The Oregon men’s basketball team closes
out the first half of its Pacific-10 Conference schedule this week, starting with a trip to Haas Pavilion tonight to face California.
The youthful Ducks (11-5 overall, 3-4 Pac-10) will have their confidence tested after dropping a pair of home games to the Arizona schools last week. After battling the Golden Bears,
Oregon will play Stanford on Saturday at Maples Pavilion.
The Ducks have not faired well during
recent trips to the Bay Area, dropping their last four games at Cal and their last 18
contests at Stanford.
Despite not having odds in their favor,
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said the Ducks have rebounded well from recent losses and have a lot to gain from their next two games.
“This team has been a joy to coach,” Kent said. “They bounce back and their energy has been tremendous … If we can
get through with some success in these next couple of ball games and you start the second half of the
season, it’s going to be really good for the freshmen because now they’ve seen everything.
“You can talk about the Pac-10; (the freshmen) don’t understand it,” he added. “You can talk about how good the players are; they don’t
understand that. You can talk about how hard they play; they definitely don’t understand that. But having gone through it now, I think they can make the necessary adjustments
because they’re smart kids and smart basketball players.”
Like Oregon, Cal (9-8, 2-5) doesn’t have a senior on its roster. The Bears are led by junior point guard Richard Midgley. The Burgess Hill, England, native is averaging 15.1 points
per game and is shooting nearly 41 percent from three-point range.
Junior Rod Benson has also stepped up for Cal, averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game. The lanky 6-foot-10
forward started seeing more playing time at the end of last season and has continued to improve.
Defensively, Cal will likely zone Oregon after the Ducks’ 4-of-34
performance from three-point range against Arizona State. The Ducks
realize every team they face is likely to force them into perimeter shots until they prove they can knock them down.
“We looked pathetic (against
the zone),” Oregon freshman
Malik Hairston said. “We looked back and it’s probably the
worst thing we’ve seen all season in terms of us finding openings and us playing basketball.”
Players also stressed the importance of getting the ball inside
to post players. Forward Mitch Platt has been a reliable scoring option down low when he gets more than one or two touches and Ian
Crosswhite and Maarty Leunen can also produce inside.
Kent said he was undecided as of Tuesday whether he would start Crosswhite or Leunen tonight against Cal. Crosswhite came off the bench Saturday against Arizona State for only the second time in two years.
The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net starting at 7:30 p.m.
Oregon wraps up first half of Pac-10 schedule on road
Daily Emerald
January 26, 2005
Forward Mitch Platt, seen here against Arizona State Saturday, has had few touches in recent games.
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