In its final exhibition game, the Oregon men’s basketball team will take on Southern Oregon University Sunday at 2 p.m. at McArthur Court.
The Ducks won their first exhibition contest 82-56 over Northwest Christian University last Sunday, though the Beacons were able to keep it close through the first half, something the young Ducks need to improve upon, said Oregon head coach Ernie Kent.
“The biggest thing is to play with a little bit more poise at the beginning of the game,” Kent said. “I thought we were pretty good in the second half of that first exhibition game, looking at the numbers and everything.”
One positive for this season’s Ducks is the energy they play with on the defensive end of the floor. Oregon always seems to be loaded with offensive talent, and thus high-energy defense seems to need constant preaching by the coaching staff. Not necessary this season, says Kent.
“They play hard, they do everything you tell them to, maybe to a fault at times,” he said. “Their energy is really, really good. I thought we played defense from the beginning of that game until the end of that game.”
Kent said he will be taking a look at a number of different combinations on the floor Sunday, including several different post duos, as he tries to nail down which players work best together headed into games that actually count on the Ducks’ record.
“You’ll see our bigs out there a little bit more together,” he said. “In terms of rotation, the biggest thing is going to come back again to who’s got the energy to play at that level.”
One player Kent would like to see more from Sunday is transfer guard Ben Voogd, who didn’t see as much playing time as other guards in the first game.
“He didn’t get as many minutes as other guys … hopefully we can get him some more minutes and give him another look in this exhibition game,” he said.
Kent does not, however, have any concrete plans on who will play how much. Most of that is determined by score and fatigue at this point, the coach said.
The Ducks’ regular season opener is Friday, Nov. 14 at McArthur Court against Northern Colorado.
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