Ducks to face BYU in Portland during Phil Knight Invitational

The Oregon Ducks will take on the Cougars of BYU this fall during the Phil Knight Invitational, a game that was cancelled last year.

The Oregon Ducks’ non-conference schedule for the men’s basketball team is starting to come together, with Jon Rothstein reporting that Oregon and BYU will meet in Portland for the Phil Knight invitational this fall.

No timetable for the event has been given, but in the past this event has been played in mid to late November, so the expectation is the game will take place in that time frame in 2021.

Oregon and BYU were slated to play each other in this event last year, but all Pac-12 non-conference games were cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ducks are slated to be a top-15 team to begin the 2021-2022 campaign after returning Will Richardson and adding a pair of exciting transfers in De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young.

BYU’s basketball peak came during the Jimmer Fredette era about 10 years ago, but the subsequent move to the WCC actually hurt their stock thanks to the dominance of Gonzaga, which has limited the Cougars to just four NCAA tournament appearances since 2011, and only one appearance past the first round.

However, BYU is 44-15 under new coach Mark Pope, and the return of Alex Barcello should make them a formidable early season opponent for Dana Altman and his squad – who will need to gel on the court in a hurry if they want to avoid an upset.

The Ducks and Cougars are both expected to be a part of the big PK85 tournament slated to take place in Portland in 2022 in honor of Nike founder Phil Knight’s 85th birthday, and five years after the inaugural PK80 event in 2017.

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