Looking for a bounce-back win after a tough loss, No. 15 Oregon welcomes rival Washington to town

The No. 15 ranked Oregon Ducks are back in action at Matthew Knight Arena on Tuesday evening. The Ducks will be hosting their rivals to the north in the Washington Huskies, with both teams coming off tough losses to Purdue last week. The winner will find themselves back on the winning side of the ball, while the loser will continue to see a slide in the Big Ten Standings.

Tuesday’s game will be an important one for both programs and for the Ducks, there is a lot riding on the game in mid-January. Tuesday night’s game starts at 8 PM and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

The Ducks are 15-3 overall and projected by most to still be a top seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. However, that can change if the Ducks don’t figure out some issues of concern. The Ducks have lost three of its last four home games in Big Ten play, they’ve seen multiple key seniors hit shooting slumps, and now in its most recent game the Ducks went so far away from its offensive gameplan that Oregon head coach Dana Altman threw himself under the bus.

“I’ll tell you what. We’re a poorly coached team. That was – 16 turnovers, leaving our feet, fundamentally not sound, and the shot selection was awful.,” said head coach Dana Altman. “Really disappointed in myself to not get our guys to execute what we wanted.”

Altman was asked about how the Ducks could have gotten back to the game plan when so many of his players were shooting it poorly, a notion that a coach can only do so much if his players are not executing.

“I think just making our guys execute what we need to execute, and whether it’s taking time outs and just making them run something, taking away any freedom that they might have, because again, I didn’t recognize a lot of the shots we took,” said Altman. “And the turnovers, no idea, no idea where a lot of those came from. We just lost our composure and our discipline, and then that’s on me.”

Tuesday night’s game features a lot of storylines to monitor going into it.

Does Dana Altman pull TJ Bamba out of the starting lineup and bring him off the bench in an effort to jump-start him? He’s not made a 3-pointer since January 2nd and then the next one before that was December 21st. To find his fourth most recent made 3-pointer, you have to go back to at USC on December 4th. He’s shooting 15 percent on threes since December 1st.

The flipside of it, though, is that he’s by far Oregon’s best wing defender and can cause a lot of havoc on that side of the ball. There isn’t anyone on the floor who plays as hard as he does on that end. When Bamba is following the game plan and attacking the hoop on offense with cuts and dribble drives, he’s one of the best options on offense. His ability to get to the free throw line and play through contact is second to none on the roster. It’s getting him to stick to that game plan.

Brandon Angel is another question mark going into Tuesday. He averaged 10.2 ppg in the first 11 games of the year, and his efficiency was tops on the team. He shot 41 percent on threes as a pick-and-pop shooter and really spread out the floor. Since December 21st, Angel’s numbers are now 6.8 ppg, and he’s shooting 27 percent on threes. His efficiency is down, and teams aren’t chasing him off the 3-point line anymore and instead staying down low.

Keeshawn Barthelemy is still the team’s best 3-point shooter, but he’s also cooled off. He’s making 43 percent on the year, but in his last seven games he’s shooting 34 percent. He had a stretch where he scored double-digits in seven of eight games in November and December, and now he’s done it in just two of the last eight games.

Senior Jadrian Tracey has been one of Oregon’s consistent players, but on Saturday against Purdue, he committed five turnovers, was called for four fouls – including a flagrant 1 foul – and probably tried to play a bit too far away from the game plan himself on the offensive floor.

This isn’t to say the four players above are the only guys struggling, but when you go back and look at the team’s success earlier in the year and when they looked and were playing like a Top 10 team, Bamba, Angel, and Barthelemy were all playing a lot better. These three playing well can be what elevates Oregon from being a Top 20 program and one that’s Final Four capable. Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad have to play better and need to play better as well.

How hard does Oregon play coming off a loss? What’s the MKA atmosphere going to look like? The Ducks are not in any danger of missing out on the tournament, but you can’t keep losing games at home if you want a top seed (1-4 range) and playing in the Seattle Pod. The further you fall behind in the league standings the harder it’s going to be to get a Top 4 seed. The Ducks are one game out of fourth place in the standings and the double-bye for the Big Ten Tournament. You need to stay within one game the rest of the way to ensure you’ve got a good chance at it.

Washington Look-Ahead

Great Osobor is the team’s best player and will be an all-league guy. He does everything. 15 ppg, 8 rpg, 3 apg, 2 spg, shoots 48% from the floor and 41% on threes. He’s a big kid at 6-8. Just a weird matchup. He’s like an athletic center that can play inside and out.

Zoom Diallo is a former five-star, potential NBA guy down the road. Really athletic. True freshman, though, and he makes a lot of mistakes.

Tyler Harris is a sophomore transfer that I wondered if Oregon would go after this past offseason. 6-8, 11.6 ppg, shoots 43% on threes, averages a blog a game, 75% on free throws. His splits are all really promising and he could be someone who hits the portal again and goes up another tier or two in the CBB landscape, or becomes Washington’s top guy next season.

The Huskies have lost four straight games by an average of 16 points, including a most recent 11-point loss at home to Purdue a week ago. Washington hasn’t placed since last Wednesday. Does this team come out all pissed off with four straight losses and a long break, or, has the consistent drubbing dulled the pain and the Huskies give into a quick start by Oregon?