Oregon freshman point guard Luke Ridnour has a dirty little secret.
He used to be a fan of the Washington Huskies while being raised in the small town of Blaine, Wash.
“Growing up I was,” said Ridnour, who was courted by the Seattle school. “It’s just another game though. It is. I mean I still like them, always have.”
Ridnour won’t find too many teammates on his same page when the Ducks (10-3 overall, 1-2 Pacific-10 Conference) host the Huskies (7-9, 1-3) tonight at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court.
Oregon is coming off of two tough road losses to California and Stanford, and knows that it can’t afford to fall to its Northwest rival.
The Ducks also remember their sluggish 67-58 defeat to the Huskies last season at The Pit.
“Well the main thing is they beat us here last year,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “We were a really good ballclub last year and let that game get away from us here at our place. So, that’s a concern.”
Washington head coach Bob Bender’s team has lost five of its last six games, but did beat Arizona State, 70-68, in overtime on Jan. 11. In the Huskies’ three Pac-10 defeats, however, they’ve lost by an average of 24 points.
The Huskies are led by senior forward Will Perkins, who is one of only four players to be ranked in the top-10 in the league in scoring and rebounding. Senior forward Thalo Green, the 1996 Oregon prep player of the year while at South Salem High, will return to Eugene after scoring a then-career high 16 points against the Ducks last season.
“We just had two losses so we gotta have this one,” Oregon junior guard Freddie Jones said. “They have good players all around the floor, but we just have to attack them and be confident.”
One area where the Huskies might cause the Ducks problems is with their perimeter defense. Oregon is a team that frequently shoots from beyond the arc, and Washington has held its opponents to only 30.2 percent from three-point range.
“They run a really good motion scheme and play really good position defense,” Kent said. “We’ve just got to be on our toes and have our energy up and really get rolling again.”
Note: Saturday’s home game against Washington State has been changed to 3 p.m. because of television.