Game Notes: Ducks Look to Climb Above .500

Oregon looks to climb above .500 in Pac-12 play when the Ducks host Stanford Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena (5 p.m., ESPN2).

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Wednesday's win against Cal moved Dana Altman into the NCAA's top 30 in all-time Division I coaching victories. He currently has 634 career wins at the Division I level, which is tied with Hugh Durham and Norm Sloan. The next coach Altman will pass on that list is John Wooden, who had 664 wins at Indiana State and UCLA.
• 2 – Wednesday night against Cal, Payton Pritchard rebounded from his recent shooting slump by grabbing a career-best 10 rebounds. The effort on the defensive end spurred 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting at the other end (5-of-9 on threes). It was Pritchard's second career double-double. He currently leads Oregon in total points (271), rebounds (92) assists (100), steals (38) and minutes (811).
• 3 – The Jan. 31 win at Utah was Oregon's 100th victory over the last four seasons. It is the fifth time in a row that Oregon has won 100 games over a four-season span, all of which have come during the Dana Altman era. Those are also the only five times in program history that Oregon has won 100 games over a four-season time span.
• 4 – Jan. 31 at Utah, Will Richardson became the eighth different player to lead the Ducks in scoring this season. Louis King and Bol Bol have led Oregon 6 times, followed by Payton Pritchard (4), Ehab Amin and Paul White (2), and Victor Bailey Jr., Kenny Wooten and Richardson (1).
• 5 – Freshman Louis King has scored in double figures in all but one Pac-12 game. In conference games only, King is the top freshman scorer, averaging 15.6 points per game, which ranks 10th overall.
, while he is the No. 2 freshman in rebounding (6.9 rpg, which ranks eighth overall).
• 5 – Freshman Will Richardson had a breakout game in last Thursday's win at Utah. He scored a season-high 19 points with five rebounds and a season-best three blocks. Richardson is averaging 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
• BENCH – At 4-2, Cal is the only Pac-12 team besides Oregon that has a winning record at Matthew Knight Arena.

SECOND HALF SURGE
Under coach Dana Altman, Oregon has a 52-21 record (.712) during the second half of Pac-12 play. That breaks down to 4-5 in 2011, 7-2 in 2012, 5-4 in 2013, 7-2 in 2014, 8-1 in 2015, 7-2 in 2016, 8-1 in 2017, 5-4 in 2018 and 1-0 in 2019. Only Arizona (54) has won more over the last nine seasons. The last four years, Oregon is 25-3 after Valentine's Day in Pac-12 Conference games (credit to Pac-12 Network's JB Long for that note).

Second Half of Pac-12 Play, 2011-19 (through Feb. 7)
Arizona                    54-19   .740
Oregon                   52-21   .712
UCLA                  49-24   .671
Utah                        37-27*   .578
Colorado                 34-30*   .531
California              37-36   .507
Stanford                  34-39   .466
Arizona State           31-42   .425
Washington             30-43   .411
USC                       29-44   .397
Oregon State           27-46   .370
Washington State   20-53   .274
*joined Pac-12 in 2011-12

STEAL AWAY
Oregon has three of the Pac-12's top 13 players in steals. Ehab Amin and Payton Pritchard are tied for second at 1.7 per game and Will Richardson is 13th at 1.3 per game. As a team, the Ducks are second in the Pac-12 at 7.7 steals per game.

NEW BACKCOURT DUO
Will Richardson moved back into the starting lineup Jan. 27 against Washington State. The freshman and Payton Pritchard combined for 14 assists and no turnovers against the Cougars. In the eight games this year those two have started together in the back court, they have combined for 68 assists and 31 turnovers, for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.2-to-1, an average that would be rank third in the Pac-12.

ALTMAN ENTERS NCAA CAREER TOP 30
With Oregon's win against California on Wednesday, Dana Altman entered the NCAA's top 30 in all-time Division I coaching victories. He currently has 634 career wins at the Division I level and is tied for 30th with Hugh Durham (Florida State, Georgia, Jacksonville) and Norm Sloan (Presbyterian, The Citadel, Florida, N.C. State). The next coach Altman will pass is John Wooden, who had 664 career wins for Indiana State and UCLA.

WOOTEN MOVES INTO TOP THREE IN UO CAREER BLOCKS
With three blocks Jan. 31 at Utah, Kenny Wooten passed Blair Rasmussen (116/1981-85) for third on the UO career blocks list and now shows 126. Wooten matched a career high with 20 points Jan. 27 against Washington State. Prior to breaking his jaw at Baylor, which caused him to miss the next four games, Wooten set a career-high 20 points Dec. 8 versus Nebraska-Omaha. Wooten's 92 blocks as a freshman ranked third on both the UO single-season list, and the Pac-12 freshman list.

KING LOUIE BREAKS OUT
Freshman Louis King opened Pac-12 play with back-to-back double-doubles and has scored in double figures in all but one league game so far this season. In conference games, King is the top freshman scorer (15.6 points per game, 10th overall). He had 17 points and 10 rebounds Jan. 5 against Oregon State, and followed that with 22 points and 10 rebounds Jan. 10 versus UCLA. Jan. 13 against USC, King had 19 points and a season-best six assists. He just missed his third double-double of the season Jan. 17 at Arizona when he had 10 points and nine rebounds. He led Oregon with 19 points Jan. 24 against Washington before matching his career high with 22 points Jan. 27 versus Washington State. 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.

PRITCHARD REACHES 1,000 CAREER POINTS, 400 CAREER ASSISTS
Jan. 17 at Arizona, Payton Pritchard became the 37th 1,000-point scorer in program history. Wednesday versus California, he passed Garrett Sim (1,078/2008-12) and tied Mike Clark (1,082/1977-81) for 31st. Pritchard enters the Stanford game with 1,082 points. Nick Jones (1,087/1964-67) is 30th, Charlie Franklin (1,090/1955-58) is 29th and Terik Brown (1,152/1995-99) is 28th. With a season-best eight assists Jan. 27 against Washington State, Pritchard became just the sixth player in program history with 1,000 career points and 400 career assists. 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 415 career assists. Luke Jackson (2000-04) is sixth with 424 assists. Pritchard is also climbing the UO career steals list. Jan. 27 against Washington State, he jumped into eighth, passing Aaron Brooks (127/2003-07) and now has 134. Anthony Taylor (147/1984-88) is seventh. Against Cal, Pritchard passed Jackson (174/2000-04) for ninth in three-pointers. He now has 177. Sim is eighth (185/2008-12).

PRITCHARD AMONG NCAA FREE THROW LEADERS
Payton Pritchard leads the Pac-12 and ranks 15th nationally in free throw percentage at 89.7 percent. Pritchard has made 61-of-68 attempts from the line this season.

500th BOARD MEANS EXCLUSIVE CLUB FOR AMIN
Reaching the 500-rebound plateau Jan. 17 at Arizona, Ehab Amin is now one of only two active college players with 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, 200 career assists and 200 career steals. The other is Purdue-Fort Wayne's John Konchar. Amin, who led the NCAA in steals as a junior at Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2016-17, is third in the Pac-12 at 1.7 steals per game. Amin has shown a burst of offense at times as well. He scored 25 points Nov. 15 against Iowa, 23 points Dec,. 29 at Boise State and added 13 Jan. 31 at Utah.

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Of Oregon's 12-player roster, 75 percent (9) are either freshmen or sophomores. Duck freshmen have logged 1,691 minutes so far this season (73.5 minutes per game). The three veteran outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.