Prairie View A&M @ Oregon preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 21, 2011 ) Prairie View A&M 66, Oregon 74

Oregon coach Dana Altman needs just two more wins to become the 34th Division I coach to reach 600 career wins all-time. Altman, who is currently one victory behind Oregon State's Slats Gill, the namesake of Gill Coliseum in nearby Corvallis, will try and pick up win No. 599 on Monday night when the Ducks host Prairie View A&M.

Altman, who led Oregon to 33 wins and its first Final Four since 1939 last season, is more concerned with seeing improvement in a young team that was outscored, 40-28, in the second half of a lackluster 70-54 season-opening win over Coppin State on Friday. The Ducks return just one starter, sophomore point guard Payton Pritchard, from a squad that lost by one point to eventual national champ North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. "We will watch film and show the guys how much harder they have to work defensively and how much our communication has to improve," Altman told the Eugene Register-Guard. "Then hope to be ready on Monday because we will need it. Prairie View has a more experienced team and is very quick so we will have to play better."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT PRAIRIE VIEW A&M (0-1): The Panthers return three starters to go along with five transfers on a team that finished 10-8 and tied for third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Senior forward Zachary Hamilton, who averaged 15.1 points and had eight 20-point scoring games last season, had 10 points in a 83-62 loss at Utah on Friday, part of a 13-game road trip that includes three games in Las Vegas and one in Hawaii to begin the season. Two junior college guard transfers, Gary Blackston and Dennis Jones, each scored a team-best 16 points in the loss to the Utes.

ABOUT OREGON (1-0): Roman Sorkin, a seldom-used 6-10 senior forward from Israel, scored 23 points, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Ducks in their opening win. The 6-foot-2 Pritchard finished just two rebounds shy of a double-double, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while highly touted 6-7 freshman wing Troy Brown, a McDonald's All-American from Las Vegas who ranked 18th on ESPN's Top 100 and starred on the 2016 USA Basketball Men's U17 World Championship Team, finished with 18 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Elijah Brown, a grad transfer from New Mexico and the son of NBA coach Mike Brown, struggled in his Oregon debut, scoring just four points on 2-of-10 shooting, including 0-of-4 from 3-point range.

TIP-INS

1.Oregon brings a nation-best 43-game home winning streak into the game.

2. F Paul White, a junior transfer from Georgetown, is expected to make his Ducks debut after missing the opener with a foot injury.

3. Oregon plays 15 of its first 16 games in the state of Oregon with the only road contest at Fresno State on Dec. 16.

PREDICTION: Oregon 88, Prairie View A&M 64