Guard Aaron Brooks saw it as his time to carry more of the offensive burden. Forward Adam Zahn saw it as his time to shine.
With No. 21 Oregon’s lineup thinned by five injured players, Brooks and Zahn along with the steady play of starters Maarty Leunen, 10 points, and Bryce Taylor, 21 points, combined to overwhelm the visiting Mercer Bears 84-64 Saturday in front of 8,062 at McArthur Court.
“We were down a lot of guys this game, we only had eight, so everybody had to step it up …and I think everybody did,” said Brooks, who finished with 16 points in the second half and 27 total for the game, three off his season-high of 30 scored at Rice. “I was just trying to get to the hole to make plays. When I went to the hole, I was trying to score and if I wasn’t open, I was trying to get it out to an open shooter.”
Zahn made his first start of the season and responded with his first career double-double that included career-highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes.
“I knew I was going to have to step up. (There were) a lot of injuries so they were counting on me to produce a little more tonight,” Zahn said. “Definitely it helps with the confidence, just feeling comfortable on the floor getting playing time like this. The opportunity was given to me and you’ve got to be ready for any opportunity like this. Luckily I was able to perform and hopefully I will be able to continue to help the team when they need me.”
His previous season-high in minutes played was six back on Nov. 12 against Portland.
Zahn’s teammates certainly weren’t surprised by his success Saturday.
“Adam’s a solid player. It was his time to come in today,” Brooks said. “Was I surprised? No. But I’m happy that he came in and took care of business.”
Leunen, who grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds, and Zahn, helped the Ducks to their biggest rebounding advantage of the season at 55-29.
Playing primarily with its tallest lineups of the season caused by the injuries at the guard position – Oregon spread 78 total minutes between seldom-used frontcourt players Zahn, Ray Schafer, and Mitch Platt along with versatile forward Joevan Catron – the usually guard-oriented Ducks grabbed 25 offensive rebounds, leading to 19 extra chance points and a 52-26 advantage in the paint against the much smaller Bears.
“It’s definitely a lot more difficult to play without all your players but we tried to make the adjustment and go a little bit bigger and take advantage of what we had, which was a size advantage,” said Taylor, last week’s Pac-10 player of the week, who grabbed six rebounds Saturday.
The victory takes the Ducks record to 11-0, matching the longest winning streak in head coach Ernie Kent’s tenure and marking the first 11-0 start since the 1946-47 squad won its first 12 games. Oregon also remains just one of four unbeaten teams in the nation.
But of more pressing concern for the Ducks is regaining health. Saturday, Oregon was without the services of leading-scorer and point guard Tajuan Porter (sprained toe), guard Chamberlain Oguchi (sprained ankle), guard Adrian Stelly (quadriceps tendonitis), guard Josh Akwenuke (knee tendonitis) and guard/forward Malik Hairston, who recently returned from a groin injury but is shelved again after tearing soft tissue in his left heel during practice last week, an unusual athletic injury that has him out indefinitely though it is not considered a major injury.
“We need our team back desperately,” Taylor said. “I feel like we have so much talent sitting there injured in sweatsuits.”
Oguchi, who has not played since Nov. 29 at Georgetown, Porter and Stelley could have played in an emergency situation, Kent said, though it never got that point for the Ducks.
“The biggest thing for us was just to manage this game with eight healthy players on your bench,” Kent said. “We just talked about being solid on defense, being smart on offense and getting through the game without injures, but yet trying to play just as heady of a basketball game as we could. I thought we did a pretty good job of that for the most part.”
The Ducks led from start to finish Saturday and looked in control throughout except for a near one-minute stretch in the first-half when the Bears went on a 9-0 run, all points coming from guard James Florence, which cut Oregon’s lead to 22-21.
Florence finished the game with a team-high 19 points. He and fellow guard Shaddean Aaron, who scored 16 points, were the only Bears in double-digits.
The Ducks closed the first half with a 44-31 advantage and extended that to a game-high 21-point lead at 71-50 after consecutive three-point plays by Brooks, a lay-up by Taylor and two more free throws from Brooks with 6:03 to play, which allowed the Ducks to put it on cruise control for the 20-point victory, their third straight win by that margin or more.
The Ducks take a few days off before reconvening for the final preseason game on Dec. 28 against Portland in Eugene. The Pilots defeated Oregon last season 80-72.
The Pac-10 portion of Oregon’s schedule begins two days later in Corvallis against Oregon State.
Notes:
Jordan Kent, son of Oregon coach Ernie Kent and Oregon’s first three-sport athlete since World War II, has opted to forgo his final season of basketball in order to pursue an NFL career.
Kent, primarily known for his hustle and defensive prowess, played 81 games over the last three seasons for the Oregon men’s basketball team, averaging 3.1 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game, 73 assists and 49 steals. He started 21 games.
Also a member of the track team and the Ducks’ 4×100 meter relay team that won Oregon’s first-ever Pac-10 title in that event in 2006, Kent walked on to the football team in 2005 having never played organized football. He made the roster and played sparingly last season catching just three passes for 114 yards.
But the speedster started 12 of 13 games this season and finished as Oregon’s second leading receiver with 44 catches for 491 yards and four touchdowns. His speed and size (6-foot-5, 205-pounds) caught the attention of NFL scouts, and he will begin training in California in the near future for April’s NFL draft.
He has already completed his graduation requirements for a business administration degree but has left open the option of returning in the spring with the track team.
Kent was on hand Saturday afternoon at McArthur Court to support his former teammates, while wearing a white Las Vegas Bowl hat, where he and the football team lost 38-8 to BYU on Thursday that concluded a rather disappointing season. The Ducks finished with four consecutive losses.
Injured Ducks flex muscles against Mercer
Daily Emerald
January 5, 2007
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