Heading into this season, the Ducks were poised to be in the chase for a run at the Big Ten title, with outlets like CBS Sports having Oregon at No. 5 in their Big Ten preseason poll. However, things have changed drastically since the start of the season, with the Ducks currently sitting at 8-6 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play, with early losses to UCLA and No. 24 USC.
The season started off rocky, but solid, with four straight wins at home. The home opener against Hawaii was marked by poor ball handling and passing, resulting in a program-record 21 turnovers in a nail-biting 60-59 win.
One of the team’s main issues this season is turnovers. The Ducks currently rank No. 3 in the Big Ten in total turnovers with 178.
“Our turnovers were guys trying to make plays for themselves,” head coach Dana Altman said following the recent loss against Gonzaga. “It wasn’t turnovers where we were really trying to execute something and 11 turnovers into 19 points, you know, they were pretty dang efficient when we gave them a turnover, it’s a big difference.”
The Ducks season quickly turned sour after a trip to the Players Era Festival, a tournament Oregon won last season. The Ducks lost all three games to No. 21 Auburn, San Diego State and Creighton. These losses exposed the team’s inability to handle teams in the postseason picture, which continued to be evident when they picked up another two losses against USC and UCLA.
The Ducks have also had a tough time with efficiency this season, ranking third-worst in field goal percentage (43.9), tied for eighth-worst in three-point percentage (34.2) and second-worst in free throw percentage (71.1) in the Big Ten.
Following the five-game losing streak, Oregon picked up two blowout wins at home against UC Davis and Portland, which gave them solid momentum heading into their toughest game of nonconference play against the No. 7-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Northwest Elite Showdown in Portland.
The Ducks fought well against the Bulldogs, but ultimately lost 91-82. Senior center Nate Bittle led all scorers with 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks in that game, but the rest of the team struggled at times.
“Nate played good,” Altman said after the loss. “I mean, 28 points against those guys, five assists, no turnovers and four blocks. Man, after a month out to come back and play like that, he played his tail off. I got no complaints with his effort.”
Bittle is currently the team’s highest scorer, averaging 16.1 points per game as well as the team’s leading shot blocker with 2.6 blocks per game.
“Our awareness, defensive intensity, was not good enough,” Altman said following the loss. “No attention to detail on how we’re guarding people. We made a lot of mistakes, defensive mistakes. Now, they can score, don’t get me wrong; they average 90 points a game. But we sure didn’t take much away.”
Their saving grace has been rebounding, ranking sixth in the conference, which has kept them competitive against undersized teams. Players like Kwame Evans Jr. and Nate Bittle have been solid rebounders for Oregon, averaging 7.7 and 6.8 rebounds, respectively. Evans and Bittle have struggled with injuries so far this season, missing 2 games apiece so far.
“We’ve got KJ with the bad ankle and Devon starting to come back,” Altman said following the recent win against Omaha. “Those three guys — Nate, KJ and Dev — are probably in our starting lineup. We just got to get them healthy.”
The Ducks look to pick up their first home conference win as they take on Ohio State at Matthew Knight Arena on Jan 8 at 7:30 p.m. PST.
