The last time Oregon walked into Tucson on Arizona’s senior night, the result was uglier than the bearded lady.
It was two years ago, and luckily the 104-65 beating wasn’t Oregon’s last game of the season.
But when the Ducks waltz into the McKale Center on Saturday, it will be the final game of the regular season for both teams. And Oregon is doing more than hoping to avoid a blowout. The Ducks want a win.
“We are a basketball team that has been in those tough environments,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s all about accountability, if we’re accountable we have a good chance to win that game.”
Before Arizona, Oregon will face Arizona State. The Ducks and Sun Devils have a set date in the first round of the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, so tonight’s game will be as good a scouting report as is available.
“They really like to put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket,” Kent said. “We need to not let (Ike) Diogu have a monster game. I think we let him have a monster game when they played (in Eugene).”
Diogu is the superstar freshman who is almost a lock for the Pac-10’s Freshman of the Year award. He averages 19.3 points per game, good enough for fourth in the Pac-10, and adds eight rebounds per game, also fourth in the conference.
“He just wants the ball,” Johnson said. “They’re a team that really goes after the ball, and he’s like that.”
Andre Joseph was named the Pac-10’s Newcomer of the Year on Wednesday.
So how to contain Diogu and the Sun Devils? Kent said the Ducks need to keep the style fast and furious, not down and dirty.
“We need to play smart and keep the tempo at our pace,” Kent said.
For Oregon, the tempo has been high for a while. The Ducks are 4-1 since a 1-2 stretch in early February cast their NCAA Tournament hopes briefly in doubt. With their 20th win against UCLA on Saturday, Oregon seems like a lock for March Madness now.
But the Ducks still have a 3-4 Pac-10 road record, and that doesn’t look good to the NCAA Tournament prognosticators.
A win or two in Arizona would certainly help boost Oregon’s March Madness standing. And one of the selection committee’s criteria is how a team did in its last 10 games. If the Ducks split in Arizona and win one game in the Pac-10 Tournament, they’ll be 6-4 over their last 10. If they can get to the Pac-10 Tournament title game or sweep the Arizona schools, they’ll be 7-3.
“It would be huge for our team to get on a roll here going into March Madness,” Oregon guard Luke Ridnour said. “This is something we just need to get done and try to get on a roll.”
In an ironic twist, the Ducks could very well repeat their Arizona weekend in the Pac-10 Tournament. Oregon knows it will face Arizona State in the first round, and Arizona is a lock at No. 1, meaning it will face the winner of the Duck-Sun Devil game.
But Kent and the Ducks are more focused on the bigger tournament — the one with 65 teams. The NCAA Tournament.
“If we can get into the tournament, we’re a very dangerous team,” Kent said. “We don’t have much control (over the seeding).”
It’s been a while since Oregon has met the Arizona schools, and a lot has happened since those first meetings. The Ducks faced the desert squads on the season’s first weekend, back in early January. Oregon lost a thriller to Arizona before blowing out Arizona State, 93-74.
The Ducks were largely able to contain Diogu in their first contest against Arizona State, and will hope to do so again tonight. Diogu had 27 points, but most of those points came toward the end of the game with the outcome long since decided.
Diogu has led the Devils in 14 of their 27 games this season. The Ducks are hoping it isn’t 17, because ASU is 9-5 in those games.
And after containing the Devil-ish freshman, Oregon will try to contain the Wildcat seniors in Tucson. And maybe then the game won’t be so ugly.
Contact the sports editor
at [email protected].