UCLA @ Oregon preview
Matthew Knight Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 26, 2020 ) UCLA 75, Oregon 96
The top two teams in the Pac-12 Conference standings last season get an early shot at one another when UCLA visits 25th-ranked Oregon on Wednesday afternoon in Eugene.
The Ducks (6-1, 1-0) captured the conference regular-season title by one game over the Bruins (5-2, 1-0) last season, the difference coming in a 96-75 Oregon home win in January.
Projected conference front-runners again, the teams have a rematch later this season on Jan. 28 at UCLA.
Oregon's 21-point win last season was its most one-sided in the rivalry since 2003. Chris Duarte paced that win with a game-high 24 points.
Duarte returns this season as Oregon's second-leading scorer (15.4 points per game) behind Eugene Omoruyi (18.1), but several of the Ducks' other most impactful players in last season's meeting have moved on.
One of those players is star point guard Payton Pritchard, a first-round pick of the Boston Celtics in November. Pritchard contributed 19 points and six assists to Oregon's win last season.
Meanwhile, UCLA will play with basically all the same key players this season, including Jake Kyman and Jalen Hill, who combined for 36 points in the loss last season.
Both teams lost their season openers this year -- Oregon to Missouri, UCLA to San Diego State -- but have rebounded well. The Ducks have won six in a row, while the Bruins had a five-game winning streak until falling to Ohio State in Cleveland over the weekend.
Oregon is coming off an 80-41 blowout of Portland in its first game without starting center N'Faly Dante, who suffered a torn ACL in the Ducks' previous game against San Francisco.
LJ Figueroa was promoted to the starting lineup and responded with 15 points against Portland, while Aaron Estrada, ruled eligible earlier in the week after having transferred from Saint Peter's, helped fill the roster void with 18 minutes off the bench.
"We're going to have to press those guys into some very meaningful minutes, very quickly," Oregon coach Dana Altman said after the Portland game. "And they're going to have to work their tails off and play their role."
While the Ducks lost a big man, the Bruins added one in the past week when incoming freshman Mac Etienne enrolled at school early for the winter quarter.
The 6-foot-10 prospect is expected to redshirt this season, but Bruins coach Mick Cronin has not shut that door.
"If he gets to the point where he's physically and mentally on the same page with our team and it's something that he wants to do, then obviously I'm going to support him and we'll go from there," Cronin said of Etienne possibly joining the team this season. "But right now we're not even close to that point."
--Field Level Media