Over the river and through the woods — well, let’s let Ernie Kent explain it.
“I always say we need to get back to grandma’s house, and Mac Court is grandma’s house,” the Oregon head coach said.
To grandmother’s house they go.
For Kent, the way to fix his team’s recent problems is easy: Return home, use a little McArthur Court magic dust against a team, Oregon State, that hasn’t beaten the Ducks in seven tries — nine at Mac Court — and see what happens.
Maybe grandmother’s cookies will get Oregon out of the slump.
All kidding aside, the Ducks need a win against a Pacific-10 Conference opponent now. They went to Portland on Wednesday and scraped by the Division I-AA Portland State Vikings, mere days after limping home from a Bay Area trip in which they lost to California and Stanford by a combined 40 points.
Oregon is 2-3 in its last five games.
“Come Saturday, it’s a whole new ball game, we’ve got to go back to work again and get ready to play,” Duck point guard Luke Ridnour said. “We’ve got to get geared up for Oregon State.”
The Beavers are an interesting opponent to start a streak against. They’ve played a handful of Pac-10 teams though, including Arizona and Stanford, but still don’t have a conference win. Oregon State has won only once in the last 18 games of the Civil War series.
But the Beaver big men are just big enough to give the Ducks fits.
“We’re going to have to get ready for Brian Jackson and (Phillip) Ricci from Oregon State, and we’re going to have to do a good job on them,” Oregon forward Ian Crosswhite said.
Jackson and Ricci are, indeed, the dual wrecking balls of the Beaver frontcourt. Ricci averages 17.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while Jackson is one of only two other Oregon State players averaging in double figures.
The pair will be a challenge for Crosswhite and the other Oregon big men, who have struggled against talented Pac-10 players this season. Crosswhite had a spectacular preseason but slumped against the Arizona schools, and Kent kept him off the floor for much of the Bay Area trip. He returned to action and form against Portland State, scoring 17 points.
“A lot of (Oregon’s struggling) has to do with our big guys,” Kent said after the game Wednesday night. “We need a little bit more production out of them. Ian had a big game tonight; we just need to continue to come.”
Crosswhite isn’t the only struggling Oregon big man. Brian Helquist has been hampered by a shoulder injury that he suffered in the preseason and hasn’t returned to form. He is averaging only 4.1 points per game.
Oregon State will also have the dangerous underdog factor, which has worked for Oregon’s opponents in the past five games. The Ducks went down early in both their California losses, and never recuperated.
“Teams are coming after us this year, and last year we were coming at teams,” Ridnour said. “We’ve got to be ready to handle that, and so far we haven’t done such a good job.”
But Crosswhite, for one, is confident the Ducks can get back on track.
“I can tell you right now, we’re going to be in sync for that game,” he said in reference to the Civil War.
The game is, after all, at grandma’s house.