger) Norris played on Oregon's women's team from 1982-84.

SHORT-HANDED DUCKS WIN AT BOISE STATE
Oregon won its final non-conference game at Boise State despite only having eight scholarship players dressed for the game. Without their leading scorer, top two rebounders and top two shot blockers, the Ducks used a season-high 14 steals to defeat Boise State 62-50 on Dec. 29. Ehab Amin came off the bench to score 23 points, while Paul White added 13. Amin, White and Victor Bailey Jr. all had three steals.

WOOTEN BREAKS OUT OF SCORING SLUMP AS BLOCKS CONTINUE
Prior to breaking his jaw at Baylor, Kenny Wooten snapped out of a mini scoring drought with a career-high 20 points Dec. 8 versus Nebraska-Omaha. He had reached double figures just once this season prior to the game with the Mavericks. With 111 career blocks, Wooten ranks fourth on the UO career chart. He is five blocks behind Blair Rasmussen (116/1981-85) for third. Wooten's 92 blocks as a freshman ranked third on the UO single-season list, and third on the Pac-12 freshman list.