After winning the opening tip-off, sophomore forward Kenny Wooten ran up the court, soared for a rebound and capitalized with a high-flying put-back slam that energized the Matt Knight crowd. 
Following Wooten’s dunk, freshman center Bol Bol made an acrobatic hook-shot layup, ensuing a dominant performance by Oregon on-the-glass that propelled it to an 84-61 victory over the Omaha Mavericks (3-7) on Saturday night. 
“Plays like that get a lot of energy going,” said sophomore forward Abu Kigab, who had a career high seven rebounds in his first career start. “It’s fun seeing that the crowd likes it. Energy plays like that create huge momentum swings and gets us going as a team.”
The Ducks, powered by Wooten and Bol, proved to be a nightmare for the Mavericks in the paint, out-rebounding their opponents 36-13 and outscoring them 34-14.
“Yeah we beat them on the boards,” said sophomore guard Victor Bailey, who, like Kigab, also had a career-high in rebounds with six. “Coach has been harping at us ever since the Houston game that rebounds are really important, and it has been hurting us. The whole team focused on rebounding. Some on offense and some on defense. We just played our role and tried to get as many as we could.”
Bol’s 18 points and team-high 10 rebounds provided him with his fourth double-double of the season, but it was Wooten’s highlight reel full of emphatic slam-dunks that ignited the team throughout game. 
Wooten rocked the rim six times with put-back slams, single and two-handed jams, and scored a career-high 20 points on 9-12 shooting. His performance is a vast improvement to the six-point performance he had in the Duck’s 61-65 loss to Houston, which was his first start after leaving the previous game against Texas Southern due to a scary fall.
“I thought we threw it up to the rim a little more often tonight,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Our guys were looking for him. We have not done a good job with that. But tonight, I thought he did a really good job going and getting the ball.”
The Duck’s defense held strong in the first half, keeping the Mavericks to 33 percent shooting from the field and only six points in the paint. 
But in the second half, Altman still sees room for improvement. He said his team lacked energy, which provided the Mavericks better looks at the basket that allowed their field goal percentage to improve to 50 percent.
“I thought our activity on the boards was better,” said Altman, who noted his team’s 16 second-chance points created a huge advantage against the Mavericks, who had only three. “I thought Kenny was active. Abu picked up a couple. I thought our guards overall did better blocking out.”
On Wednesday, the Ducks will continue its four-game string of home games against the University of San Diego at 7 p.m.