The Oregon basketball hype machine was working overtime all offseason. The storylines: Jordan Bell and Chris Boucher’s shot blocking ability, the return of Dylan Ennis, Dillon Brooks’ All-American selection and Tyler Dorsey’s perimeter scoring.
After the first game of the season Friday, Payton Pritchard as the Ducks’ leading man in the backcourt is something new.
The freshman from West Linn, Oregon, tied Dorsey for the most minutes with 32. His stat line was good — he ended the game with 15 points on 3-of-8 shooting with 2-of-5 from 3-point range in a 91-77 victory over Army.
However, it was his command of the offense that stood out. He was the primary ball handler for most of the Ducks’ offensive possessions, and his ability to beat his defender with the dribble made it easy to drive to the lane and find open teammates.
“Payton is a super aggressive guard. He gets in the paint at will,” Bell said. “He has a handle like I’ve never seen before. Playing with him is very fun because he is always looking for me.”
The four other players on the offense seemed comfortable with the ball in Pritchard’s hands. They were ready for all of his passes, and he led the team with four assists.
Sometimes the ball went to the wrong team. He ended the game with a team-high four turnovers, the negative of being an aggressive player.
“On those turnovers, he was just trying to do too much,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “A couple of his turnovers tonight the ball only got to one side of the floor. … it’s a little easier if that ball gets side-to-side.”
Defensively, Pritchard contributed two blocks and one steal. On his second block, an Army player had what seemed like a wide-open layup, but Pritchard hustled back to block him from behind. It was LeBron-esque.
Pritchard’s minutes came to the detriment of junior Casey Benson. Benson was the starting point guard for all of last season, and the minutes battle between him and Pritchard will be an interesting storyline going forward.
Benson earned two early fouls, part of why he sat for much of the first half. However, Pritchard dominated playing time again in the second half. Benson finished with 20 minutes, scored four points and had three assists to one turnover.
When asked, Altman was unsure of how the minutes would be distributed going forward.
“Oh, I don’t know. We’re not worried about that right now,” Altman said. “[Pritchard] and Casey have been battling in practice. … Like a lot of our guys tonight, [Pritchard] got a little impatient tonight.”
It’s a good problem to have, but Altman will inevitably have to make a decision. Oregon’s next game is on the road Tuesday against Baylor, a team the Ducks beat at home last season. It will be a significantly tougher situation than Friday’s game.
Against Baylor, Altman may favor a more experienced guard with a less turnover-prone game.
Regardless, both Pritchard and Benson are good options, but come crunch time with the game on the line, the freshman looked like the answer on Friday.
Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917