Ball St. @ Oregon preview

Ball St. at Oregon

New-look Oregon is off to a strong start as it prepares to close out a four-game season-opening homestand Sunday against Ball State. The Ducks, who lost seven of their top 10 scorers – including a trio of NBA Draft picks – from last season’s Final Four squad, are 3-0 so far with an average margin of victory of 35.7 points.

In the most recent win – a 114-56 thumping of Alabama State on Friday – coach Dana Altman notched his 600th NCAA victory. He’s the 10th active Division I coach and the 34th all-time to reach the milestone. Oregon shot 62.5 percent, placed six players in double figures, had 29 assists and enjoyed a 46-20 rebound advantage in the rout. “We’ve made a step in each game,” Altman said in his post-game news conference. “I think our energy level was better, our execution was better and defensively at times they were better.”

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

ABOUT BALL STATE (1-2): The Cardinals, of the Mid-American Conference, got off to an 0-2 start with losses at Dayton (78-77) and Oklahoma (108-69) but overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to come back and beat visiting Stony Brook 87-76 on Friday night. Junior point guard Tayler Persons scored a game-high 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting in the win and leads four double-digit scorers on the season with 15.7 per game. Kyle Mallers (13.3), Jontrell Walker (12.3) and Tahjai Teague (11.0) are also averaging double figures, and the latter is pacing the team with 9.0 rebounds per outing.

ABOUT OREGON (3-0): Freshman forward Kenny Wooten totaled only nine points and five rebounds in playing 31 total minutes in his first two games but exploded for his first collegiate double-double Friday with a team-high 19 points and 13 rebounds while also blocking five shots. Wooten is now averaging 9.3 points on the season, placing him only seventh behind Troy Brown (16.0), Roman Sorkin (11.5), Paul White (11.5), Victor Bailey Jr. (11.0), Elijah Brown (10.3) and the Ducks’ lone returning starter, guard Payton Pritchard (10.0). Sorkin, a 6-foot-10 forward, was held out Friday as he deals with a foot injury, and his status going forward is unknown, although Altman said he is hopeful the junior would be able to play Sunday.

TIP-INS

1. Oregon brings a Division I-best 45-game home win streak into the game and is 54-2 in non-conference contests played at Matthew Knight Arena.

2. Behind Wooten (6.0 boards per game), Brown (5.7) and senior F MiKyle McIntosh (5.3), the Ducks are enjoying an average rebounding margin of plus-14.3 per game so far.

3. Ball State senior G Jeremie Tyler was suspended indefinitely before the team’s game Wednesday at Oklahoma, and coach James Whitford has refused to elaborate on the details or the length of the punishment.

PREDICTION: Oregon 94, Ball State 74