With its goal set on securing sixth place in the Pacific-10 Conference, the Oregon men’s basketball team travels south today to face USC, a team also vying for the same position.
“That’s big given that we’d only have to play three games as opposed to four,” Oregon guard Malik Hairston said of the sixth-seed in the Pac-10 Tournament beginning March 8 in Los Angeles. “That’s a better chance of winning so we just need to get as many of these next few games as we can.”
Currently USC sits in the coveted sixth position at 7-7 in the conference and 16-9 overall. Oregon is one spot behind the Trojans in the standings at 6-9 in the conference and 12-15 overall. The Ducks play at USC today and UCLA on Sunday. USC is coming off of a 71-68 victory against conference leader UCLA, which snapped the Trojans’ season-high three-game losing streak. Five Trojans scored in double figures in the game, led by Nick Young’s 15 points and Lodrick Stewart’s 13.
Young and Stewart had 16 and 14 points, respectively, in the Ducks and Trojans’ last meeting, an 84-78 USC win. The Trojans shot 53.1 percent from the field in the game.
“We have to make sure we lock up their guards because they really just got loose on us,”
Oregon forward Jordan Kent said. “We didn’t do a really good job of running them off screens. We just have to make sure we match their intensity.”
Gabe Pruitt, USC’s second-leading scorer at 17 points per game, torched the Ducks for a game-high 30 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 6 of 8 from three-point range the last time out, but will likely not play today because of a knee injury suffered during a Feb. 6 practice.
He is expected to miss at least three weeks.
Young (17.2 points per game) and Stewart (12.4 points per game) have picked up the scoring slack in Pruitt’s absence.
“I think we’ve got to do a better job of defending them,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “Granted Pruitt had a phenomenal game, and he’s not going to play in this game. But, first and foremost, defensively, we’ve made some adjustments this time around with them that I’m hoping will do a better job at keeping them from getting so many great looks.”
The Ducks enter today’s game fresh off Saturday’s 67-37 victory against Washington State in what coach Kent called the best defensive performance he’d ever seen by an Oregon team.
Oregon held Washington State to 10 first-half points, and the Cougars’ 37 total points is the least the Ducks have allowed in a Pac-10 game since 1984.
“I think we could be dangerous if we continue to play together, continue to work together on defense,” Hairston said. “If we let those things go, we’ll just be another basketball team. But if we continue to do those things, I think we’ve got a good chance of winning.”
Saturday’s win was Oregon’s second in its last three games and puts the Ducks in contention for the sixth-place seed into the Pac-10 Tournament.
Though all 10 teams qualify for the tournament this season, the teams that finish below sixth must win four games to claim the tournament title and the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
“I think with the conference tournament there, your energy is still moving in a positive direction for us,” Kent said.
The Ducks will likely play today without the services of sophomore Bryce Taylor. Taylor also injured his knee in a Feb. 6 practice and has missed the last four games, but is expecting to return in the regular season finale against the Beavers.
Taylor netted 18 points against the Trojans in Eugene. He was second in scoring in the game only to fellow sophomore guard Chamberlain Oguchi. Oguchi scored a career-high 25 points on 6 of 9 three-pointers and 8 of 11 overall from the field in the losing cause.
Today’s game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. and will mark the second-to-last regular season game played at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, USC’s home since 1959. The Trojans will move to their new home, the Galen Center, next season.
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