Which Oregon team will show up this weekend?
That’s the question floating around when talks come up about Oregon’s two-game road trip to Arizona this weekend. Will it be the team that swept UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State or the team that scored just 42 points and lost by 20 to Oregon State last week?
The answer is no one knows. We will just have to wait for tip-off tonight, as the Ducks (12-10 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) play the Arizona Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. in Tucson. It will be a tough environment in the desert at the McKale Center, where 14,545 fans pack in each game. It has rivaled the Pit in Eugene recently, and the Ducks won’t be able to simulate until it plays there.
“You don’t get ready for the Arizona environment,” head coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s very similar to the Washington environment where you have to go into it with a mental aspect that drowns out the white noise and prepares you for what you need to do.”
The McKale Center is a place associate head coach Mike Dunlap is familiar with, having served at the same position in Arizona for the 2008-09 season. As for the rest of the team, it will be the longest road trip of the conference season and sophomore forward Jeremy Jacob says it’s critical to get out to a fast start. When the Wildcats played in Eugene on Jan. 16, they forced Oregon into some early turnovers, which set the tone in the 74-60 win.
“I think we started off bad, so I guess we can start off more intense this time against Arizona,” Jacob said. “If we start off bad down there, it will be really hard to come back.”
Kent added that the guard play will be key, especially after how the guards played against Oregon State last week. Senior Tajuan Porter and sophomore Malcolm Armstead combined for 13 points in the loss.
“The biggest thing for us is the poise of our guard play,” Kent said. “If we don’t have good guard play in that environment, it could be a long afternoon because the ball is going to be in their hands a lot.”
Arizona runs a man defense, which will also be beneficial to Oregon. The Ducks have been burned lately by zone defenses, especially Oregon State’s 1-3-1 trapping zone. The pressure forced Oregon into tight situations where players had to shoot rushed shots. The team shot a season low 29.8 percent.
“We’ve been struggling against that zone,” Jacob said. “Arizona plays 90 percent man and 10 percent zone, and that will be pretty helpful to us.”
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