Strong Finish At Stake In Corvallis
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Oregon's postgame locker room Sunday at Stanford was elated, and rightfully so after the Ducks' first sweep in the Bay Area since 1976.
The mood was much different for practice Tuesday. Senior guard Joseph Young broke the initial huddle by demanding the Ducks not get complacent. UO coach Dana Altman was as intense as ever, even with national pundits predicting that Oregon is a virtual lock to make the NCAA Tournament at this point.
"Anything can happen," UO senior Jalil Abdul-Bassit said. "Nothing's 100 percent right now. We've just got to maintain our focus, and maintain our hard work."
The Ducks (22-8, 12-5) take a four-game winning streak into Wednesday night's regular-season finale at Oregon State. It's a matchup of teams on two different trajectories, with Oregon — which took round one of the Civil War in January — having won eight of nine, while Oregon State has lost five of six.
What has Altman's attention is the Beavers' 15-1 record at Gill Coliseum, site of Wednesday's 8 p.m. PT tipoff on ESPNU. Oregon State won 14 straight at home under first-year coach Wayne Tinkle to open the season, before falling to No. 9 Utah and rebounding against Colorado two weeks ago.
"We've got to come in with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity," UO guard Casey Benson said. "It's going to be an emotional game. Obviously a huge rivalry game, last game of the season, both teams are playing for something, and we want to carry that momentum into the conference tournament."
As it stands currently, Oregon would be the No. 3 seed into next week's Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. The Ducks could move as high as No. 2, with a win Wednesday and a Utah loss to either UW or WSU, but the UO men already are assured one of the four first-round byes in Las Vegas.
A month ago, the Ducks and Beavers were tied for third in the Pac-12. That Oregon has maintained its standing there owes in no small part to the emergence of several players to complement Young, whose scoring kept the Ducks alive early in the year while the roster jelled.
At this point, Elgin Cook, Dillon Brooks, Dwayne Benjamin and Abdul-Bassit all are legitimate threats to lead the team with Young in a given game, and freshmen Ahmaad Rorie and Benson have stepped up with big shots at times, too.
"Joe gives us a guy that can go get a basket," Altman said. "So that has helped us, there's no doubt about it. Elgin and Jalil have helped him, and then our freshmen have stepped up. … Our balance is a little better than I thought it would be."
With his 20-point average, Young still figures to lead the Ducks any given night. But his teammates have to be respected, too.
"A lot of us are getting a lot of confidence from the hard work we've been putting in lately in practice," Abdul-Bassit said. "We've just been getting a lot more confident, a lot more comfortable."
The maturation of the roster has paid dividends on the defensive end as well, and on the boards. Oregon's scoring defense of 70.5 points per game is 11th in the conference, but opponents are shooting .415, which ranks the Ducks fifth in the Pac-12. And only two of Oregon's last eight opponents have outrebounded the Ducks.
Along the way, Young's efforts to be a vocal leader have fallen on more accepting ears.
"All the freshmen, they're putting away some of their insecurities," Altman said. "They come in and it's a growing up period for them, and any time anybody tells them anything early, they bristle up. Because it's hard to take criticisms. Nobody likes to be criticized, and part of leadership is, when guys aren't working hard enough, to tell them.
"Being able to lead, you have to have a group that wants to be led, and is mature enough to be led, and I think that's where a lot of our new guys have really grown. And so Joe's able to help them a little, Elgin's able to help them, Jalil's able to help them. Because those guys have been through the end of a year, trying to get ready for a conference tournament and so forth."
Oregon's final chance to get ready for Las Vegas is against the Beavers, the Pac-12's worst scoring offense but second-best scoring defense. Oregon State hasn't rebounded well, but the Beavers lead the conference in steals and will look to grind down the Ducks.
"They've played to their strengths," Altman said. "They're a good defensive team, (Gary) Payton's great with his hands and his activity and his length. They really make it hard to score inside, because they crowd it inside with that zone. They do what they do, and they do it well."
So too do the Ducks, who've done well enough down the stretch to spark discussion that Altman might be Pac-12 coach of the year. That's a notion Altman himself shrugged off Tuesday.
"It's all about players," he said. "And we've got good players. We've got good guys. They've been fun to work with. They've put up with me, so we've made some progress. I just hope we finish."
