Fresh off the best wins of their rather disappointing seasons, Oregon (17-12, 8-8) and Arizona (17-13, 8-9) took the court Saturday looking to further their late dash for a top-four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament.
On Saturday, the first 20 minutes between Arizona and Oregon were deadlocked, with both teams refusing to pull away. Coming out of the locker room, however, it was all Oregon. The Ducks outscored Arizona 42-16 to win a 73-47 second half drubbing.
On Senior Night, it was the freshmen that shined
Oregon’s 2018 recruiting class was easily its most hyped ever. No one will know what the full-strength squad can do. Bol Bol’s season ended just as Louis King’s began. Growing pains have been well documented and easy to come by, but there is still enough time to salvage something from this season.
Guard Will Richardson and forwards Francis Okoro, Miles Norris and King all had one of their best games.
A group containing Richardson, Okoro, Norris and King, paired with senior Ehab Amin outscored the Wildcats 13-1 to overcome an early scoring drought in the first half.
“These guys love playing with energy,” Amin said. “We just saw what the first group didn’t really capitalize on so coach told us what to come in and do. I think we did a really good job with energy and using the crowd to our advantage.”
In 27 minutes, Richardson put up an outstanding plus-32 performance, scoring 12 points while playing great defense.
Not to be outdone, King’s plus-24, career-high four steals and team-leading 14 point performance kept the Ducks afloat in the first half long enough for the rest of his team to catch fire in the second.
After Bol’s season ended with an injury, head coach Dana Altman has mixed and matched his bigs rotation, leaning heavily on two freshmen. Although there has been some hiccups, Okoro, plus-12, and Norris, plus-16, performed well tonight.
“I think it’s working out for them because they’re playing with a lot of confidence, but also they’re dialing in,” senior forward Paul White said.
Friendly reminder
Okoro has picked up his energy during the last couple weeks, reminding Altman of 2017 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Dillon Brooks.
Despite not playing the same position or posing the same offensive threat, Okoro’s leadership has come at a great time.
He came into tonight’s game with a solid performance, seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds in his back pocket. Saturday against Arizona, he built off that performance, putting up 10 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes.
“I think the biggest spark was Francis,” Altman said. “Francis has been unbelievable the last two weeks. … [He’s] just all about the team. … He was yelling at guys ‘Wake up. We’ve got to get going here.’ before the game. It reminded me of Dillon.”
Can… Can Oregon do it?
Your guess is as good as mine.
The 2018-2019 Oregon season has not gone to plan. As stated above, this recruiting class was supposed to run through Pac-12 play and onto the Final Four. Injuries and inconsistent play ruined that, but there still is time to do some damage.
Cal, 0-15 prior to this week, went into this week’s slate hosting first place Washington and Washington State. They ended with an undefeated week. Oregon State and Arizona State had chances to almost secure byes, but they didn’t.
Once the clock struck midnight, officially ending February, postseason play began. Every team has a chance to make March Madness if they put together four games at the right time.
If anyone can confidently say they know who will win a Pac-12 game, they are lying. Bracketologists, grandparents, coaches and that guy at work have no clue what’s going on.
With this being said, the most dangerous team in March is a united team playing good basketball. Although “good basketball” has rarely been used to describe Oregon this season, the last two games in Eugene have been strong.
“Tonight was our best night of the season, even better than Thursday,” Altman said. “There’s really a connection with all the guys. Even when [Arizona] made their run there in the first half, I barked at them a little bit. They really responded. … Everybody in the boat and everybody rowing the same way. I thought they did a good job.”
If Oregon can go undefeated in Washington, they could earn a bye in the conference tournament. That would mean Oregon has to win one less game to make it to March Madness.
“I mean it is March,” Amin said. “Everybody came here for a reason. It’s sad that we became this close, this late, but it’s not too late. Coaches told us how important this trip coming up is.”
Follow Maverick Pallack on Twitter @mavpallack
