PORTLAND – Coming into the season, one of the strengths of the Oregon men’s basketball team was that it had four starters returning, including three seniors, but one of the biggest questions was who would take the final starting spot.
After the first eight games of the season, though, it looks like sophomore forward Joevan Catron might have taken the spot and made it his own.
“Joevan Catron, again, his numbers, the way he’s playing, his passion, what he can do, he has filled that fifth spot quite nicely,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said after Saturday’s win in Portland. Catron had 11 points and gathered seven rebounds for the Ducks in a game where the sophomore showed off his hustle both on offense and defense, along with some of his low-post moves. A few times in the game Catron whirled around the low post, using his drop-step and going for a few up-and-unders.
Kent credited Catron’s drive and heart as leading factors in the sophomore’s success so far this season.
“When you put in that solitary time, he came back with an enormous amount of confidence,” Kent said, referring to Catron’s individual spring and summertime training regiment. “He’s one of those guys that plays with so much passion, it allows him as he gets better just to play at a different level.
“He’s lost the weight, he’s always been able to handle, he’s always been able to play with that passion.”
Free-throw woes
For most any college basketball player, a 2-for-5 night from the free throw line is not the greatest game of all time. However, from a player who averaged 90.9 percent from the line his freshman year – Oregon’s Tajuan Porter – a 40 percent shooting performance, Porter’s statistic from Saturday’s game, is underwhelming.
And it’s not just Porter – though the Ducks shot a superb 53.7 percent from the field, they only shot 59.1 percent from the line against Utah. It’s one of the big questions Kent wants the team to address before the Pacific-10 Conference schedule begins.
“We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to shoot the ball a little bit better at that charity line,” Kent said with a hint of dismay in his voice. “I think we’re over the last 10 years we’re about 73-74% on average and we’re not there right now with this team for some reason.”
Notes
Many of the plays that got the crowd of 11,447 off their feet in the Rose Garden Saturday afternoon involved Tajuan Porter, from his shake-and-bake-and-take for a layup with 46 seconds left in the first half, to the long two-pointer at the buzzer to give Oregon a five-point halftime lead, Porter kept the crowd up all game. What might have been the most important layup of the night, though, was the one he got on the break after Malik Hairston blocked Tyler Kepkay’s shot with 1:01 left in the game. Porter streaked down court and gave the Ducks an 11-point lead they would not relinquish … Senior guard Bryce Taylor had a season high with 20 points in the game, including three three-pointers. Taylor also had the role of covering the game’s leading scorer, Kepkay, in the second half … The win was the 200th of coach Ernie Kent’s career, which puts him second on the Oregon all-time list.
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