In Oregon’s last 21 games at Maples Pavilion, the team has walked away with a loss. The last time the Ducks (13-8 overall, 4-5 Pacific-10 Conference) won a game at Stanford was Jan. 13, 1986. Two-thirds of Oregon’s roster wasn’t alive when the Ducks last beat the Cardinal on its home court.
“It’s been tough for us and tough for a lot of people to win there,” Kent said. “But you really can’t look at it that way.”
Instead, some of the Ducks are looking at it as their last chance to beat No. 9 Stanford (18-3, 7-2) away from Eugene for the first time in their career. The seniors missed their last chance to beat Washington in Seattle last month and don’t want the same kind of feeling again.
“It’s my last chance, ever,” senior forward Maarty Leunen said. “One of their three losses is to us. We’ve proven we can beat them.”
Part of Oregon’s strategy will be, again, to limit the productivity of Stanford’s twin centers, Brook and Robin Lopez. But Kent’s actually more worried about the Cardinal’s guards, who didn’t play that well at McArthur Court. He expects to see them play better unless his Ducks are able to contain them.
“We’re really going to have to do a much better job on the perimeter guys – or the same job as we did here,” Kent said. “I worry more about guard play more than anything else right now because you’re not going to stop their inside game.”
As for trying to at least limit Brook Lopez’s points, Oregon will have Joevan Catron to spell Leunen occasionally to battle one of the league’s best players.
“I think we’re the only team that doesn’t double-team him,” Kent said. “I can’t tell you everything we’re going to do but we need to do something to jolt them a little bit.”
Leunen, though, still expects to get bruised again against the physical Lopez twins.
“They’ve got two seven-footers, so if (Catron’s) got one, I’ve got the other. I’ve just got to do my best on him, I can’t let him have 20 points in the first half,” Leunen said.
But for all the problems the Cardinal represent, the Ducks continue to repeat their latest mantra that they’re the only one who can defeat themselves.
“It’s going to come down to our energy, our defense and how poised we are in that environment and that’s literally it,” Kent said. “It’s not that they’re that much more of a dominant team than us – or Cal for that matter – it’s more about us and what kind of mindset we show up in at game time.
“If this team continues to make up its mind that ‘We’re going to defend’, then again, I think we have a chance against everyone on our schedule to win ballgames.”
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