Arizona @ Oregon preview
Matthew Knight Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 17, 2019 ) Oregon 59, Arizona 54
Eight of the dozen Pac-12 teams have seven, eight or nine conference wins and are bunched in the middle of the standings. Oregon (7-8) and Arizona (8-8) are part of that pack, and each is eyeing a late-season move when they meet Saturday night in Eugene, Ore.
The Ducks, the preseason conference favorite, has endured a disappointing season but did end a three-game slide Thursday night with an impressive 79-51 win over second-place Arizona State in which they held the conference’s highest-scoring team to 28 points below its season average. “We’ve had good defensive efforts in the first half, but that was our best one in the second,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said in his post-game news conference. Meanwhile Thursday, Arizona posted its third straight win with a 74-72 victory at Oregon State, prevailing on freshman Devonaire Doutrive’s putback at the final buzzer. “There are always teams that put it together at the end, and college basketball is so much about the finish,” Wildcats coach Sean Miller said afterward. “Late February and March (is when) we want to be playing our best.”
TV: 10 p.m. ET, ESPN2
ABOUT ARIZONA (17-12, 8-8 Pac-12): Guard Brandon Randolph led the way with 15 points Thursday and freshman backcourt mate Brandon Williams had 10 points off the bench in his second game back from a near-month-long knee-injury absence. However, big man Chase Jeter appeared to hurt a knee in a second-half tumble to the court, and missed the final 12 minutes. Miller said afterward he is unsure of the Saturday status for Jeter, who is averaging 11.5 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds.
ABOUT OREGON (16-12, 7-8): Forward Louis King and Payton Pritchard combined for 37 points on 13-of-22 shooting in the win over Arizona State, but it was the Ducks’ defensive dominance that stood out as the Sun Devils shot 32.1 percent from the field, including 3-of-24 from 3-point range, and committed 14 turnovers. Behind a game- and career-high 10 rebounds from physical freshman Francis Okoro, Oregon also dominated the glass, outrebounding the visitors 44-26. For the season, King leads the Ducks’ active players with his averages of 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per outing while the veteran point guard Pritchard is averaging 12 points and a team-leading 4.3 assists.
TIP-INS
1. Oregon has won five of the last seven meetings, including a 59-54 road victory in Tucson on Jan. 17.
2. In that first meeting, marked by poor shooting (38.6 percent for the Ducks and 36.5 for the Wildcats), forward Paul White scored a game-high 16 points for Oregon while Arizona hit a Pac-12 season low with its 54 points.
3. The Ducks rank second in the Pac-12 in points allowed (65.0) and opponent field-goal percentage (41.4) and have been the best in defending the 3-point arc with foes shooting only 30.5 percent from long range.
PREDICTION: Oregon 70, Arizona 64