Ducks Prepare for Tough Toledo Team
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
After kicking off a stretch of three games in five days Friday against Toledo at home, the UO men’s basketball team heads to Brooklyn to wrap up its four games in the Progressive Legends Classic.
In New York, Oregon will face No. 24 Michigan and another ranked team, either Villanova or Virginia Commonwealth. Fifth-year UO coach Dana Altman said the gantlet will be “by far the toughest (nonconference) stretch we’ve had here. It’s not even close.”
That stretch begins against the Rockets on Friday in Matthew Knight Arena (4 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks). Toledo returns four starters from a team that won 27 games last season, and Altman is making no bones about the challenge the Rockets will present the Ducks and their freshman-laden rotation.
“I’m not sure we’re ready for this, I’ll be real honest,” said Altman, whose Ducks beat Detroit on Monday to kick off the Legends Classic. “And I’ll tell the guys that. Those freshmen, you’re playing seniors that have won a lot of games, know how to play. We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game.”
To Altman, that means not just Oregon’s players, but the fans as well. Against Detroit, senior UO guard Joseph Young twice energetically waved to the student section in a plea for more noise; a dedicated group of ‘Pit Crew’ members obliged, but the Ducks hope Friday there will be no need for such a request from Young.
“We’re 60-11 here at home, and there have been a lot of nights I haven’t had them prepared, we haven’t been prepared, and our crowd just flat-out has brought us through,” Altman said. “All the losses we’ve had have been pretty close one, we’ve been right there. … But the crowd – the Pit Crew in particular – there’ve been some nights where we’ve gotten down, been flat, and they really picked us up.
“When I say ‘we’ are 60-11 at home, I mean the Pit Crew, the students, the fans and our team. Because you don’t win – what is that, 84, 85 percent of your games – anywhere unless you have a good student crowd and good fans.”
Young added that “we’ve got to bring our own energy, but the crowd boosts us up so we get that goose-bump feeling.”
The Ducks will take all the energy they can get from the crowd against Toledo, which went back-and-forth at No. 15 VCU on Tuesday before losing 87-78. The Rockets return all-conference point guard Julius Brown, who scored 17 points but committed six turnovers with no assists Tuesday, along with big man Nathan Boothe, a 6-foot-9 post who had 18 points and eight rebounds against VCU.
“If you took ‘Toledo’ off the front of their jersey and put something else on there, they’d be ranked in the top 25,” Altman said. “That’s the way I felt about a few of my Creighton teams, and I’m sure that’s how Toledo feels about their team.”
Altman projects Friday’s game to be “more physical” than either of Oregon’s two victories to open this season. This is a rare matchup in which the undersized Ducks won’t be at a significant size disadvantage; with size a non-factor, effort will determine which team wins the battle of the boards.
Through two games, 6-9 freshman Jordan Bell leads Oregon with 21 rebounds, and 6-7 junior Dwayne Benjamin has 14.
“Everybody’s got to rebound, but Jordan got a couple rebounds out of his area the other night, which was really encouraging,” Altman said. “Dwayne has been pretty solid going to the boards. We’ve got to get everybody involved, though. Dillon (Brooks) has got to rebound a little bit more, Elgin (Cook) has to get on the boards a little more, and all our guards, none of them are excluded from that responsibility.”
Offensively, Altman is looking for better execution than the Ducks demonstrated against Detroit. The offense often seemed disjointed, resulting in Oregon attempting an arena-record 33 three-pointers.
“A lot of those possessions against Detroit, we had no purpose,” Altman said. “Our scoring percentage on those, where we don’t know what we’re running, our percentage is bad. When we run something we recognize, our percentage goes way up. But we’re having too many wasted possessions, guys not sure what they should do. That’s natural, but we’ve got to cut those way down.”
Some of Oregon’s inefficiency Monday stemmed from an off night for Young, who was just 1-of-12 from three-point range. He said Wednesday that cold streak was “over with.”
“I got in the gym, got some shots up,” Young said. “The shots are going to fall. I’m pretty confident in my shot.”
