Tag: oregon ducks basketball

UCLA men’s basketball under Mick Cronin shows signs of dysfucntion

At the season’s midpoint, the Bruins are coming undone.

Through their first thirteen games of the 2024-2025 college basketball season, the UCLA Bruins boasted an 11-2 record and ranked 15th in the AP Top 25 poll. With things trending in their direction after big wins against Oregon, Arizona, and Gonzaga, the Bruins were in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten. That all changed after UCLA basketball and Mick Cronin lost to Nebraska on January 4.

Now losers of three-straight games in the Big Ten, the Bruins are beginning to show signs of dysfunction at the midpoint of their season.

During their losing skid, UCLA’s offense has stalled precipitously, averaging only 64.6 points per game. The losing formula is partly poor 3-point shooting, partly sloppy execution. The Bruins’ discombobulated offense needs to find answers.

But it is not only the players who are showing signs of dysfunction.

After being ejected in the late stages of UCLA’s blowout loss to Maryland, head coach Mick Cronin is quickly losing his patience and his composure.

Cronin made headlines last week with his harsh critiques following UCLA’s loss to Michigan. Though Cronin is known for his hard-nosed coaching, animated on-court personality, and perfectionism, there is legitimate cause to question if he is fit to coach this Bruins team.

In the transfer portal era, where players are more empowered than ever before to make decisions, the continued criticisms and outbursts by Cronin could be a deciding factor in the future of the young Bruins roster.

Cronin was under fire last season for his coaching, and this season looks to be more of the same. With 16 games remaining on the Bruins’ schedule this season, UCLA is at an inflection point.

Only Big Ten opponents remain on their schedule, and if the Bruins cannot change their fortunes and their attitudes quickly, UCLA could be on the verge of losing their season if their dysfunction continues.

The Bruins look to get back in the win column this Monday as they take on Rutgers.

UCLA hoops jumps to No. 24 in latest AP college basketball poll

The Bruins land back in the Top 25.

The UCLA Bruins have hit their stride after a shaky start to the college basketball season. Taking down No. 12 Oregon, the Bruins returned to the AP Top 25 ranking this week.

Landing at No. 24 in the AP Poll, just behind San Diego State, Cincinnati, and Big Ten comrade Michigan State, the Bruins are a perfect 7-0 since their sole loss to New Mexico in early November.

After knocking off two Big Ten opponents in a row, first Washington, then Oregon, the Bruins are finally rolling. Entering the season as the No. 22 team in the AP Poll, the Bruins are right around where they started. With Big Ten play to ramp up over the next two months, UCLA has an opportunity to continue to build momentum.

Given the transfer additions of Skyy Clark, Kobe Johnson, and Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA rightfully had high expectations this season. If their newly-added star players can take to Mick Cronin’s coaching, the Bruins should be in the hunt for a long run in the NCAA tournament this spring.

Texas A&M falls to Oregon 80-70 in the Players Era Tournament

Texas A&M’s late scoring issues led to an 80-70 loss to Oregon in the Players Era Tournament

Texas A&M (4-2) is now among a large swath of 4-2 teams after losing to Oregon 80-70 in the opening round of the Players Era Tournament. The Aggies’ late offensive woes led to a 2 for 19 finish from the field while allowing the Ducks transition points.

The half-court offense has continued to be an issue for head coach Buzz Williams and his team, even though the sixth-year head coach loaded up on talent in the backcourt to join Wade Taylor IV after adding Zhuric Phelps and sharpshooter CJ Wilcher.

However, while Phelps led the way with 20 points, including 4 three-pointers, he and Taylor (15 points) combined 10/34 from the field. In comparison, the Aggie frontcourt combined 15 points after Solomon Washington left the game early due to an apparent upper-body injury.

Like many ranked teams this season, the Aggies’ identity issues last until the start of conference play, which has been an unstable balance for them during Williams’s coaching tenure.

Oregon’s 16-0 run with just over six minutes remaining essentially sealed the deal and spoke volumes regarding A&M’s poor shooting and blatant lack of offensive rhythm. Tomorrow night, the Aggies will attempt to rebound against No. 21 Creighton (4-2).

Texas A&M finished 32% from the field, 31% from 3-point, and 75% from the free throw line.

Texas A&M will face No. 21 Creighton on Wednesday, November. 27 at 5:30 p.m. CT. The game will be available to stream on MAX.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

Oregon, USC headed to 2025 Maui Invitational

The Maui 2025 field is set.

The Maui Invitational is always one of the premier events in college basketball. The 2025 field was released recently with a number of Big Ten Conference teams in the mix.

Andy Katz revealed the loaded field for the 2025 Maui Invitational, and two Big Ten teams made the cut: The Oregon Ducks and USC Trojans.

Dana Altman’s Ducks team won the Pac-12 Conference tournament this past season and USC is bringing in a new era with Eric Musselman as the new head coach. 

Here are the other teams heading to the Maui Invitational in 2025: Baylor, Chaminade, NC State, Texas, UNLV, and Seton Hall.

The 2023 Maui Invitational field is also loaded with talent with Auburn, Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, Michigan State, North Carolina, and UConn in the mix.

The Big Ten Conference gets two teams in the 2025 field with Oregon and USC both new additions to the conference.

Pac-12 report: Washington State, Oregon, Arizona all advance on Day 1 of March Madness

All of Oregon, Arizona, and Washington Sate advanced on Day One.

The Pac-12 Conference has gotten off to a great start on the first day of the NCAA Tournament.

With four teams in the field, all three Pac-12 teams began the first day of March Madness with victories.

The first Pac-12 team to get the victory was 2-seed Arizona over 15-seed Long Beach State, Plenty had been discussed about Dan Monson, the Long Beach State coach who was fired and then went on to win the Big West tournament.

However, the Wildcats made easy work with an 85-85 victory.

Next up was Oregon upsetting South Carolina. The Pac-12 tournament champions have been March Madness darlings with Dana Altman running the show and they made easy work of 6-seed South Carolina with an 87-73 victory.

It was the Jermaine Couisnard show as he had 40 points and six assists on a huge performance for the Ducks. They next face Creighton with a trip to the Sweet 16 in-store.

The final Pac-12 game of the day was Washington State moving past Drake. It was a back-and-forth game but the Cougars took the lead with less than two minutes left and they were able to get the 66-61 victory. Washington State faces 2-seed Iowa State on Saturday.

Colorado faces Florida on Friday as there is a path for all four teams to advance.

Trash talk from a former teammate inspired Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard to drop 40 points in a bracket-busting win

Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard said he used to mentor this player as teammates at South Carolina.

Oregon senior guard Jermaine Couisnard was one of the breakout stars of the first game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Couisnard, a 25-year-old playing for the Ducks in the opening round of March Madness, is currently finishing his senior year in Eugene for the Oregon men’s basketball program.

He had previously played multiple seasons for South Carolina in the SEC before transferring to the Pacific Northwest to play for Oregon head coach Dana Altman.

Yet, in a juicy storyline, Oregon was fatefully matched up against South Carolina to begin March Madness and Couisnard did not disappoint.

The senior led the Ducks in many key statistical categories, including: points, assists, 3-pointers, and steals. He was dominant while playing against South Carolina, finishing with 40 points as the Ducks advanced to the second round to play Creighton in the Midwest region of the bracket.

It was the first time a double-digit seed had scored at least 40 points in a men’s basketball tournament game since Stephen Curry did as much in 2008.

After the game, Couisnard admitted that he was feeling particularly inspired because someone on South Carolina’s roster was hitting him with some “trash talk” after hitting a 3-point against him.

Couisnard said that this is a player that he used to mentor when they were teammates in South Carolina (who he later confirmed was Jacobi Wright), so he was feeling especially motivated after hearing that.

Couisnard described it as “normal” trash talk and nothing egregious.

Either way, the Oregon star played for South Carolina for many years.

So this win to survive and advance had to feel especially good for Couisnard and the Ducks.

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Oregon’s Dana Altman shuts down retirement rumors ahead of Pac-12 tournament

Dana Altman might not be going anywhere anytime soon.

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team is the 4-seed in the Pac-12 Conference tournament. If the Ducks string together a win or two, they could get a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Amidst all of that, there have been some puzzling rumors swirling about head coach Dana Altman potentially retiring. However, Altman discussed that chatter, per Miles Dwyer of Ducks Wire:

“I have no idea who said that. I’m not sure who said it; I know I didn’t. I have talked to nobody. Whoever is saying that is pure speculation. I’m not going anywhere — unless the school tells me I’m not here — but no, I’m not retiring that’s for sure.”

Altman has been there for 13 seasons, but the Ducks might miss out on the Big Dance once again, which isn’t what fans were hoping for. All in all, it would be a huge surprise if he retires or goes elsewhere.

Follow Ducks Wire for more coverage. 

Oregon pegged as loser in latest USA Today Bubble Watch

Oregon needs to do some work ahead of the Pac-12 tournament.

The Pac-12 Conference might just have three teams from the men’s side in the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Arizona and Washington State are locked in and a couple of teams are on the outside.

Colorado and Oregon are two Pac-2 teams on the bubble, but the Ducks were mentioned as a loser in the latest bubble watch by Jordan Mendoza of USA Today.

Oregon may have quickly risen into NCAA Tournament consideration, but it may fall just as fast after the shellacking it took from Arizona.

One of the first teams projected to miss the tournament, the Ducks stood no chance against the Arizona buzzsaw Saturday, falling behind early and unable to pull itself out of a hole in a 103-83 defeat.

It was a tall task for Dana Altman’s team to go into Tucson and beat a Wildcats team that has only lost at home three times in the past three seasons, but a win was necessary when Oregon just entered the conversation as a fringe tournament contender. It only took 10 minutes for Arizona to build up a 17-point lead, and at one point, the Wildcats led by 28.

Not all hope is lost for Oregon; it has another Quad 1 opportunity against Colorado next week. But what happened against Arizona might hurt the Ducks too much to recover from.

Oregon is 19-10 on the year and they finish the year with games against Colorado and Utah this weekend. If they do well and make a run in the Pac-12 tournament, that could help their case.

If not, it could be a slim Pac-12 watch in the Big Dance.

Pac-12 men’s basketball report: Utah sneaks past Oregon, bubble teams fail to make statements

In late January, the Pac-12 has only one threat to make the Sweet 16: Arizona. No one else is a major contender.

The Pac-12 men’s basketball results have not been as good as many in the conference have hoped for. On Sunday, Utah snuck by Oregon, 80-77, in a close game between teams fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament.

One encouraging thing for Dana Altman’s team was the play of N’Faly Dante, who did all he could to get the win for the Ducks (h/t Miles Dwyer of Ducks Wire).

“In the second half, the Ducks started running their offense through N’Faly Dante. After scoring just 2 points in the first half, Dante went for 21 in the second half. Dante also played 29 minutes in Sunday’s game, the most since his injury.”

Dante played in just his third game since returning from injury, and he showed every bit why the Ducks are excited about his potential.

He finished the game with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists in a losing effort.

Oregon’s loss at Utah is not a bad loss, but it represents the failure to add a quality win to the resume. By losing to both Colorado and Utah over the past few days, Oregon remains a bubble team relative to the NCAA Tournament. With Washington State losing at Cal on Saturday, the Pac-12 did not have a good weekend in terms of boosting its number of NCAA Tournament bids. The maximum number looks like four teams, and it’s possible that the Pac-12 will get on three bids. Other than Arizona, not one team looks likely to be a higher seed in a first-round game. In other words, only one team in the conference looks likely to have a seed higher than No. 9. That means the Pac-12 has only one serious threat to make the Sweet 16, let alone the Final Four. That’s a huge disappointment in late January.

Next up for Oregon is a game against Arizona State. Utah next faces Washington State.

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Andy Enfield embarks on must-win road trip to Oregon

This road trip in Oregon is hugely critical for Andy Enfield.

Other Pac-12 basketball writers and outlets are noticing how badly Andy Enfield has struggled as USC basketball coach this season. This Oregon road trip — to Eugene on Thursday and to Corvallis over the weekend — is a hugely critical point in Enfield’s season and possibly his career.

(h/t Don Smalley of Ducks Wire)

“Lincoln Riley isn’t the only coach at USC to feel a bit uneasy these days. At just 6-5, the Trojans come into Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday for the Pac-12 opener desperately needing a win. Coach Andy Enfield is also needing a win as his seat has become rather hot just two seasons after being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year.”

There are no lies in that paragraph from Ducks Wire. The Trojans came into the season not merely expecting to make the NCAA Tournament, but to make a legitimate run at the Pac-12 championship. USC was picked to finish in the top three before the season began. The Trojans started the season in the top 25 of the polls. They have the No. 1-ranked recruit in the Class of 2023, Isaiah Collier. Bronny James has now joined the team and played a few games. All of this should be so much better than it is.

The Trojans are running out of time in the attempt to prove they can become a good team. This Oregon trip carries far more pressure than anyone initially expected.

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