Dana Altman has been stressing the importance of this final stretch of the season. In fact, the entire team has. Oregon (16-7, 6-4 Pac-12), who now has eight games remaining on its schedule before the Pac-12 tournament, sits in fourth place in the conference standings and is looking to make a last minute push for the postseason.
A win over the Huskies was a good first step in that direction.
They’ll have their shot against Stanford (March 1) and Utah (February 22) as well, two teams that are currently ahead of them in the conference standings.
Everything was going for Joseph Young on a night where he scored a game-high 32 points and eclipsed the 2,000-point mark at the Division I level. He went 12 of 21 from the floor and 4 for 9 from deep. Young, who seemed to get every major basket down the stretch, made things happen and simply willed the Ducks to their fourth win in five games. He’s just the second player since Rodney Buford (2,116 points) under Altman that holds this accolade.
“It is a big achievement,” Altman said. “You look back at college basketball and there’s not a lot of guys that scored 2,000 points. We’ve placed a lot more on Joe this year than we did a year ago. He’s fought that and done a good job.”
For the Ducks, this game was critical. Not because Bill Walton and the ESPN crew were at Matthew Knight Arena to televise the rivalry, but because the Ducks have a tight window to make something of their up-and-down season. They felt like this was a good rebound win after getting handled by Arizona 90-56 a week ago.
“It was real big win for us,” Elgin Cook, who had 16 points tonight, said. “It was like a bounce back game. We took a bad loss to Arizona and we just wanted to come together as a team.”
Excluding No. 13 ranked Utah and a hot Oregon State team, the Ducks have a manageable schedule. If they have any hopes of appearing in the NIT or the NCAA tournament, they’re going to have to make every game count hereon out.
Said Cook: “Going into every game thinking we’re going to win.”
No different from the beginning on the season, Altman stressed the improvement on defense at his presser. And while it’s turned into a broken record, Altman does believe his team has a lot of room to grow.
“We got to go to work,” Altman said. “This team hasn’t scratched the surface of where it can get to on the defensive end.”
The verdict is still out on the Ducks and there is no doubt about that. There is no telling where they will be by March. Needless to say, this final stretch of the season will be the tell-all.
“More pressure on the coaches than them,” Altman said about finishing the season strong. “They’re (players) fine. They’re excited about playing. I think we’re in a pretty good place.”
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim