In No. 14 Oregon men’s basketball’s first action of the 2018-19 season, the Ducks defeated Western Oregon 77-58 in an exhibition.
Oregon was without prominent players. Payton Pritchard, Paul White, Will Richardson and Louis King were all inactive as the Ducks worked out the kinks.
While true evaluations will wait until Oregon plays in the regular season, we still got a glimpse of what the Ducks will be this season.
Here are some takeaways from tonight’s exhibition.
Bol Ball
Freshman, 7-foot-2 center Bol Bol was the main attraction. He got the loudest cheers during introductions before the game. While the reaction wasn’t mixed, his game was. At times he was out of position defensively. Some of that due to effort, some surely due to inexperience.
“He’s got to play a lot harder, improve his positioning, talk defensively,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “He is talented. He is skilled.”
Oregon Ducks center Bol Bol (1) dunks the ball. Oregon Ducks Men’s Basketball hosts Western Oregon University at Matt Knight Arena in Eugene Ore. on Nov. 1, 2018. (Devin Roux/Emerald)
He showed that skill to start the second half. He scored six points in a variety of ways, including some midrange, through the legs step backs. He easily grabbed the ball with one hand on two dunks, and in the final minute of the game, with only seconds left on the shot clock, Bol hit a turnaround three. He towered over the smaller Western Oregon players, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds.
Bol Bol acting like he's not 7’2" 👀
(via @goducks) pic.twitter.com/Lxbd2jNbOy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 2, 2018
Turnover Bug
Oregon was sloppy on both ends to start the game. The defense tightened up, but the Ducks continued to turn the ball over. Ball handlers Pritchard, Richardson and White were out, but Oregon guards Ehab Amin and Victor Bailey Jr. did not take care of the ball well.
They combined for 11 of Oregon’s 19 total turnovers. The Ducks probably won’t have all three top guards out, but Amin and Bailey will still get minutes this season.
“It’s a lot different look from what we’ve had in practice,” Altman said. “But we’ve got to get ready for that.”
The offense struggled in the first half. The Ducks only finished with 29 points. They failed to generate shots on the perimeter and the ball stuck in players hands.
“We don’t really want to play slow,” Altman said. “We prefer to play a lot faster than what we did in the first half. Got to handle the ball. … You have 19 turnovers you’re usually not going to win too many games doing that.”
Okoro Show
When the offense sputtered, freshman center Francis Okoro was there to pick it up. He provided Oregon with offensive energy in the second half. He was Oregon’s most impressive and consistent player, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes.
“Francis did a great job of getting offensive rebounds, put backs, working hard on the offensive glass,” Altman said. “I thought he did a tremendous job there. That really gave us a big lift.”
Oregon was letting Western Oregon get offensive rebounds. Western Oregon still got an impressive 18 boards, but the Ducks limited them in the second half.
“I thought Francis obviously did a great job getting some boards,” Altman said. “They were killing us on the offensive glass. They were quicker to the ball. They were just playing harder than we were. We were playing a little tentatively. I thought Francis really even that out in the second half.”
With the guards out, Okoro was a nice change of pace to the tall Bol and freakishly athletic Kenny Wooten. He was thick and physical.
“I’ve been really impressed with his work ethic in practice and, he struggled a little bit against K-State,” Altman said. “He played really hard but he had a hard time finishing some things. Did a little better job tonight.”
Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917
