Oregon begins its five-game road trip tonight in Irvine, Calif., against the UC Irvine Anteaters four days after losing in overtime to Oakland and three before playing games in Hawaii at the Maui Invitational.
The team will be forced to find its road legs after a 1-1 start to the season at McArthur Court, with both games coming down to free throws with less than five seconds to play in regulation.
With six freshmen counted on to produce in head coach Ernie Kent’s rotation, the coach said the trip will be “just another step in the process” to fit the groove of Division I college basketball.
“If you can get these guys to play hard the other stuff will take care of itself,” said Kent, who was displeased with his guards’ inability to slow down Oakland’s Johnathon Jones, who scored 32 points, including 10 in overtime Monday.
Kent was “impressed” with how the players bounced back after the loss, but said it always takes longer with the coaches.
“Us coaches can’t do it that way,” said Kent, who is still tied with Howard Hobson at 212 wins for most all-time at Oregon.
Oregon will look to get another strong performance from redshirt sophomore LeKendric Longmire, who scored all of his 18 points in the first half Monday before leg cramps limited his efficiency the rest of the game.
“It’s extremely frustrating, especially when you think you’ve gotten it taken care of,” Longmire said.
Junior guard Tajuan Porter is 20 points short of scoring 1,000 points in his career, an exclusive club of only 28 players in Duck history. Porter has averaged 14.2 points per game in his 69 career games, and averaged 11 points in two games this season so far. With his three three-pointers, Porter also moved into sixth all-time at Oregon, making 197 threes on 39 percent.
The Pacific-10 Conference is nothing new for the Anteaters, who lost to USC 78-55 on Nov. 15. Irvine also lost to Eastern Washington 74-79 at home Wednesday.
Two nights after scoring four points against the Trojans, freshman Eric Wise led the Anteaters with 19 on Wednesday.
The Ducks last played the Anteaters on Nov. 17, 2006, in Eugene for an 85-42 win, but the all-time series between the two is tied at 2-2. After the loss to USC, Irvine extended its all-time record against Pac-10 schools to 10-29, with its last win coming in 2005 against Stanford.
Playing at home, however, could change the game. Irvine holds a .775 winning percentage (79-23) at the Bren Events Center since 2000.
When the Ducks played at St. Mary’s of California 366 days ago, they lost 99-87 to the tough Gaels, something the current team is keeping in mind.
“They know what to expect,” senior center Frantz Dorsainvil said. “You gotta win. If you don’t win, you ain’t nothing.”
Dorsainvil and Teondre Williams practiced Wednesday after scarce playing time in the team’s first three games with deep thigh bruises. Dorsainvil said there is fluid in his knee that can be painful, but he expects to play through it. He qualified himself as “day-to-day.”
Kent wants Dorsainvil, one of two seniors, to work his way back into the rotation, saying minutes are available but not guaranteed.
“He’s having a hard time getting in right now because those other two young guys are playing well,” said Kent, referencing freshmen Josh Crittle and Michael Dunigan. “There’s some minutes out there to be had at that five spot between those three guys.
“(Frantz) just needs to make sure he’s able to take advantage of the minutes he gets.”
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