Tag: Oregon Ducks men’s basketball

Dana Altman earns 700th career win in style

Only 23 coaches in college basketball can say they have 700 career wins. Dana Altman is now part of that list.

It probably wasn’t how Oregon Ducks men’s basketball coach Dana Altman envisioned his 700th career win, but he’ll take it.

In a near-empty Pauley Pavilion, Oregon upset No. 3 UCLA 84-81 in overtime. The win was also his 290th victory as the Duck head coach in a career that began in 1989 at Marshall.

Beyond the milestone win for Altman, it was a much-needed victory for the Ducks, who have struggled early in the season. But they have finally put everything together and are the team everyone thought it would be when the year begin.

At 10-6 and 3-2 in conference, Oregon has that signature win that will make the NCAA tournament committee sit up and take notice. Fans or no fans, winning at Pauley against the No. 3 Bruins is no joke.

Jacob Young scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime and Will Richardson made several plays down the stretch to seal the deal. But it was the Ducks’ defense, an Altman staple, that was the difference as they denied the Bruins a good look at the buzzer to possibly force a second overtime period.

Now the Ducks will try to make it a road sweep as they will go for a second straight upset in Los Angeles. Oregon faces No. 5 USC Saturday for a scheduled 8 p.m. tip on Fox Sports 1.

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How it happened: Eric Williams’ three-pointer downs the Beavers late

Eric Williams scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to help the Ducks get out of Corvallis with a 78-76 win.

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team hasn’t seen a lot of action, but Eric Williams, Jr. has seen even less.

Williams hadn’t scored in the last three games, but he came up huge in Corvallis as his three-pointer with 12 seconds left broke a 74-74 tie and the Ducks held on 78-76.

Oregon State’s Warith Alatishe had a point-blank attempt at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, but his shot rattled off the rim to send the Ducks back to Eugene as happy campers.

The win over the Beavers was an important one considering the Ducks’ upcoming road trip to No. 3 UCLA and No. 5 USC this coming weekend.

Now Oregon is 9-6 overall and 2-2 in conference action and it has some momentum on its side as the team is finally beginning to gel.

Ducks and Beavers reschedule first meeting on the hardwood for Monday

Oregon and Oregon State have rescheduled their first meeting on the hardwood for Monday, Jan. 10 in Corvallis.

Finally.

Some good news out of the world of Oregon Ducks men’s basketball as the Ducks announced their meeting with Oregon State has been rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 10.

Oregon hasn’t been able to see any action due to Covid protocols since the Ducks defeated Utah 79-66 on New Year’s Day. These two teams were originally scheduled to play tonight.

It’s been even a longer layoff for the Beavers as they haven’t been able to play since Dec. 30, again a win over Utah. They’ve been dealing with their own Covid issues and had games against Colorado and Sacramento state canceled.

The game in Corvallis will be on the Pac-12 Network for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

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Colorado’s trip to Oregon postponed due to COVID-19

Colorado announced its men’s basketball program has been impacted by COVID-19 and its trip to Oregon has been put on hold.

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball program and its opponents have been able to avoid the pandemic this season.

Until now.

Colorado announced today that COVID-19 is currently inside their program and the Buffaloes’ games against the Ducks (Dec. 30) and the Oregon State Beavers (Jan. 1) have been postponed and will be played on later dates.

Oregon has been off since Dec. 21 and their Jan. 1 game with Utah is still scheduled to be played.

The Ducks have had an underwhelming start to the 2021 season, but we’re hoping to keep the momentum going after a solid performance against the No. 1 ranked Baylor Bears in December. However, that will have to wait.

Toe injury ends former Duck Eugene Omoruyi’s rookie season prematurely

Former Oregon Ducks guard Eugene Omoruyi suffered a likely season-ending toe injury while on a two-way contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas Mavericks two-way guard Eugene Omoruyi will miss the next four-to-six months after undergoing surgery on his right big toe, according to a team announcement.

Omoruyi, who went undrafted after averaging 17 points per game with Oregon during the 2020-2021 season, signed a two-way deal with Dallas and has spent the majority of his season assigned to the G-League Texas Legends, where he suffered an injury on December 15.

The given timeline will almost certainly end Omoruyi’s season early after he appeared in just four games for Dallas, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds in 18 total minutes.

He averaged 15.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists in eight games with the Legends prior to the injury.

Omoruyi will become a free agent after the season and Dallas will have to make a decision on whether to keep the versatile wing around as a developmental piece, or let him go and risk losing him to another NBA squad.

Omoruyi has been studying Dirk Nowitzki’s patented fadeaway jumper and getting quite good at utilizing it, likely giving him a bright future in basketball even after his setback this season.

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Quick hits: Ducks let upset slip away with a poor second half

Oregon put a scare into undefeated Baylor for a half, but it wasn’t nearly enough to pull off the upset.

Playing great for 20 minutes against the No. 1 team in the nation isn’t nearly enough if you want to shock the world.

Oregon played the game of the season for a half, but the real Baylor Bears came out of the locker room with a purpose and outscored the Ducks 43-31 in the second half.

What resulted was a 78-70 win for Baylor, which improved to 10-0 on the season. Oregon fell to 6-6 as the Ducks go back to the drawing board once again.

The difference between the first half and the second half was definitely the energy level. Baylor was seemingly getting every rebound ad every loose ball in the last 20 minutes of the contest.

Baylor also made shots, something the Bears had trouble with for the first half. The Ducks also turned the ball over way too many times with 16 miscues.

Quick Hits: Oregon suffers a brutal buzzer-beater loss on The Farm

Oregon suffers a gut punch in the name of Jaiden DeLaire as the Stanford forward knocked down a three at the buzzer to down the Ducks.

Dana Altman said it would be a process.

Two conference games, two close losses in games the Oregon Ducks probably should have won.

Stanford’s Jaiden DeLaire knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing at the buzzer to defeat Oregon 72-69.

Will Richardson had a chance to give Oregon the lead on the previous possession, but his three-pointer didn’t find the mark. The Cardinal called timeout with three seconds left to set up a play to find DeLaire.

Oregon is now 0-2 in Pac-12 play, 5-5 overall and this season is quickly becoming something no one in Eugene expected. The Ducks were a Top 15 to begin this year, but now will be fighting for their post-season lives and it’s just mid-December.

Will Richardson named to the preseason all-conference First Team

Will Richardson was named to the preseason all-conference First Team for the second straight year.

Having the best point guard in the conference can only help any team, but when it comes to the Oregon Ducks, it should propel them to go deep into March.

Oregon point guard Will Richardson was named to the preseason all-Pac-12 First Team for the second straight season. He was the only Duck on the first team, but newcomers Quincy Guerrier and De’Vion Harmon are on the second team.

Richardson had a breakout season last year in his first chance to finally be the starting point guard. The left-hander averaged 11.3 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per contest and led Oregon to a regular-season Pac-12 title and all the way to the Sweet 16 before USC ended its tournament run with an overall record of 21-7.

More of the same is expected in Richardson’s senior season as Oregon has reloaded with such transfers like Guerrier and Harmon, as well as big men N’Faly Dante, Franck Kepnang, and freshman Nathan Bittle.

Oregon begins its season Nov. 9 with a home game against Texas Southern.