Much To Prove Saturday at OSU

When the Oregon men's basketball team went cold offensively in the second half of last week's loss at Stanford, it was an anomaly.

Entering Saturday's Civil War in Corvallis (7:30 p.m., Pac-12), the 14^th-ranked Ducks are second in the Pac-12 Conference in scoring at 76.8 points per game, and second in field-goal shooting at 47.0 percent. On the analytics web site KenPom.com, Oregon ranks seventh in the entire country in adjusted offensive efficiency.

But the Ducks' second-half problems at Stanford went beyond their 3-of-18 shooting to close the game, which included eight straight misses during a 24-6 run by the Cardinal that tilted momentum decisively. Oregon (18-5, 7-3 Pac-12) allowed Stanford to close the game by making 12-of-17 field-goal attempts, and the Ducks were outrebounded by 12 in the second half, after being plus-10 on the boards in the first half.

"I know a lot of people want to harp on the shooting," Pritchard said. "… It was one of those games. But what we have to lean on is our defense. And we allowed too many easy baskets, and they went on a run. We can't let a big run like that happen."

Those issues, to the frustration of UO coach Dana Altman, weren't an anomaly. The Ducks are middle of the pack in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (sixth, 67.7), field-goal percentage defense (fifth, 39.8) and rebounding margin (sixth, plus-2.0). And according to KenPom.com, they're No. 93 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.

"We just haven't made progress on the defensive end," Altman said. "We've got to make better decisions offensively, but we've got to get much better defensively and much better on the boards."

That won't be easy Saturday night. Defensively, the Ducks will look to contain an Oregon State team that ranks No. 26 in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom.com. Tres Tinkle is the Pac-12's second-leading scorer at 19.2 points per game – just behind Oregon's own Pritchard (19.6) – and Ethan Thompson of OSU is 12^th in the conference at 15.1 points per game.

Oregon State (13-9, 3-7) beat Stanford last week, before the Cardinal turned around and beat Oregon. The Beavers also have a win this season over Arizona, and another over the team tied with the Ducks for first in the Pac-12, Colorado.

"They'll be ready for us; they always are," Altman said. "Our guys are going to have to understand that, and we're going to have to be ready."

The Ducks will be short-handed Saturday as they look to bounce back from being outrebounded so badly in the second half at Stanford. N'Faly Dante remains sidelined by a knee injury suffered Jan. 18 at Washington, and sophomore post Francis Okoro is away from the team this week while attending a celebration of life for his father in his native Nigeria.

Okoro's father passed away in December.

"Obviously that's very important, so we wanted him to go back and wanted him to spend time with his family," Altman said. "It's been a big weight on his shoulders."

With Okoro tending to his family's well-being and Dante sidelined, the Ducks will lean on senior Shakur Juiston and freshmen Chandler Lawson and C.J. Walker to battle for rebounds Saturday. And Pritchard said his fellow perimeter players need to help as well.

"We've got to box out, as guards, especially myself," Pritchard said. "I'm setting a bad example on that, so I'm going to look to change that."

University of Oregon Athletics

Players Mentioned

N'Faly Dante

Shakur Juiston

Chandler Lawson

Francis Okoro

C.J. Walker

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