Oregon is satisfied with its defensive performance in its opening game against Fresno State on Friday night.
The Ducks should be.
After being outrebounded in the first half, 19-14, Oregon held Fresno State to just one offensive rebound in the second half and gained the edge, 31-29, by game’s end.
“We’re a better team defensively this year,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
In their first two exhibitions, the Bulldogs owned a plus-17 rebounding margin over its opponents.
“They rebounded hard and that was a test for us too, because last year we didn’t rebound so well and hopefully we’re going to improve on that this year,” sophomore forward Ian Crosswhite said.
Oregon also held Fresno State to just four assists. Fresno State guard Shantay Legans led his team with two. Offensively, the Ducks finished with 20 assists on 26 baskets.
“They (the Ducks) really broke the game down to a one on one game for them with Shantay doing a lot of the dribbling, a lot of the ball handling, a lot of the driving because we took the options away from their sets they were trying to run,” Kent said. “That is awesome to do that in a first ball game.”
Kent made a point to praise his players on their defensive efforts, including Crosswhite and center Mitch Platt.
Kent also spoke of guard Andre Joseph as being one of Oregon’s top defensive threats on the perimeter, saying “he’s very valuable for us defensively.”

McArthur Court at its best
It was the 10th consecutive sellout for the Ducks when they played Fresno State. It was the first season-opening sellout for Oregon since 1978.
As the 9,087 in attendance filed into McArthur Court on Friday evening, senior forward Luke Jackson knew it was going to be a good one.
“Even before the game, you could tell that the atmosphere in Mac Court was going to be really good,” Jackson said. “When you have that, everybody just is extra into the game. It was so loud in there.”
Students lined up early before the game so that a select few could receive the coveted Pit Crew T-shirts that are given out each year. The Pit Crew didn’t disappoint.
At one point in the second half, the Pit Crew and Oregon fans were asked to stop jumping up and down during a Fresno State free throw that caused the backboard to shake.
Kent was excited about the charisma that the crowd brought so early on in the season.
“I thought the crowd was just tremendous in the game, for a first game at Mac Court,” he said. “What an outstanding job they did.”

Free throw woes
Kent found it hard to point out things that Oregon didn’t do right after the season-opening win. But free throws were one issue that could be brought up.
Oregon’s 60.9 free throw percentage against the Bulldogs was an improvement from the 49.1 percent figure during exhibitions.
Platt struggled in Oregon’s opener, shooting 2 of 9 from the foul line. The freshman ended his night at the charity stripe by missing seven in
a row.
“If you want to pick at something, you can say we can continue to work at Mitch Platt and his free throw shooting and we’ll do that,” Kent said.