No. 12 Oregon enters Sunday’s home game with Stephen F. Austin in Eugene with various concerns coming off its first loss of the season.
The Ducks (9-1) lost 73-71 to UCLA last Sunday on a banked 3-point shot with 0.4 seconds left.
Oregon coach Dana Altman went into that game critical of his team because of escapes against Portland (80-70 in overtime on Nov. 12), Oregon State (78-75 on Nov. 21) and Alabama (83-81 on Nov. 30).
His “playing with fire” comments came to reality against the Bruins. The Ducks’ perimeter defense struggled against UCLA, which made 12 of 23 shots (52.2 percent) from 3-point range.
Oregon also had 13 turnovers compared with nine by the Bruins.
“We gave up way too many open looks defensively,” Altman said. “Didn’t get enough deflections, didn’t take them out of their rhythm. So yeah, it was kind of what I thought.”
Of Oregon’s nine wins, six have been by 10 points or less, and each of those games was in doubt in the waning minutes.
“We kind of skated around in some close games, and we’re fortunate,” Altman said. “We’ve just got to get better. Our block-out rates are not what they should be. I mentioned the deflections that we monitor weren’t anywhere close to what they needed to be against UCLA.
“Our turnovers were really bad against UCLA, and some of that’s UCLA defense or good defense, but some of we just made poor decisions, just trying to drive against the set defense.”
In terms of his concerns about blocking out, Altman mentioned that his team must be prepared for Stephen F. Austin’s “very physical” team.
The Ducks have been outrebounded in four of their last six games.
Stephen F. Austin senior forward Nana Antwi-Boasiako leads the Lumberjacks with an average of 7.9 rebounds a game. Forward Juhlawnei Stone and guard Chrishawn Christmas each are at 6 rebounds a game.
Oregon post player Nate Bittle, a 7-footer, leads the Ducks with 9.1 rebounds a game, but the next player averages only 4.4 — forward Kwame Evans Jr.
Stephen F. Austin (5-5) enters the matchup losing consecutive games against Southland Conference opponents Texas Rio Grande Valley and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Kyle Keller, a former assistant at Kansas under Bill Self and Oklahoma State under Eddie Sutton, is in his ninth season as Stephen F. Austin’s coach.
“Oregon’s beaten the best teams in the country,” Keller said. “They had a hiccup against UCLA. In talking to their staff, they were obviously frustrated in that game. … Watching them on film, they have great size, which is probably not something our team wants to see right how.
“The strength of our team is rebounding and ability to get the ball to the basket offensively. We’re going to have to make some jump shots against them.”
The Lumberjacks welcomed back UMass transfer point guard Keon Thompson last week after he missed eight weeks with a foot injury.
He scored 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field in a 68-65 loss to Texas Rio Grande Valley on Dec. 5, but he had only two points while making 1 of 7 shots against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Dec. 7.
–Field Level Media
