Like they always do, coach Dana Altman and the Oregon men’s basketball team took to the film room after Sunday’s 77-60 loss at the hands of California. And, as can be expected after any loss, it wasn’t pretty. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=235&SPSID=4294@@
“We weren’t happy with that at all,” senior forward Tyrone Nared said. “It’s all mental mistakes and extra effort and just locking into what we need to do. We beat ourselves Sunday, that’s why it’s really disappointing.”
What they saw on the tape was a lack of cohesiveness on both sides of the floor, as well as a lacking sense of urgency on the boards. Nared pointed at himself as a culprit on the glass (he had just one rebound on Sunday), but the problems on offense have infected the entire roster. @@file:///Users/news11/Downloads/813312-2.pdf@@
“Some of it is the opponent, but a lot of it is just us,” Altman said. “And we haven’t moved the ball as well. We miss a couple shots, we don’t execute as well, then get in a little bit of a hurry.”
Those offensive struggles have been instrumental in Oregon’s uneven Pac-12 start. The Ducks stand at 2-2 after splitting their first two series, squarely in the middle of the conference standings. Even for a team that has yet to establish a distinguishable identity, or even a primary leader, this is deemed unacceptable. @@http://pac-12.org/SPORTS/BasketballM/Standings.aspx@@
“We know we should be 4-0 right now, and to give away games, we know how bad it hurts towards the end. Because 65 teams are called, we know we want to be one of those teams. Every loss is really, really crucial.”
And so as the season on the whole reaches its halfway point, the Ducks find themselves at something of a crossroads. Even the players themselves acknowledge that no one has stepped up as the bona fide leader on the court, and it remains to be seen whether someone will take on that burden or the Ducks simply operate as the sum of many parts.
Nared, for his part, would prefer the former.
(The leader) changes, it varies,” Nared said. “Sometimes it’s E.J. (Singler), sometimes Devoe (Joseph). It could be Olu (Ashaolu), it could be me. Just trying to get our plays going. But as far as getting one consistent leader, yeah, we need that.” @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=235&SPSID=4295@@
With all that being said, senior guard Garrett Sim still feels optimistic about the season as a whole. The gap between mediocrity and sustained success is smaller than it might look.
“I don’t think it’s a ton of mistakes, I think it’s very small things,” Sim said. “I think with this team it’s small things. We definitely have the pieces to compete with anyone.”
The first step will be putting together a complete Pac-12 weekend. A .500 conference record certainly won’t be good enough for the postseason bid Oregon seeks.
“The two that we lost, it was the same reasons: getting out rebounded and not talking enough on defense and not executing our plays,” Nared said. “So we know how bad we want these two wins and how much it will help us.”
Loyd’s status murky after suffering injury on Sunday
Sophomore guard Johnathan Loyd will likely be a game-time decision on Thursday night against Arizona State as he recovers from a knee injury against Cal on Sunday. @@http://www.registerguard.com/web/sports/27438200-41/loyd-minutes-knee-points-ducks.html.csp@@
Loyd banged knees with another player, and though he suffered a significant bruise, Altman said on Tuesday that there was no structural damage.
“He banged that knee pretty good,” Altman said. “I don’t think he’ll be able to go much according to (trainer) Clay (Jamieson), but we’ll just have to wait and see. I think it will be a game-time decision.” @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=235&SPSID=4293@@
For the season, Loyd is averaging 4.9 points and 3.4 assists per game. He has started in 11 0f Oregon’s 16 games. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205335431@@