The result in Oregon’s exhibition game Monday night against Northwest Christian was never in question. Oregon flexed its muscles early and won handily, 86-51.
Chris Boucher seems more than ready to lead the 2016-17 team with Dillon Brooks still out with a foot injury. He led all scorers with 25 points on 10-13 shooting. He also snagged nine rebounds in 20 minutes. All night he was making quick, decisive moves on offense and providing stifling defense around the rim. He didn’t miss a shot until late in the second half.
Tyler Dorsey also chipped in a nice effort, finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Dylan Ennis did a bit of everything in his first full Oregon game, tallying 11 points, three rebounds and five assists while running the offense for most of the game. His versatility stood out most to his teammates.
“He brings a lot of energy,” Boucher said of Ennis. “He’s a bigger guard so it helps us because he can get to the rim and he brings a different aspect on defense; he’s a little longer, a little bigger. So he can guard multiple positions which really helps us.”
Monday was Ennis’s first collegiate game since re-injuring his foot last season against Oregon State.
Sharing in point guard duties Monday was freshman Payton Pritchard, who impressed in 28 minutes of action. He ended his collegiate debut with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
Fellow newcomer Kavell Bigby-Williams also contributed 11 points and eight rebounds.
Oregon had the advantage in every statistical category on Monday. The Ducks outshot the Beacons (46 to 32 percent) and almost doubled up the visitors on rebounds, 49-26. They opened the game on a 25-2 run and never looked back.
They did, however, give up eight offensive rebounds to NCU in the first half, a number that head coach Dana Altman was not all too thrilled about.
“We didn’t start the game very well,” Altman said. “We didn’t make many good blockouts.”
Rebounding is an aspect of Oregon’s overall game that Altman has emphasized in the past few weeks. With larger and more skilled opponents looming in Army and Baylor in the coming week, Oregon will look to improve in that area quickly.
“Our guys realize we have a lot of work to do,” Altman said. “We gotta do a better job on the boards and we gotta get a lot better defensively.
“There’s a lot of room for work as was pointed out in our scrimmage (against Oklahoma) eight days ago, nine days ago, and it was pointed out again tonight.”
Oregon led 50-18 at the half but let its foot off the gas in the second half. The hosts traded baskets with NCU for much of the second half and only outscored the visitors by three points.
“We play well for a half or a certain period of time,” Altman said. “But we don’t have the ability to really focus and stay focused after we get a big lead.”
Overall, Altman liked his team’s effort in the first half, but wants to see improvement.
“It’s gonna be a process,” Altman said. “We’re not the team everybody thinks we are right now. That’s pretty obvious. We got a lot of work to do.”
Oregon gets back to work on Friday when the Ducks host Army for the season opener.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris