Already facing an 0-2 hole in the Pacific-10 Conference, things won’t get any easier for the Oregon men’s basketball team as it travels to Washington for matchups with the Huskies and Cougars this weekend.
Oregon (7-7, 0-2 Pac-10) arrives in Seattle Thursday fresh off of disappointing losses to Arizona and Arizona State last week as legendary McArthur Court closed its doors for good. No. 23 Washington poses an even tougher challenge for the Ducks.
“They’re deep, they’re athletic,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman told The Register-Guard. “They know how they want to play, and their system is in. They’re a program that’s pretty far along.”
Making matters even worse, senior forward Joevan Catron and junior point guard Malcolm Armstead are both questionable for Thursday’s matchup with the Huskies. Armstead is hobbled with a knee injury, while Catron is dealing with back pain.
As of Tuesday, Altman was unsure whether either of the two would be available for Thursday.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Altman told The Register-Guard.
For his part, Catron was not overly concerned.
“I’ll be all right,” Catron told The Register-Guard. “I don’t think I stretched good enough before practice.”
Injury issues aside, Oregon has plenty of issues to correct if it hopes to stay competitive over the weekend. The Ducks have shot under 35 percent from the field in four consecutive contests, effectively offsetting any efforts on defense.
“They’re just daring us to make shots,” Catron told The Oregonian. “Until we do, it’s going to be tough.”
For sophomore forward E.J. Singler, it is just a matter of staying confident and continuing to put up quality shots.
“We just have to keep shooting it,” Singler told The Oregonian. “One of these games it’s going to go in.”
Of course, in Altman’s eyes the problem runs much deeper.
“To get through a shooting slump, you need to try to win games differently, through your defense,” Altman told goducks.com. “And our guys haven’t bought in that yet.”
The Huskies certainly won’t make it easy, as they rank second in the Pac-10 in field goal percentage defense (.397). Washington also ranks first in scoring offense (87.9 points per game), scoring margin (20.2 points per game), and three-point field goal percentage (.412).
“We’re going to have to have an exceptional effort,” Altman told The Register-Guard. “And take them out of what they want to do to put ourselves in a position to win the game.”
Oregon did, however, manage to solve Washington last season. In a shocker at Bank of America Arena, Oregon defeated then- No. 17 Washington 90-79. Armstead tallied 21 points, six assists, and three steals, while as a team Oregon shot at a blistering 53 percent clip.
“We just played as a team, and stayed together,” junior forward Jeremy Jacob told The Register-Guard. “That’s what got us the win.”
Of course, last year’s Oregon team had a far different makeup. Ernie Kent was still the head coach, and Michael Dunigan, Jamil Wilson and Tajuan Porter still wore Duck uniforms.
Washington, meanwhile, returns to its home court after impressive road wins at USC and UCLA. Having seen the Huskies in the flesh, Trojan head coach Kevin O’Neill admits that they are the real deal.
“It’s obviously going to be tough to beat them in Seattle,” O’Neill told The Register-Guard during a Pac-10 conference call. “They’re a team that really feels good about themselves. To me, they’re doing all the things that you need to do to be successful and play for a championship at the end of the year.”
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