There’s a lot of traffic in the Bay Area.
That’s where the Ducks are headed this weekend, and traffic is exactly what they’ll run into. Only it’s not freeway traffic they’re worried about, it’s traffic in the paint.
As the Oregon men’s basketball team heads into its second weekend of conference play, the Ducks will ready to play against a big, bruising California team that should try to out-physical Oregon in a rocking Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
Physical play — especially on rebounds — is exactly how Arizona beat Oregon last week. And it’s exactly how the Bears beat the Ducks in a thrilling overtime contest at almost the same point in the season
last year.
“This team was devastated about not getting the two W’s, but I thought they really bounced back and showed their character, and made a run at the conference championship,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “As we head back down there, circumstances are a little different.”
The Ducks will also face Stanford in Palo Alto — where Oregon hasn’t won since 1986, a streak of 16 straight losses — on Saturday, but for now their attention is focused squarely
on Cal.
More specifically, the Ducks’ focus is consumed by Amit Tamir, the sophomore forward who torched Oregon for 36 in the loss last year. Tamir is a 6-foot-10-inch, physical player, but he shoots 42 percent from 3-point land, making him a threat from anywhere on
the court.
“Just like with any good player, we’ve got to try to limit his touches,” Oregon forward Robert Johnson said. “Hopefully, we can do a better job with that. We didn’t do such a good job last time, but this year is another year. We’ve got enough guys; we’ll just keep throwing guys at him.”
Johnson, a San Francisco native who will be returning home this weekend, will have the dubious job of guarding Tamir. He should also have the job of facing Bear forward Joe Shipp, who has finally found his stride this year as a senior. Shipp, who averaged 14.8 points per game last season but 10.8 points per contest over his career, has averaged 19 points per game this season.
Shipp and Tamir have led the Bears to a 9-2 record. The Bears’ losses came in two tournaments — to the Jim Harrick-led Georgia Bulldogs in the Wooden Classic, and to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Pete Newell Challenge.
Both those losses came away from the confines of Haas Pavilion, an environment that, despite being relatively new, rivals McArthur Court in its boisterous, loud atmosphere. Maples Pavilion at Stanford isn’t much quieter. But Kent said he isn’t worried about the two loud arenas.
“You don’t want to look at them as tough environments. You think of them as great environments,” Kent said. “We’d rather play there than an arena where nobody shows up to
the games.”
Like last year, the early, tough road trip could mold the Ducks for the rest of the season. The Ducks stand in a tie for fourth in the conference after splitting with the Arizona schools in the conference’s opening weekend. California is third in the Pac-10 after toppling Stanford in the opening week, and the trip to the Bay Area provides the Ducks with a chance to gain early ground on the Northern California schools.
But to do it, the Ducks will have to sit through the traffic jam.
“Both teams board real hard,” Oregon guard Luke Ridnour said. “That’s something we need to get better at, and get on the glass so we can get out in transition.
“We’ve just got to get it done.”