For the Denver men’s basketball team, revenge is spelled O-r-e-g-o-n.
The Pioneers suffered their worst loss of the season last year in Eugene, a 101-53 defeat at the hands of the Ducks.
Tonight, Denver will have the home-court advantage.
“We had a good win against Denver last year and they’re looking for revenge,” Oregon senior center Julius Hicks said. “They felt we ran up the score last year, which wasn’t the case.”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent thinks the revenge factor will be good for his team.
“If it’s a hostile environment and they’re a little bitter, then that’s a good test for us,” Kent said. “Certainly we’re going to find those environments down the road when we get into conference play.”
The game will be the Ducks’ second of the season and their first road test. Oregon handily defeated Mississippi Valley State, 85-70, in its season opener Friday.
Oregon senior forward Bryan Bracey exploded Friday for his first career double-double in points and rebounds and will be looking to do more of the same tonight.
Denver may be emotionally excited in its first game of the season tonight, but it may not be able to overcome the talent difference between the two teams. The Pioneers finished with a 6-22 record last year, despite playing in the lowly Sun Belt Conference. In two exhibition games this year, Denver defeated World Basketball Opportunities 109-102 and the Nantucket Nectar Naturals 80-70.
Despite the Pioneers’ track record, the Ducks are taking the team seriously.
“Anybody can beat you on any given night,” junior forward Freddie Jones said. “We’ve got to go out there and play with intensity or they’ll sneak up on us.”
“They’re going to get up for this game, an opportunity to play a Pac-10 school,” senior forward Bryan Bracey said. “We know they’re going to be holding a grudge after last year. We just have to come and be ready to play.”
Kent will be looking to put all his team’s puzzle pieces together before the Ducks take on tough opponents in December. Kent pointed to rebounding and defense as problems before Friday’s season opener, but then the Ducks out-rebounded Mississippi Valley State 47-31 and held them to just 36.1 percent shooting.
After the game, though, Kent had new parts for his team to fix.
“We could have shot the ball a little better from the free-throw line, and we could have not turned it over as much,” Kent said.
The Ducks will work on those areas, among others, when they face Denver in the Mile High City at 6 p.m. PDT.
