In Quest For Chemistry, Ducks Not Starting From Scratch

Bonds of brotherhood are being forged on the Oregon men's basketball team, which holds its first official practice of the 2019-20 campaign Friday.

For the third season in a row, the Ducks are looking to reload with a new-look roster put together around point guard Payton Pritchard. Two years ago, the new parts never seemed to completely click. Last season, it took a late February swoon for the Ducks to come together as a team; the resulting 10-game winning streak included runs to a Pac-12 Tournament championship and the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen.

Now, Pritchard is a senior, joined by two other returning scholarship players, guard Will Richardson and forward Francis Okoro. They're surrounded by a talented recruiting class headlined by the national junior college player of the year, Chris Duarte, and a five-man freshman class stacked with length and athleticism.

To that mix has been added an influx of transfers, including guard Anthony Mathis and burly forward Shakur Juiston. That's a tough chemistry test to pass. But the Ducks' professor, head coach Dana Altman, has a knack for getting the most out of his roster. And, Pritchard said, his new classmates are proving to be apt pupils.

"I think this team's different; everybody's already buying in," Pritchard said. "I don't think egos are a big thing right now, and that's always key. The group of guys we have are good guys, and everybody wants to win. So I think this year, we should hit the ground running."

Friday's practice is the first chance to do that officially as a team, though the Ducks have been able to conduct workouts together since the summer, and play in pickup games. What they've seen from each other has players excited.

"I've never been around a team like this, where literally everybody enjoys each other's company," said Mathis, a graduate transfer from New Mexico. "It's kind of different. But I enjoy it so much."

The Ducks have a month to solidify their bonds prior to the start of the regular season, at home against Fresno State on Nov. 5. But that process has been going on since the summer, when the newcomers began to arrive in Eugene to get to know each other, and the veterans.

And in at least one case, that introductory period lasted no time at all. For Pritchard and Mathis, the arrival of Mathis in Eugene wasn't a new meeting but a reunion – they won three Oregon high school state titles together while playing in West Linn, and they grew up under the same roof after Pritchard's family opened their home to Mathis when the boys were in grade school.

Mathis was a year ahead of Pritchard in school, and enrolled at New Mexico when Pritchard was playing as a senior for West Linn. After taking a medical hardship following an injury his sophomore season with the Lobos, Mathis had the chance for a fifth season of collegiate eligibility – and the option of using it while in grad school elsewhere. He chose to come home.

"You couldn't ask for anything better than this," Pritchard said. "My last year, his last year, to finish it out together, and in the state we grew up playing in, and do it playing for the Ducks."

The two recall first encountering each other on the basketball court when they were only 6 or 7 years old. They were young enough, Pritchard recalled, "We were playing on like an 8-foot hoop."

The results were one-sided: "Their team beat us pretty good," Mathis acknowledged somewhat sheepishly. "I mean, they were way better."

Other than a couple of typical boyhood scraps, though, they've been on the same side ever since. A year later they were playing on the same city league team. Mathis didn't have a particularly stable home life, and a few years down the road, the Pritchards welcomed him into their home. The two boys built a brotherhood that's now being rekindled in Eugene.

And, Mathis stressed, that attitude on the current Oregon roster stretches well beyond the dynamic between himself and Pritchard.

"Aside from Payton I haven't known any of these kids, maybe other than Shakur a little bit," Mathis said, noting the fact his New Mexico teams would face Juiston when the latter was at Nevada-Las Vegas. "But I feel like we can hold each other accountable already. I mean, we just jell so well, on and off the court. It feels really good."

Accountability came up several teams in a conversation with Pritchard and Mathis. They appreciate that they can be frank with each other, without offending each other. That's another dynamic, they said, that is pervasive throughout the new-look roster.

"That's a big thing," Pritchard said. "Guys have got to have their roles, and you gotta hold them accountable to that role. Obviously roles aren't technically figured out just yet. But as the season goes on, guys have got to do their job and be great at that, and sacrifice for the team. As far as leaders go, holding guys accountable to what the team needs is a big thing."

The respect between Pritchard and Mathis extends beyond their feelings of brotherhood. Mathis, Pritchard said, "might be the best shooter I've been around, as far as, you can't give him any room." Mathis said of Pritchard, in turn, "I respect how hard he works. And he can really score, at all three levels."

But for an Oregon men's basketball team looking to jell quickly as practice begins Friday, the dynamic between Pritchard and Mathis – and between them and their new teammates – will be invaluable.

"Being back with my family, being able to play with Payton our last year, both seniors going out this way – it's a dream come true," Mathis said." You couldn't write it any better."