SPOKANE, Wash.- The Winthrop offense was expected to create problems for the Oregon defense. The Eagles’ 6-foot-10-inch, bulky center Craig Bradshaw was supposed to be too much to handle for the Ducks’ undersized front court.
The past couple of days, Oregon junior forward Maarty Leunen had to explain how he and his team were going to try and stop the 240-pound multi-threat who could always post-up against an opponent but just as easily pop a three from the perimeter. How could he stop someone like that when Leunen gave up roughly thirty pounds to the man he was supposed to guard.
Leunen’s response: He’d have a little help from his friends.
Oregon switched its three, four and five positions on screens, a seldom-used tactic this season, coach Ernie Kent said.
“If we communicate while we’re switching, we’re able to front him and when we front him, we have our weak-side help,” Hairston said. It’s worked before. The Ducks held Georgetown’s 7-foot-2-inch Roy Hibbert below his season average and they harassed Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic in two of three games this season. Given those examples, why was Bradshaw predicted to rip through the Oregon defense?
“We take pride in the fact that we’re a scrappy basketball team,” Hairston said. ‘”We’re small. We’ve been small all year. We have to get the loose balls, we have to box out.”
Bradshaw, who averaged 13.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game during the regular season, was held to 10 points and seven rebounds, a solid performance, but the type of game coach Kent hoped to see – not letting a single player have a dominant game.
“We try not give anybody an edge,” freshman forward Joevan Catron said. “We’re not going to let anybody just come in and dominate us.”
Although Leunen guarded Bradshaw for most of the game, like the team defense philosophy dictates, it’s about team effort and not an individual performance. Junior guard Bryce Taylor said that the three, four and five positions continued to switch onto Bradshaw and he was never able to adjust.
“It was key for us to make it difficult for him and throw different guys at him,” Leunen said. “We always kept him on his toes and he never knew who was coming.”
Oregon’s defense also contained Winthrop’s perimeter shooters. By containing Bradshaw, the Winthrop guards felt added pressure to start scoring and began to hoist threes quicker than usual, at one point missing 14 straight.
“I felt that we should have got the ball inside more tonight,” Winthrop guard Torrell Martin said. “I don’t normally take forced shots.”
The Eagles were 8 of 31 from beyond the arc and began to panic when the Ducks continued to have scoring streaks of their own.
“They got a little nervous because they felt us turning the pressure up,” junior guard Bryce Taylor said. “People try to act like they have so much confidence that they’re not going to get nervous for a game like this…once they realized how good we were, I’m sure they got even more nervous.”
Next stop: St. Louis.
Oregon will face UNLV in St. Louis in the third round of the tournament.”It means we get to go on another trip,” senior Aaron Brooks said. “I’ve never been to St. Louis but hopefully we see Nelly when we get there.”
For Tajuan Porter, Catron and Hairston, it means that they’ll be closer to home and finally get a chance to play in front of their family and hometown fans.
“It’s a special thing, it’s a special feeling,” Hairston said. “It’s where Maarty and I first met – at the Nike Jamboree. I told him it’s our anniversary.”
But until next week’s game, Oregon will have to finish up what may be a tougher test – exams.
“The worst part about it is having to take care of some finals,” Hairston said.