The excitement following a 13-0 start has quickly died down amid a three-game losing streak. After outscoring opponents early in the season the Oregon men’s basketball team has since suffered the consequences of playing bad defense. In the last three games the Ducks have given up an average of 92.7 points per game and have now dropped to 1-3 in Pac-12 play following their 82-80 loss to Stanford Sunday afternoon.
“Everybody is frustrated,” guard Jason Calliste said. “Nobody likes to lose, so we just know what we need to do. Just get back into the lab and work.”
Since Dana Altman arrived at Oregon in 2010 defense hasn’t been an area of concern. In conjunction with having capable low post defenders, Altman hasn’t had to worry about guarding the paint. But after three straight losses Altman along with the Ducks are at a loss of words; not because they are underachieving, but because they are failing to find a defense that works for their personnel.
“Probably going to go back to some fundamental stuff to be honest,” forward Mike Moser said. “I feel like defensively, we’re just a little off. Whether it’s communication or guys not knowing where they’re supposed to be, I feel like we’re off.”
In a game where Stanford held a manageable deficit, the Ducks simply could not come up with the necessary stops to end their dismal streak on the defensive end. Every time the Ducks drew closer, Stanford answered with a bucket and it was a simple byproduct of a lost Oregon defense. The Ducks may remain a top-five offense in regards to points per game, but they will often be overmatched by a lack of execution on the other end, especially when they finish games with 15 turnovers like they did on Sunday.
“Offensively, our numbers are great, but we just didn’t get up enough shots because of turnovers,” head coach Dana Altman said. “They beat us in all categories, so that (turnovers) was really a significant stat.”
For the first time this season, Altman looked more worried than disappointed. Whether it be a realization that the Ducks aren’t a very good defensive team or the feeling of uncertainty about what to do with the defense moving forward, Altman could not pinpoint a direction to move toward other than to forget about these three losses and move on. Following a 2012-13 team that featured players like Arsalan Kazemi and Tony Woods, who both carried strong post presences, the Ducks have simply experienced a stretch of struggles in filling their void and haven’t been able to figure a defensive scheme that works.
“We should be better defensively than what we are,” Altman said. “People are disappointed in our defense, I’m disappointed, players are disappointed. We’ve just got to do a better job. Can we be a good defensive team or a great defense team? I’m not sure because we don’t have a rim protector right now, but we can be a heck of a lot better than we are now.”
After dropping their first two home conference games of the year, the Ducks now face a three-game road trip. These games will not only serve as a critical time in their season, but it will also pose as a fair assessment period for their defense. While the season is only half over, their search for a reliable defense will begin this next week. This will essentially live or die based on a drastic change that will be made on the defensive end between now and the game at Oregon State.
“We got to change some things up,” Altman said. “What we’re doing now isn’t working. I’m not sure what will, but if I had that answer, we’d jump to it. But we’re going to have to make some changes.”
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Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim