Win tonight, and the Ducks clinch at least a share of the conference championship for the first time in 57 years.
So pack the champagne bottles, right? Not exactly.
“We’ll celebrate after Saturday,” senior Freddie Jones said.
Pending, of course, wins by the No. 13 Oregon men’s basketball team over No. 18 USC at 7:30 tonight and over unranked UCLA at 1 p.m. Saturday.
If the Ducks (20-7, 12-4) lose to the Trojans, they’d face the task of winning at Pauley Pavilion — a place they haven’t won at since 1984 — on Saturday in order to capture a piece of the title.
But should the Ducks win both games this weekend, the Pacific-10 Conference championship would be theirs alone to cherish.
“Our whole goal is to be solo champions,” senior Anthony Lever said. “It’ll feel a lot better if we end up there by ourselves rather than splitting it.”
Still, a victory tonight is reason for celebration as it not only clinches a co-title, but also guarantees the Ducks of a No. 1 seed in the upcoming Pac-10 Tournament.
“This is the biggest game in the history of the University of Oregon since maybe the Tall Firs considering what’s at stake,” head coach Ernie Kent said.
The Tall Firs were the legendary 1938-39 Oregon team that captured the first-ever NCAA
championship. Oregon’s last victory in the NCAA Tournament came in 1960. Since then, the Ducks have lost in the first round in 1961, 1995 and 2000.
With a Pac-10 championship, this year’s Ducks would help their chances of getting a favorable seed in the Big Dance and playing in a much closer location than their trip to Buffalo, N.Y., two years ago.
First things first, though, and that’s the tough USC Trojans (19-7, 11-5), who are a game behind Oregon in a three-way tie for second place with California and Arizona. The Ducks outlasted the Trojans in a hard-fought 73-69 victory on Feb. 2.
“They think they owe us one,” Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour said. “This is a must-win for us, and if we’re going to win on the road we have to do it this week.”
Kent says his team has gone through “tremendous growth” because of their two heartbreaking overtime losses in the Bay Area earlier this month. The players say they’ve learned from those experiences and remain confident in their ability to win away from McArthur Court.
But the fact remains that Oregon hasn’t had much success on the road.
“This is it,” center Chris Christoffersen said. “This is the time to prove to people that we’re a team that is worth winning the Pac-10 title. You can’t really play for much more than that.”
Christoffersen, who is healthy after being sick last week, could be a big factor in tonight’s game, as the Ducks try to contain USC’s Sam Clancy and David Bluthenthal. Clancy scored 25 points in the Trojans’ loss at Eugene this season.
USC will be without junior center Kostas Charissis, who recently suffered a fractured left ankle.
“Now that Charissis is out, Chris could become more of a factor because of his size,” Kent said. “If Chris plays to his ability, he could become the unknown ingredient in the game.”
In USC head coach Henry Bibby’s eyes, there are many ingredients to watch out for when dealing with the Ducks.
“You always know Freddie Jones is tough, and Luke Ridnour is tough,” Bibby said. “Can’t forget about (Luke) Jackson, and you can’t forget about the guys coming off the bench like (James) Davis and Lever.
“There are a lot of people we have to be conscious of.”
Tonight’s game will be televised by Fox Sports Net, and Saturday’s game will be broadcast across the nation on CBS. With six Pac-10 teams separated by just two games in the standings, there will be many things to watch for as the league contenders close out the regular season.
But since the Ducks are alone atop the standings, all they have to worry about is themselves.
“All of us are so excited to be in a position to win a championship,” Jones said. “I know I’ve never won a championship in anything so I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s going to be a great game.”