Oregon freshman point guard Luke Ridnour had an “outstanding weekend” against USC and UCLA, according to head coach Ernie Kent.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson remembers all too well what happened to his Wildcats the last time they visited Oregon.
Arizona entered the state on the first weekend of March last season in a heated battle with Stanford for the top spot in the Pacific-10 Conference. The then-No. 3 Wildcats knew they couldn’t afford to slip in either of the two road games.
They did.
Oregon State upset Arizona 70-69 on a last-second three-pointer in overtime from Beavers guard Deaundra Tanner and then blew a 17-point lead in a road loss in Eugene two days later.
“We stubbed our toes on the Oregon road trip last year,” Olson said.
The Wildcats held a seemingly commanding 17-point lead against the Ducks with only 12 minutes remaining. But with the help of an ear-splitting McArthur Court crowd, Oregon stormed back and outscored Arizona 35-12 to close the game for an amazing 86-81 victory that propelled the Ducks into the NCAA Tournament.
With that game still fresh in his mind, Olson is preparing his seventh-ranked Wildcats (14-5 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) for an intense battle with the Ducks (11-6, 2-5) at 7:30 tonight at Mac Court.
“It is a very difficult place to play,” said Olson, who returned to the sidelines after a five-game absence following the death of his wife, Bobbi. “They have a great crowd, and they really get into it. At home, they are very much a momentum type team.”
The Ducks also are a team that has won seven of their eight home games this year, but five of those wins came against weaker non-conference foes. Oregon has yet to get it going in the Pac-10, and has dropped five of its past six games.
Still, despite the fact that they are heavy underdogs to Arizona tonight, the Ducks appear confident and say they are getting back to playing the type of basketball they did to open the season.
“Even though we’re not winning, we feel more confidence every time we step out on the court,” said Luke Ridnour, Oregon freshman point guard. “We just need to keep working hard, and the wins will come.”
The Ducks can’t afford to be losing too many more games if they want to participate in the NCAA Tournament (a longshot), or achieve a more realistic goal of being in the NIT.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent gave his players Monday off to let their bodies and minds heal after two tough road defeats to the Los Angeles schools. He knows he is dealing with a younger team this year, but is excited about the potential improvement that can be made.
“I certainly feel that we have gotten better this year,” Kent said. “The competition level has stepped up in the conference play, and I hope to get results in the second half of the conference.”
The Wildcats pose a starting unit that presents many matchup difficulties for the Ducks. Arizona is led in scoring by junior forward Michael Wright with 16.5 points per game and is paced in the backcourt by the talented sophomore combination of Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner. Junior forward Richard Jefferson and 7-foot-1 center Loren Woods round out the starters.
Woods did not play in last year’s game at Oregon because of a bad back but tied an NCAA record and broke the Pac-10 record for most blocks in a game with 14 rejections in the Wildcats’ 77-71 home win against the Ducks last season. Oregon center Julius Hicks, who missed the last two games because of an ankle sprain, is questionable for tonight’s game, which puts much of the burden of containing Woods on improving junior center Chris Christoffersen.
“We have been able to play them tough, but we don’t have those veteran players that we had last year,” Kent said. “This is going to be a challenge. We’re going to have to play better than we have the last couple of games.”