In Thursday’s win against California, sophomore guard Tajuan Porter sat on the bench for the second consecutive game after a string of recent sub-par shooting performances.
And despite Oregon coach Ernie Kent’s report that Porter had three great practices leading up to the game, he decided that Porter would remain on the bench while junior Churchill Odia started in his place.
It appeared to come as a late decision because Porter was listed as the starter in the pre-game roster and even had his name announced before the start of the game.
But Porter was limited to 15 minutes, playing only two in the second half, and missed his four shot attempts, all from the three-point line.
“The good thing is, if you look at it, we won a basketball game with him scoring zero points,” Kent said. “Sooner or later he’s going to come back.”
Oregon coaches aren’t worried for now as Kent said Porter continues to play well in practice.
“But for some reason when he comes to the game – it might be not starting or whatever, but we’ve got to play through it and he’s got to work through it.”
Until he does, the Ducks have enough players to beat a quality opponent while Porter continues to struggle, Kent said.
But assistant coach Yasir Rosemond, who played as a guard for the Ducks under Kent, wouldn’t use the s-word though. He’d call it a cold streak.
“I wouldn’t say he’s been struggling, really,” he said. “His shot hasn’t been falling and sometimes that happens.”
Although Rosemond said Porter’s attitude hasn’t changed, Porter declined to be interviewed after Thursday’s game.
“He’s just a sophomore. A lot people don’t realize that and they put a lot of pressure on him,” Rosemond said. “More than anything, when you’re a shooter – it’s just mental. You get down on yourself a little bit because you feel like you should be making shots, but that’s part of basketball.”
Last year, Porter took Oregon basketball by storm as the diminutive, hot-shooting guard whose ability to shoot threes at an unprecedented rate for a Duck freshman made him a national media darling.
Porter set Oregon freshman records with 512 points in the season and 110 three-pointers, the second-highest output of threes made by a freshman in NCAA history. He led the Pacific-10 Conference with a 90.9 percent free-throw percentage and shot 43.7 percent from outside the arc.
For him to duplicate that success would be an impressive feat, especially without the presence of former Duck and current Houston Rocket Aaron Brooks, who helped mentor Porter and create open shots for him. Porter also played as more of a point guard during the early season, and subsequently shot the ball less, until freshman Kamyron Brown showed that he’s capable of filling that role, despite inexperience at the collegiate level.
Although Porter averages close to the same amount of points per game as last year (13.2 to 14.6), he and the Ducks hit a snag recently after losing to Nebraska, Oakland and Arizona State.
Including last night’s game against Cal, Porter has made three of 27 three-point attempts in the Ducks’ past five games, including an 0-for-7 output against the Sun Devils.
He’s made 29.7 percent of his threes and 70.6 percent of his free throws for the season. Although he’s had games where he makes a good portion of shots he attempts, he hasn’t been consistent.
There could be several reasons as to why he’s not had the same performances. Maybe he’s adjusting to playing with a freshman point guard rather than a senior, he may be pressing too hard to try to regain his touch or is simply experiencing a sophomore slump. As a result, Porter didn’t start a game for the first time this season when Odia took his spot against Arizona.
To regain his starting role, Rosemond believes Porter needs to make some technical changes to the way he shoots the ball.
“I think he’s got to figure some things out, make the right adjustments and he’ll start doing well,” he said. “It’s frustrating when you’re such a good shooter like he is and your shot has never not fallen.”
Of course to get back on track, Oregon has to have Porter continue to shoot the ball, lest it become to similar to the Chamberlain Oguchi situation last year, when the guard suddenly stopped hitting threes and remained on the bench for a majority of the season.
“We’ll tell him to keep shooting,” Rosemond said. “He’ll be fine. He’s a good enough player.”
And the coaches won’t be telling Porter to think twice about attempting a basket.
“We want Tajuan to take any shot he wants to,” Rosemond said. “Every coach wishes they could control a player like a video game with every shot they take. But as far as him, we want him to take as many shots as he wants to.”
Until the shots start falling again for Porter, the rest of the Ducks plan to get him out of a funk by giving him the opportunities he needs and they’ll score more, if need be.
“He’s just going through a rough patch,” senior guard Bryce Taylor said. “We know Tajuan’s going to bounce back.”
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