Depth Helping Ducks At Forward As They Prepare To Host Arizona

A week after receiving a rude awakening in their Pac-12 opener, the UO men's basketball team returns home Thursday to face another conference foe looking to give the Ducks some nightmares.

The No. 9 Oregon men will host No. 24 Arizona in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN). The Wildcats opened conference play with a rivalry win over ASU, while the Ducks are 1-1 after another frustrating result in Colorado, although one followed by a bounceback win at Utah.

By the time Oregon and Arizona take the floor Thursday, it will be nearly two full calendar years since the Wildcats' last win over the Ducks, on Jan. 13, 2018. The UO men have won the last three matchups in the series, and will be on guard in Thursday's nationally televised matchup.

"It's just a great rivalry game in the conference," said UO senior Anthony Mathis, a graduate transfer from Portland. "It's been a dream to come here and play in this game."

Oregon (12-3) grinded out a 69-64 win at Utah on Saturday, two days after suffering a nine-point defeat at Colorado. The Buffaloes simply played harder in that game, Mathis said, a wake-up call the Ducks hope not to have to receive again the rest of this season.

"We want that now rather than in March," Mathis said. "So it's better to have that early, in conference, than late in March. It's just making us better."

The Ducks played at Utah without freshman forward C.J. Walker, and it sounds like they'll have to do so again this week, against Arizona on Thursday and then Arizona State on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Pac-12). Walker was injured against Alabama State on Dec. 29, tried to push through in 15 minutes at Colorado but then sat out at Utah.

UO coach Dana Altman said Walker most likely would miss both games this week.

"He was starting to make some really good progress; I felt good for him," Altman said of Walker, who seemed to find his scoring touch in December after a slow start offensively. "He's just kind of beat up right now."

On the other side of the injury coin, the Ducks last week welcomed back senior Shakur Juiston from a five-game absence due to a knee injury. Juiston averaged 24 minutes against Colorado and Utah, combining for 15 points and 10 rebounds.

During Juiston's five-game absence, the Ducks welcomed forward N'Faly Dante to the roster after his enrollment as a UO freshman in December. Walker, Dante, Juiston, sophomore Francis Okoro and freshman Chandler Lawson could form a formidable frontcourt rotation, but they've only all been healthy and available for one game so far this season — ironically enough, the loss at Colorado.

"I think that's what makes us a really good team — one guy goes down, it's the next man up," Mathis said. "And we interchange it a lot in practice, so we've all played together."

Juiston expressed a similar sentiment, that chemistry shouldn't be an issue despite the lineup changes.

"As long as we know each other, we come to practice, we play hard, we should all grasp how each other plays, quick and fast," he said. "And defensively, we've just got to come collectively and just talk. And that's easy."