There’s just nothing like McArthur Court for the Oregon men’s basketball team.
A record of 35-2 on their home court after beating Washington and Washington State this weekend says plenty for the Ducks.
“This was a big weekend for us and we felt like we were capable absolutely of beating both teams and we did it one game at a time,” Oregon senior Luke Jackson said. “It feels good.”
Entering Thursday’s game against Washington, Oregon had been playing on the road for 29 days.
Five straight road games and a 2-3 record during the span was a rough stretch for a team that had been on its longest road trip in seven years.
Oregon had lost two straight to UCLA and Oregon State and was in need of a turnaround.
Enter the Huskies, Cougars and now, Oregon’s renewed conviction.
“The confidence is just coming back home here to Mac Court,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s such a great venue to play in. Yet, we needed to get through the Washington games because we hadn’t been here in so long. Our confidence is certainly on the rise now with these two games.”
The Ducks had slipped to the bottom half of the Pacific-10 Conference standings before playing the Washington schools. Now Oregon (8-4 overall, 3-2 Pac-10) is tied for third with Arizona in the conference’s standings.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Oregon as of late. If the extended road trip wasn’t enough, Oregon has had to deal with the loss of freshman Aaron Brooks at the starting point guard spot.
Without Brooks, Oregon has had to deal with many different lineups and become accustomed to three or four people bringing the ball up the floor.
Kent is now confident that his players are where they should be.
“Jay (Anderson) is on his game, obviously Luke Jackson is on his game, James (Davis) is on his game, Andre (Joseph) is on his game, Ian (Crosswhite) is on his game, Mitch (Platt) is getting back there right now,” he said.
“Then you’ve got Jordan (Kent), Adam Zahn and Matt Short still needing to get on their games completely — get their confidence, get their rhythm. There’s still some growth potential in this team.”
It was a weekend that allowed Oregon to grow as a team in seeing two completely different styles of offense. Washington ran the ball much like Oregon is used to and Washington State stuck to head coach Dick Bennett’s traditional half-court offense.
After McArthur Court helped Oregon find some of the confidence it had lost, the Ducks now must focus on using their momentum for the upcoming week.
Oregon heads back on the road to face Arizona State on Thursday and Arizona on Saturday. The road trip in the desert is never easy on the Ducks.
Kent said Oregon must focus on defense, but Joseph has a different idea.
“If we can play offense like we have in the past two games, we’ll be alright,” Joseph said.
In the past two games, Oregon has averaged 72 points as a team and is shooting better than 50 percent from the three-point line. The Ducks have shot better than 54 percent from the field and are handing out a total of 35 assists as a team.