It’s time for the Oregon men’s basketball team to get back to business. Exhibition time is over.
The Ducks ended that time with two wins, but they don’t count. Tonight Oregon plays Fresno State in the home opener at McArthur Court, and tonight counts.
The Ducks are ready.
“I’m anxious to start the season and get some games in that count,” freshman Aaron Brooks said. “Hopefully we’ll just click together and show everybody how good we are.”
Oregon will attempt to get its 12th straight season-opening win. The last season opener they lost was in the 1991-92 season when the Ducks were defeated by Montana, 78-39. The Ducks have won their last five home openers dating back to the 1997-98 season.
Fresno State, the defending Western Athletic Conference champion, comes off a 20-8 finish from last season. The Bulldogs are led by senior Jonathan Woods, who averaged nearly a double-double last season with 9.6 points per game and 9.7 rebounds a contest.
Fresno State defeated the EA Sports All-Stars, 68-60, on Nov. 13 in a preseason matchup. Oregon defeated the EA Sports All-Stars, 76-74, on Monday night.
“Coming off the last two exhibition games, I feel really good about where we are,” senior guard Luke Jackson said. “It’s important that our team has a good mental image of where we are and where we need to be. As long as our team stays hungry and keeps on having the desire to be better, we’re going to be a really good team this year.”
In the series between these teams, Oregon leads, 6-2. The home team has never lost. The most recent meeting was a 87-75 victory for Oregon at home in 1996.
Oregon has won 21 consecutive nonconference games at home. No current Duck player has ever lost a nonconference game at McArthur Court. The Ducks don’t expect to change that.
“The bottom line, you want to see them get the ‘W,’” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “All the other stuff will take care of itself. The biggest thing is get the win, because these are counting games. Obviously, you would like to see your team play extremely well, focus and defend better, but the bottom line is get the ‘W.’”
Defense and free throw shooting have been focal points for the Ducks through this week’s practices. Oregon shot 5 for 14 for 35.7 percent from the line Monday night. Oregon still has the same run-and-gun offensive nature as last year, but defense remains a key point.
“Defensively, we need to communicate a lot better,” Kent said. “There were some times out there (Monday), it was so quiet on that floor, it was almost eerie. I thought our stance and technique and some of those things could sharpen up.”
Oregon is expected to bring the same starting lineup tonight of guards Andre Joseph and Brooks, forwards Ian Crosswhite and Jackson, and center Mitch Platt. Jackson averaged 16 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game last season.
Brooks and Platt will be making their first career starts for Oregon and their peers feel they are ready.
“They’re going to be kind of nervous but kind up hyped up inside,” Joseph said. “They’re not normal freshmen; they are mature on the court beyond their years.”
If the game is close it will follow precedent. Each of the eight games in the series has been decided by 14 points or fewer. Three of the last five meetings have been decided by three points or fewer.
The game begins at 7 p.m. as the 99th season of Oregon basketball gets underway. The Ducks begin another quest to the NCAA Tournament.
What is there to expect from Oregon tonight?
“Our game plan is we need to defend people so we can get out and run in transition,” Kent said. “If we can get out and run, people don’t have a chance to do anything, man-to-man or zone (defense), the pressure continues to be on them. The biggest thing for us comes back to defense again and shutting people down.”
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