Oh, how the years have come and gone.
James Davis, Jay Anderson, Andre Joseph and the perpetual Duck, Luke Jackson, are set to play their final games at McArthur Court on Thursday and Saturday.
Those years have dusted through Eugene, blanketing the area with NCAA Tournament appearances and Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
Thing is, this season is a little bit different than what that quartet is used to.
Tonight’s game against Southern California — tip is 5:30 — could be the start of the end for Oregon this season. The Ducks know they will need to win one of two games against the Los Angeles schools this week to guarantee a Pac-10 Tournament appearance.
Oregon (12-11 overall, 7-9 Pac-10) wants that win tonight. It doesn’t want a do-or-die situation Saturday when UCLA visits.
“We don’t want to take anything for granted and let Oregon State get a couple of wins or Washington State get a couple of wins and then us lose a game and not be guaranteed of getting in,” Jackson said. “These games and every game I’ve ever played in has been important, especially at home.”
Although Oregon’s seniors will take to the McArthur Court floor for the last time Saturday, they aren’t concentrating on the festivities. The Trojans (12-13, 7-9) are the Ducks’ focus tonight.
“When we play in this building, we tend to play with a lot of confidence, even though we let two games get away from us last weekend,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “With the seniors’ last games coming up this weekend, I expect this team to be fully confident.”
If history has anything to say, the Ducks will be confident against the Trojans. On Jan. 2 in Los Angeles, Oregon defeated USC, 92-74. The Ducks led by 16 at halftime and coasted to the victory.
“We were playing really well as a team, passing the ball, giving it up, finding the open man, and everybody was on their game at that point,” Anderson said. “We played a really good game. The main thing is we were giving the ball up and playing as a team.”
The win came before the Trojans lost the services of junior guard Errick Craven. The Carson, Calif., native was suspended last week for the upcoming game against Oregon by the Pac-10. The suspension was issued for his part in one of two separate incidents during the Trojans’ game against California on Feb. 21.
Craven’s twin brother, Derrick, was also suspended for his part in the incidents and will sit out Saturday’s game against Oregon State.
Errick Craven has averaged 10.8 points this season and scored 10 in 22 minutes against the Ducks.
“When you lose one of those kids, you take a big part of what you’ve been doing out of the lineup,” USC head coach Henry Bibby said. “But, it’s a great opportunity for other kids to step up and play.”
Oregon won’t necessarily make any amendments to its game plan because of Errick Craven’s absence. After all, as Kent said at Tuesday’s practice, the Trojans are a fast team in general.
“The only difference it will make is it will allow somebody else to step up and take his minutes,” Kent said. “Somebody will step into that role and realize they need to have a special game and a big game. We need to make sure to counter whoever that person is for them.”
The same goes for Oregon, which needs a reliable scorer behind Jackson, who is averaging 21.7 points per game this season. Aaron Brooks averaged 16.5 points in losses to California and Stanford last week, but he is only four games off a broken right wrist.
Ian Crosswhite … Joseph … Davis? They’re all capable and have proved during this season they can carry that secondary load.
Regardless of who steps into that role, the Ducks say they all need to focus on the Trojans.
Then they can get down to Saturday’s festivities.