Altman Sets UO Wins Record As Ducks Open With Victory

Tuesday, November 5

Eugene, OR

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

1-0,0-0Pac-12

Fresno State

0-1,0-0Mountain West

Fresno St.

Oregon

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

Altman Sets UO Wins Record As Ducks Open With Victory

11/05/19 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Fresno State-Oregon Box Score

Oregon beat Fresno State on Tuesday, 71-57, to give Dana Altman win No. 236 with the program, breaking a tie with Ernie Kent.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — Dana Altman became the winningest head coach in Oregon men's basketball history Tuesday by leading the No. 15 Ducks to a 71-57 victory over Fresno State in the 2019-20 regular-season opener before 6,779 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

Altman, who is in his 10th season at Oregon, picked up win No. 236 with the Ducks, breaking a tie for the UO career lead with former Oregon player and coach Ernie Kent. Altman improved to 236-96 with the Ducks, and 646-339 as an NCAA Division-I head coach.

"It really makes me appreciate all the players that have been here; my coaching staff … the consistency of the staff I think means something," Altman said. "I've had great support. So yeah, it means something. I've been fortunate; I had a great 16-year run at Creighton. I love that school. And I've spent nine years here and we love it here. You consider yourself fortunate."

How It Happened: The Ducks (1-0) were led by their sublime senior Payton Pritchard, who recorded the first basket of the season and was just getting started. He later hit midrange jumpers on back-to-back possessions to give Oregon a 13-7 lead, and sophomore Will Richardson pushed the lead to eight with two free throws. But by then Oregon was in the early stages of what ended up being a run of 7:25 without a field goal; during that stretch, the Ducks missed eight straight shots and Fresno State turned the tables to lead 21-16.

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Oregon stabilized itself during the last few minutes of the first half. Chris Duarte broke the streak without a field goal with a three-pointer to get the Ducks within 21-20, and sophomore Francis Okoro reclaimed the lead on the next possession. Baskets by Pritchard and his former high school teammate Anthony Mathis, a graduate transfer with the Ducks, put Oregon up 26-21, and Pritchard gave the Ducks their biggest lead of the first half with another midrange jumper for a 38-27 halftime lead.

"He's one of the best point guards in the country, obviously," Mathis said of Pritchard. "I definitely know that; I've seen it first-hand. The presence he has on the floor, it's so much easier to do my job. We have no worries with Payton."

The Ducks sustained that late first-half momentum to open the second half. Pritchard completed a three-point play and added a free throw on a technical foul for a 42-39 lead, then put together a couple of the night's best individual highlights. He used a hesitation move to freeze a defender and get himself to the basket to make it 44-29, and moments later Pritchard worked to attract a double team and then passed to the open man, Okoro, whose dunk put Oregon up 48-29.

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The biggest lead of the night was 56-35 on a basket by Duarte, after a steal and assist by freshman Chandler Lawson. From there Fresno State fought back within nine, at 64-55. But Duarte responded with two free throws and Oregon remained up by double digits the rest of the way.

The difference when the Ducks were building comfortable leads? "When we paid more attention on defense," Okoro said, "we played really good."

Who Stood Out: On a night when the Ducks debuted a new-look roster, the veterans looked like veterans and the freshmen for the most part looked like freshmen. Pritchard scored 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and added seven assists with seven rebounds. The JC transfer Duarte scored 16 and Okoro had 10 points with 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Freshmen Lawson, Addison Patterson and C.J. Walker were held scoreless in 34 combined minutes.

"Those three guys are a lot better than that, and we're going to need them," Altman said. "But they were a little nervous."

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What It Means: Oregon won its season opener for the 22nd year in a row, and improved to 13-2 all-time against Fresno State — including a perfect 10-0 when facing the Bulldogs in Eugene.

Notable: A fourth freshman, Lök Wur, did not play and Altman said he hopes to hold Wur out this season as a redshirt. … Shooting from the new extended three-point line, the Ducks were just 1-of-13 in the game. They extended, just barely, their streak of games with a made three-pointer to 750. … Pritchard's seven assists gave him 494 in his career. He needs seven more to pass Luke Ridnour for fourth place on the UO career list. … Pritchard passed passed Jim Barnett (1,325 points/1963-66) for 18th on the UO career scoring list, finishing the game with 1,327 ... UO football coach Mario Cristobal sat courtside for the game with his family.

Up Next: The Ducks host Boise State in Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday (8 p.m., Pac-12), the nightcap of a doubleheader that begins with the UO women playing an exhibition against the U.S. women's national team at 4 p.m.