The opening weekend at Matthew Knight Arena back in January was almost perfect for the men’s basketball team. After a rousing upset of USC on opening night, it looked as if the momentum had carried over to Saturday as the Ducks took on UCLA.
At least, until a certain 305-pound freshman got in the way.
UCLA’s Joshua Smith proved to be too much for Oregon to handle in a 67-59 loss, but the Ducks will have a chance for redemption Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. It will be head coach Dana Altman’s first coaching trip to the storied arena, and he is fully aware of the challenge in front of him.
“They’re really good at home,” Altman said. “We’re going to have to play really, really well.”
Indeed, the Bruins have won their last four home games. Throughout the 2010-11 season, they have just two losses at Pauley Pavilion — a preseason loss to Montana and a conference defeat against Washington.
For Altman, the key will be rebounding. The Ducks were out-worked on the boards in their first matchup with UCLA, giving up 12 offensive rebounds and 37 total. That will have to change Thursday night.
“The rebounding will be the first thing,” Altman said. “They beat us on the boards in that second half, 15 second chance points was a big difference in the game.”
The battle under the basket will center on Smith. The freshman finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in just 24 minutes in his last matchup with Oregon, and proved to be a key difference maker in UCLA’s win. It will be difficult, but the Ducks know they will have to handle him better this time around.
“He’s huge,” junior guard Garrett Sim said. “Definitely the widest body in the Pac-10, and he’s a good player. That’s something that we’ve got to focus on — keeping him off the boards — because that really killed us in that second half with their second chance points.”
Of course, in that game, Oregon was without leading rebounder Joevan Catron. The senior forward sat out with an injury in the first game against UCLA, and his presence could certainly ease the load on the rest of the team.
“I think I can definitely help the team rebounding,” Catron said. “You know second half I think that’s where we lost the game at.”
Catron has seen plenty of big men in his five years at Oregon, but he admits that Smith might trump all of them in sheer girth.
“He might be the biggest guy I’ve seen,” Catron said. “I’ve played against Greg Oden and those guys, but weight-wise I think he’s bigger than Greg was.”
To be sure, Oregon has plenty more to worry about besides Smith. UCLA has won six of its last seven games and appears to be hitting its stride as the season’s stretch run begins.
“Obviously they have great guards that can score the ball,” Catron said. “And they like to run.”
Though junior forward Jeremy Jacob’s return is still questionable, Altman would love to see him out on the floor Thursday night. He had 12 points in Oregon’s first game against UCLA, and his presence could make a big difference.
“He was 6 of 11 from the field and did some really good things,” Altman said. “So hopefully he’ll be back able to play a little bit.”
Jacob has been bothered by a knee injury all season and has not played since a Jan. 29 loss to California.
Yet, even without Jacob, the Ducks are on a hot streak of their own as winners of four of the last five games. They upset a talented Washington squad last Saturday and are proving to be no easy out in the Pac-10 Conference.
“We’ve always known we’ve been a good group,” Sim said. “I think early in the year we were missing some good shots, but now we’re playing together really well and we’re making a lot of shots for each other.”
Thursday night’s matchup will be yet another opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong.
“We came into this season, and I think every single poll had us last in the Pac-10,” Sim said. “We definitely keep that in the back of our mind and put a little chip on our shoulder for that and try and prove something every single night.”
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Joshua Smith, UCLA will be Oregon’s biggest test
Daily Emerald
February 9, 2011
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