Ducks Head to Los Angeles with Pac-10 Tourney Bid on the Line
WHAT’S ON TAP . . . The Ducks head off to Los Angeles with their Pac-10 Tournament fate on the line. First and foremost, Oregon must win at least one game this weekend or it will not advance to the eight-team Pac-10 Tournament. The Ducks get their chances Thursday, March 3 against USC at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 5 versus UCLA at 5 p.m. Fox Sports Net will televise the UCLA game live.
QUICK HITS...A brief look at what to watch for this weekend:
* Rookie Production. Oregon’s six newcomers are now accounting for more than half of Oregon’s offense (36.2 ppg/51.4 percent) and 44 percent of its rebounds (15.3 rpg).
* Defense Stays Strong. Oregon has held its opponents to 66 points or less in four of the last five games. In fact, the Ducks have held 15 opponents to 70 points or lower this season.
* Motown Malik. Freshman Malik Hairston, from Detroit, Mich., has shaken an early January funk by averaging 14.0 points per game in the last 12. He has two double-doubles in his last three games.
* Future Four. Oregon’s four true freshmen all scored in double figures to lead the Ducks to a 69-66 victory Feb. 12 over Washington State. Chamberlain Oguchi and Bryce Taylor both scored 12, while Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen added 11. And it was Taylor’s short jumper with 1:01 remaining that put the Ducks ahead for good. See p. 4 for more on Taylor.
* More Malik. Freshman of the year candidate Malik Hairston is second in the Pac-10 among freshman in scoring (13.1 ppg).
* Junior forward Ian Crosswhite has been dismissed from the team. See p. 4 for more.
* Jordania. Jordan Kent’s 19-point, 16-rebound performance Feb. 10 versus Washington marked the sophomore’s first career double-double and he flirted with becoming the first 20-20 player at Oregon since Greg Ballard had 41 points and 20 rebounds against California in 1977. The 16 rebounds was the highest by a Duck this season.
* Free Bird! Oregon attempted a school and McArthur Court record 54 free throws Feb. 10 against Washington (making 33). The previous school record was 51 (vs. Boston U., 12-9-88) and the old Mac record was 50 by Oregon (vs. Seattle, 12-7-74). The two teams also combined for 67 fouls, one shy of the Court record -- Washington’s 36 fouls was a Husky record.
* 20-20. When Aaron Brooks (21 points) and Malik Hairston (20 points) each scored 20 points Feb. 5 at Oregon State, it marked the first time Oregon had a pair of 20-point scorers in the same game since Jan. 2, 2004, at USC (Ian Crosswhite -- 22 points, James Davis -- 21 points).
* Numbers Game. Four times this season, Oregon’s starting five has worn the lowest numerical combination possible on their jerseys (0, 1, 2, 3, 4). The number 00 is also legal, though teams may not have both a 00 and a 0 on their active roster.
* For the Defense. Oregon has held 11 of its opponents below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Overall, the Ducks are allowing opponents to shoot 43.1 percent from the field. See p. 4 for more.
* The Taylor’s Tale. Bryce Taylor’s 26 points at Washington State on Jan. 15 was the fourth-highest scoring effort ever by an Oregon freshman. See p. 4 for more.
* An Extraa A for Effort? Freshmaan Maarty Leunen haas graabbed 10 rebounds three times this season -- twice in Paac-10 play. Despite averaaging under 20 minutes a gaame, Leunen is Oregon’s third-leading rebounder at 4.4 per gaame.
* Deep Bench. Oregon has played at least 10 players in 23 of 25 games this season (and 12 in 12 of the 25).
* Sophomore Topper. Aaron Brooks’ 34 points vs. USC (nine-of-13 shooting/four-of-seven from three-point range) matched Ron Lee for the highest single-game scoring effort by a UO sophomore. See p. 4 for more.
* Drive 55. Oregon’s 55-52 win Jan. 15 at Washington State marked the first time in Ernie Kent’s tenure that the Ducks won when scoring less than 60 points. Oregon had been 0-17 in those games under Kent prior to the win over the Cougars. The Ducks last won a game when scoring in the 50s Feb. 18, 1996 (55-52 vs. Washington).
* Sharp Shooting. Oregon hit 60.7 percent (34-of-56) from the field Nov. 27 against Marshall. That was Oregon’s best shooting effort since hitting 61.5 percent from the floor (43-of-68) Dec. 21, 2002, in a 115-77 win against Washington State.
* 50-50 Club. With 50 rebounds Nov. 19 against Idaho State, the Ducks recorded their first 50-rebound game since grabbing 54 against Pepperdine Dec. 14, 2001.
ABOUT THE 100TH SEASON . . . This is the 100th season (not year) of Oregon basketball. The first year the Ducks played basketball was 1902-03. There were three seasons the school did not field a team for various reasons (1904-05, 1908-09 and 1915-16). Please see p. 42 in the 2004-05 Oregon Media Guide for more details. The UO Athletic Department designed a special logo for the 2004-05 season, printed special commemorative season tickets, has a changing "flashback" feature in the game program, and will be conducting a series of on-line fan polls as part of the 100th season celebration.
PAC-10 LEADERS . . . Oregon ranks among the top half of the Pac-10 in field goal percentage (.466), scoring defense (70.4 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.431) and rebound margin (+3.2). See page 7 for more rankings.
TAYLORMADE . . . As mentioned on p. 1, Bryce Taylor has made some clutch shots for the Ducks as a freshman, the most recent being his short jumper with 1:01 remaining to put the Ducks ahead for good in the 69-66 Feb. 12 win over Washington State. After scoring a team-high 19 points Dec. 11 against No. 1 Illinois, Taylor hit a clutch three-pointer with 4:18 remaining Dec. 14 against Bethune-Cookman after the Wildcats had cut the Oregon lead to two. BCC never got closer. Dec. 18 at Fresno State, Taylor’s offensive rebound and put-back jumper with 0.8 seconds lifted the Ducks to an 83-82 non-conference road victory. With a two-point lead Dec. 31 against USC, Taylor hit a lay-in with 1:59 remaining to give UO the cushion to win the game. He then scored a career-high 26 points (six-of-eight three pointers) Jan. 15 at Washington State and followed that with 20 Jan. 20 against Arizona.
DEFENSIVE DUCKS . . . As mentioned on p. 2, Oregon’s defense has been the most reliable component of its game this season. The Ducks have held 11 opponents below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Lost among Oregon’s offensive woes against Arizona State on Jan. 22 was the effort at the defensive end. The 64 points scored is a season low for the Sun Devils. Oregon also limited player of the year candidate Ike Diogu to 10 points -- matching his career low. Oregon held its first four opponents this season below 40 percent from the floor. That marked the first time Oregon had done that in four straight games since 1992-93 against Alaska-Fairbanks (37.0, 12/9/92), Idaho (32.3, 12/12/92), Missouri-St. Louis (34.3, 12/19/92) and Pacific Lutheran (37.1, 12/21/92).
