Game Notes: Ducks Close Out Regular Season in Seattle

The regular season draws to a close when Oregon visits Washington on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN).

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Paul White had one of the best games of his career Thursday night in Pullman. The senior scored a career-high 21 points with four three-pointers and a team-high six rebounds in the Ducks' 72-61 win.
• 2 – Bench production. Oregon's bench accounted for 31 of the team's 72 points Thursday night against Washington State. Victor Bailey Jr. had 14, Will Richardson 11, Ehab Amin 4 and Miles Norris 2.
• 3 – 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.
• 4 – 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).
• 5 – The Ducks' win over Arizona on March 2 was the program's 227th over the last nine seasons, which set the school record for wins over a nine-year span. Under Dana Altman, Oregon is averaging 25.3 wins per season.
• BENCH – Freshman Francis Okoro returned to the starting lineup for the last four games and posted a career-best 10 rebounds Feb. 28 against Arizona State. Okoro also scored seven points against ASU. He followed that by tying his career high with 10 points March 2 against Arizona. The Ducks are averaging 76.8 points per game over the last four games with the starting lineup of Okoro, Louis King, Paul White, Kenny Wooten and Payton Pritchard (who made his 100th consecutive start for the Ducks against the Wildcats), compared to the team's 70.4 points per game average heading into that stretch.

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 228. The Ducks passed the previous mark of 226, which was set just last year (2009-18).

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 two league game so far this season. In conference games, King is the top freshman scorer (14.9 points per game, 13th 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 had his third 20-point game Feb. 16 at Oregon State. He led the Ducks Feb. 28 with 19 points against Arizona State and again March 1 versus Arizona with 14 points. 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.

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 638 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.

SECOND HALF SURGE
Under coach Dana Altman, Oregon has a 56-24 record (.700) 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 5-3 in 2019. Only Arizona (57) has won more over the last nine seasons. The last five years, Oregon is 28-6 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 March 6)
Arizona                  57-23   .713
Oregon                   56-24   .700
UCLA                       53-26   .671
Utah                      40-30*   .571
Colorado                  38-32*   .543
California                 39-41   .488
Stanford                   37-43   .463
Arizona State           36-44   .450
Washington              35-45   .438
USC                      31-48   .397
Oregon State           30-50   .375
Washington State   22-58   .275
*joined Pac-12 in 2011-12

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Of Oregon's 12-player roster, 75 percent (9) are either freshmen or sophomores. Duck freshmen have logged 2,259 minutes so far this season (75.3 minutes per game). The three veteran outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.

DUCKS REACH 100 WINS AGAIN
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.

PRITCHARD MAKES 100TH CONSECUTIVE START
Junior guard Payton Pritchard made his 100th consecutive start for the Ducks March 2 against Arizona. Pritchard came off the bench his first four games as a freshman before moving into the starting lineup for the last 101.

PRITCHARD PASSES JACKSON, TOP SIX IN CAREER ASSISTS
With eight assists Feb. 23 at UCLA, Payton Pritchard passed Luke Jackson (424/2000-04) for sixth in UO career assists. Pritchard comes into the Washington game with 443 career assists. Johnathan Loyd (458/2010-14) is fifth. Pritchard is just the sixth player in program history with 1,000 career points and 400 career assists.

PRITCHARD REACHES 1,000 CAREER POINTS, NEARS CAREER STEALS TOP THREE
Jan. 17 at Arizona, Payton Pritchard became the 37th 1,000-point scorer in program history. He's also now just six steals away from the UO career top three. Thursday against Washington State, he passed Roger Wiley (1,163/1944-49) and Joevan Catron (1,167/2006-11) for 26th in UO career scoring. Pritchard enters the Washington game with 1,174 points. Bob Hamilton (1,183/1943-46) is 25th, while Dick Wilkins (1,186/1944-48) is 24th. Pritchard posted back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career Feb. 6-10 versus California and Stanford. In addition to the points and assists lists, Pritchard is also climbing the UO career steals list. Thursday against Washington State, he passed Anthony Taylor (147/1984-88) and tied Fred Jones (148/1998-02) for sixth in steals. Luke Ridnour (150/2000-03) is fifth, Johnathan Loyd (152/2010-14) is fourth and Malcolm Armstead (154/2010-11) is third. March 2 against Arizona, Pritchard passed Garrett Sim (185/2008-12) for eighth in UO career three-pointers with 187. Jamal Lawrence (194/1994-97) is seventh.

WHITE FILLS IN ON FRONT LINE
With Bol Bol out for the season, Paul White stepped us his effort, including a career-high 21 points Thursday at Washington State. He has scored in double figures 14 times since Bol's injury and is averaging a career-best 10.7 points per game. He tallied back-to-back-to-back of then-season highs of 15 points versus Oregon State (Jan. 5), 16 points against UCLA (Jan. 10) and 19 points versus USC (Jan. 13). He scored a team-high 16 points in the Ducks' Jan. 17 59-54 win at Arizona and added 18 points Jan. 27 versus Washington State, as well as 18 points (four three-pointers) Feb. 23 at UCLA.

500th BOARD MEANS EXCLUSIVE CLUB FOR AMIN
Reaching the 500-rebound plateau Jan. 17 at Arizona, Ehab Amin is now one of only four active college players with 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, 200 career assists and 200 career steals. The others are Josh Reaves of Penn State, Chris Clemons of Campbell and 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 eighth in the Pac-12 at 1.5 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.