For the first time this season, No. 16 ranked Oregon men’s basketball (20-6, 9-4 Pac-12) dropped two straight games. The losses came at the hands of California (83-63) and Stanford (76-72).
“We were all pretty disappointed,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Hopefully we’ll be ready to go Saturday.”
After looking at the film, both Altman and his players could see what went wrong: Unforced turnovers and mishaps on defense.
Their plan is simple now: Avoid this style of basketball and make one last push heading into the upcoming Pac-12 tournament in early March.
“We got to focus on the details and the little things,” sophomore guard Dillon Brooks said. “It’s a couple bad losses, but we’re still in the hunt and we can still do what we set out to do from the beginning.
Three out of the last five remaining games will be at home for Oregon: Oregon State (15-9, 6-7), Washington State (9-17, 1-13) and Washington (15-11, 7-7). It will finish out the year with two road games at USC (19-7, 8-5) and UCLA (14-12, 5-8).
As it currently stands, Oregon and Arizona will be fighting to claim the regular season conference title, a feat the Ducks haven’t achieved since 2002.
The last time Oregon faced in-state rival Oregon State, it was the conference opener in nearby Corvallis. It didn’t take very long for the Beavers to take full control of the game, ultimately resulting in a 70-57 loss for the Ducks.
“They just outplayed us and out-toughed us,” freshman guard Tyler Dorsey said. “Nothing (is) different. We just (need) to focus on ourselves and knowing the formula of what we need to do. If we do our job and listen to coach, I don’t think we need to worry about what they’re doing. We scouted them and we know what they’re going to do.”
This time around, Oregon doesn’t expect a different Oregon State opponent, but rather a sold out environment that will, according to Altman, “take on a personality of its own.”
“We know we’re a good team and we know what we got to do to win the game,” Brooks said. “It’s the Civil War, everyone wants to see this game, so it’s going to be great. They’re going to have us fired up. Can’t wait for it.”
Players to watch
Oregon
Dillon Brooks: 17.2 (PPG), 48.6 (FG%)
Chris Boucher: 12.3 (PPG), 7.5 (RPG), 55 (FG%)
Tyler Dorsey: 12. 7 (PPG), 41 (3P%)
Oregon State
Gary Payton II: 16.1 (PPG), 49.7 (FG%), 5.3 (APG)
Tres Tinkle: 12.5 (PPG), 5.3 (RPG), 44 (FG%)
— ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still has Oregon as a N0. 5 seed in his most recent bracket. Oregon is also still the third ranked team in the RPI standings.
Tipoff is set for a 7 p.m. PST start and will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim