Photo by: Samuel Marshall
Game Notes: Deja Vu All Over Again for Pac-12 Tournament
03/11/19 | Men's Basketball
It's deja vu all over again when #6 Oregon faces #11 Washington State Wednesday night in Las Vegas (8:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network). In the 2018 Pac-12 Tournament, Oregon was the #6 seed, defeated #11 WSU and advanced to face #3 Utah. In the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament, #6 Oregon will play #11 WSU with the winner advancing to face #3 Utah.
THE STARTING 5
• 1 – For the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present) Oregon has held four consecutive opponents to less than 62 points. The last time Oregon did that was 1984-85, a year before the shot clock.
• 2 – The Ducks have held three of their last four opponents to their lowest point totals of the season: Arizona State (51), Arizona (47) and Washington (47). Figure in the 61 scored by WSU and the Ducks are yielding a stingy 51.5 ppg over the last 4 games.
• 3 – No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon The Ducks are 13-4 in Sin City with two championships (2013, 2016), four title game appearances and five semifinal appearances (Arizona also has 13 wins).
• 4 – The Ducks' win over Arizona on March 2 guaranteed a ninth consecutive winning season for Oregon. It is the first time in 87 years that the Ducks have posted nine winning seasons in a row. Oregon had 10 straight winning seasons from 1923-32.
• 5 – While Oregon's recent defensive surge can be directly linked with the switch to the "big" starting lineup (four players standing 6-9), the play of Payton Pritchard shouldn't be overlooked. He's got 15 steals in the last five games to go along with 25 assists. He has also scored in double figures in all five of those games.
• BENCH – Dana Altman is now one of six active head coaches in NCAA Division I who have posted a winning record for the last 22 consecutive seasons (the other five - Williams, Boeheim, Izzo, Self and Coach K - are all in the Hall of Fame).
DUCKS IN THE DESERT
No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon. The Ducks are 13-4 since the league moved the championship to the desert in 2013 (Arizona is 13-3). In the previous six tournaments in Las Vegas, the Ducks have played in four championship games (winning in 2013 and 2016) and have advanced to the semifinal round five times. The only year the Ducks departed Vegas prior to the semis was in 2014 after a quarterfinal loss to UCLA.
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT STAYING POWER
Since the conference tournament returned in 2002, Oregon has won at least one game in 13 of 16 appearances and went on to take the conference crown four times (2003, 2007, 2013, 2016). The Ducks are 26-12 (.684) in 16 appearances since 2002. Oregon's only first round exits during that span came in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Including the conference tournaments from 1987-90, Oregon's overall .636 winning percentage (28-16) is third-best in the conference, while the Ducks' four titles trail only Arizona's seven.
KING, WOOTEN EARN PAC-12 HONORS
Louis King and Kenny Wooten were selected for Pac-12 honors. King, from Jersey City, N.J., was named to the all-freshman team and was also an all-league honorable mention selection. Wooten, a sophomore from Manteca, Calif., was named to the all-defensive team for the second year in a row. King is averaging 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. In Pac-12 games, King is the second-leading freshman scorer at 14.5 points per game. He scored in double figures in 15-of-18 Pac-12 games this season. King is the Ducks' fourth all-freshman team selection in the last five years, joining Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks in 2015, and Tyler Dorsey in 2016. Wooten ranks fourth in the league in blocked shots, averaging 1.9 per game. He is already third in UO career blocks with 144. His 52 blocks this year is seventh on the UO single-season list. Wooten is averaging 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
OREGON'S HISTORIC DEFENSIVE STRETCH BEST OF THE SHOT CLOCK ERA
Oregon's defense over the last two weeks has not only been good, it's been historically remarkable. For the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present), the Ducks held four consecutive opponents to less than 62 points. The last time Oregon did that was 1984-85, a year before the shot clock. The Ducks held five consecutive opponents below 62 - St. Martin's (42), Colorado (60), Minnesota (57), Wyoming (60) and New Mexico State (51) - in December of 1984.
DUCKS NEAR NINTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Oregon is one win away from its ninth consecutive 20-win season. Currently, only nine schools nationally have won 20 games in a row for at least nine consecutive seasons.
Teams with 9+ 20-Win Seasons:
Belmont, Cincinnati, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Saint Mary's and Vermont.
There are another six programs, including Oregon, that could join that group this season:
Oregon (19-12), BYU (19-13), Louisville (19-12), Arizona (17-14), Wichita State (17-13) and Iona (16-15).
OREGON SECURES NINTH STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON
This is Oregon's ninth straight winning season, something that hasn't happened in Eugene in 87 years. The only other time Oregon has had nine or more winning seasons in a row was the decade between 1923-32, when the program posted 10 consecutive winning seasons under coaches William Reinhart and George Bohler.
OREGON SETS NINE-YEAR WIN RECORD
Not surprisingly, Oregon has set the program record for wins over a nine-season period, now with 229. The Ducks passed the previous mark of 226, which was set just last year (2009-18).
ALTMAN ENTERS NCAA CAREER TOP 30
With Oregon's win against California on Feb. 6, Dana Altman entered the NCAA's top 30 in all-time Division I coaching victories. He currently 29th with 639 career wins at the Division I level after passing Hugh Durham (Florida State, Georgia, Jacksonville) and Norm Sloan (Presbyterian, The Citadel, Florida, N.C. State), who both have 634. The next coach Altman will pass is John Wooden, who had 664 career wins for Indiana State and UCLA.
YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Of Oregon's 12-player roster, 75 percent (9) are either freshmen or sophomores. Duck freshmen have logged 2,351 minutes so far this season (75.8 minutes per game). The three veteran outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.
THE STARTING 5
• 1 – For the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present) Oregon has held four consecutive opponents to less than 62 points. The last time Oregon did that was 1984-85, a year before the shot clock.
• 2 – The Ducks have held three of their last four opponents to their lowest point totals of the season: Arizona State (51), Arizona (47) and Washington (47). Figure in the 61 scored by WSU and the Ducks are yielding a stingy 51.5 ppg over the last 4 games.
• 3 – No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon The Ducks are 13-4 in Sin City with two championships (2013, 2016), four title game appearances and five semifinal appearances (Arizona also has 13 wins).
• 4 – The Ducks' win over Arizona on March 2 guaranteed a ninth consecutive winning season for Oregon. It is the first time in 87 years that the Ducks have posted nine winning seasons in a row. Oregon had 10 straight winning seasons from 1923-32.
• 5 – While Oregon's recent defensive surge can be directly linked with the switch to the "big" starting lineup (four players standing 6-9), the play of Payton Pritchard shouldn't be overlooked. He's got 15 steals in the last five games to go along with 25 assists. He has also scored in double figures in all five of those games.
• BENCH – Dana Altman is now one of six active head coaches in NCAA Division I who have posted a winning record for the last 22 consecutive seasons (the other five - Williams, Boeheim, Izzo, Self and Coach K - are all in the Hall of Fame).
DUCKS IN THE DESERT
No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon. The Ducks are 13-4 since the league moved the championship to the desert in 2013 (Arizona is 13-3). In the previous six tournaments in Las Vegas, the Ducks have played in four championship games (winning in 2013 and 2016) and have advanced to the semifinal round five times. The only year the Ducks departed Vegas prior to the semis was in 2014 after a quarterfinal loss to UCLA.
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT STAYING POWER
Since the conference tournament returned in 2002, Oregon has won at least one game in 13 of 16 appearances and went on to take the conference crown four times (2003, 2007, 2013, 2016). The Ducks are 26-12 (.684) in 16 appearances since 2002. Oregon's only first round exits during that span came in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Including the conference tournaments from 1987-90, Oregon's overall .636 winning percentage (28-16) is third-best in the conference, while the Ducks' four titles trail only Arizona's seven.
KING, WOOTEN EARN PAC-12 HONORS
Louis King and Kenny Wooten were selected for Pac-12 honors. King, from Jersey City, N.J., was named to the all-freshman team and was also an all-league honorable mention selection. Wooten, a sophomore from Manteca, Calif., was named to the all-defensive team for the second year in a row. King is averaging 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. In Pac-12 games, King is the second-leading freshman scorer at 14.5 points per game. He scored in double figures in 15-of-18 Pac-12 games this season. King is the Ducks' fourth all-freshman team selection in the last five years, joining Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks in 2015, and Tyler Dorsey in 2016. Wooten ranks fourth in the league in blocked shots, averaging 1.9 per game. He is already third in UO career blocks with 144. His 52 blocks this year is seventh on the UO single-season list. Wooten is averaging 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
OREGON'S HISTORIC DEFENSIVE STRETCH BEST OF THE SHOT CLOCK ERA
Oregon's defense over the last two weeks has not only been good, it's been historically remarkable. For the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present), the Ducks held four consecutive opponents to less than 62 points. The last time Oregon did that was 1984-85, a year before the shot clock. The Ducks held five consecutive opponents below 62 - St. Martin's (42), Colorado (60), Minnesota (57), Wyoming (60) and New Mexico State (51) - in December of 1984.
DUCKS NEAR NINTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Oregon is one win away from its ninth consecutive 20-win season. Currently, only nine schools nationally have won 20 games in a row for at least nine consecutive seasons.
Teams with 9+ 20-Win Seasons:
Belmont, Cincinnati, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Saint Mary's and Vermont.
There are another six programs, including Oregon, that could join that group this season:
Oregon (19-12), BYU (19-13), Louisville (19-12), Arizona (17-14), Wichita State (17-13) and Iona (16-15).
OREGON SECURES NINTH STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON
This is Oregon's ninth straight winning season, something that hasn't happened in Eugene in 87 years. The only other time Oregon has had nine or more winning seasons in a row was the decade between 1923-32, when the program posted 10 consecutive winning seasons under coaches William Reinhart and George Bohler.
OREGON SETS NINE-YEAR WIN RECORD
Not surprisingly, Oregon has set the program record for wins over a nine-season period, now with 229. The Ducks passed the previous mark of 226, which was set just last year (2009-18).
ALTMAN ENTERS NCAA CAREER TOP 30
With Oregon's win against California on Feb. 6, Dana Altman entered the NCAA's top 30 in all-time Division I coaching victories. He currently 29th with 639 career wins at the Division I level after passing Hugh Durham (Florida State, Georgia, Jacksonville) and Norm Sloan (Presbyterian, The Citadel, Florida, N.C. State), who both have 634. The next coach Altman will pass is John Wooden, who had 664 career wins for Indiana State and UCLA.
YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Of Oregon's 12-player roster, 75 percent (9) are either freshmen or sophomores. Duck freshmen have logged 2,351 minutes so far this season (75.8 minutes per game). The three veteran outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.
