SB Nation - Drew Wiley

Know Your (Temporary) Rival: Oregon Ducks

Bill C. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:30:13 -0000

Tajuan Porter leads a banged-up Ducks squad to Columbia tomorrow afternoon.

Oregon: 4-2

	UO	Opp
Points Per Minute	2.01	1.60
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.18	0.94
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.32	1.24
2-PT FG%	50.8%	44.4%
3-PT FG%	37.1%	37.5%
FT%	75.8%	64.1%
True Shooting %	57.1%	52.4%

	UO	Opp
Assists/Gm	14.3	11.7
Steals/Gm	8.5	5.7
Turnovers/Gm	13.0	16.7
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.76	1.04

	UO	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds	74	71
Offensive Rebounds	85	49
Difference	+11	-22

UO's season thus far:

@Oregon 94, Winston-Salem State 43 (W)
@Oregon 95, UC-Davis 64 (W)
@Oregon 68, Colorado State 53 (W)
@Portland 88, Oregon 81 (L)
Montana 68, @Oregon 55 (L)
@Oregon 89, Montana State 66 (W)

Where the Ducks are solid

Hard to tell. While it appears that Portland might be a rather legitimate team, the Ducks' schedule so far has been quite weak, and humongous wins over Winston-Salem State and UC-Davis have made their numbers look artificially great. This does appear to be a rock-solid rebounding team, though huge efforts against the cakiest of cupcakes sways the numbers a bit; they were significantly outplayed down low in the loss to Montana. Meanwhile, their guard play looks quite good if you take out of the equation the fact that Portland's backcourt ran circles around them. In all, if I were to rank the five major categories listed above (FG% offense, FG% defense, BCI offense, BCI defense, and rebounding), I would list their strengths like this, from best to worst:

1. Rebounding
2. BCI offense
3. FG% offense
4. BCI defense
5. FG% defense

This seems like a team with size and decent potential, but their defense has not been great so far, considering the level of competition. If you're allowing a true shooting % of 52.4% against this competition, then at home Mizzou should at least get into the 55%-60% range. Shooting has very much not been Mizzou's strong suit thus far, but this might be a nice slump buster. If the Ducks don't force a turnover (and they'll certainly force some), they're probably giving up a decent look.

Where the Ducks are less than solid

Well, for one thing, chemistry is probably going to be off a bit considering how many injuries and absences they've already had to deal with this season. Five players -- Dajuan Porter (ankle), Joevan Catron (back), Matt Humphrey (knee), Josh Crittle (ankle), and Michael Dunigan (hip) -- have already missed time, which is impressive considering Oregon's only played six games. If they are healthy, they've got a quick backcourt and a big frontcourt, but ... are they healthy? Oregon's press for the most part seems justifiably distracted by the football team and Thursday night's Civil War, but I haven't been able to find out for sure who is supposed to play and who is not. This is their first game in a week, so there's a good chance that everybody will be expected to play. At least that's what I'm going to assume until I hear otherwise.

Anyway, beyond health/chemistry, I guess I covered their main weaknesses above: defense.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	*AdjGS/Gm**	GmSc/Min	Line
Teondre Williams (6'4, 199, So.)	13.5	0.53	25.3 MPG, 14.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.7 APG
Tajuan Porter (5'7, 155, Sr.)	12.4	0.47	26.4 MPG, 14.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 2.0 SPG, 2.0 TOPG
Malcolm Armstead (6'0, 204, So.)	10.7	0.41	25.8 MPG, 7.5 PPG, 4.5 APG, 2.7 RPG, 2.5 SPG
Michael Dunigan (6'10, 242, So.)	10.0	0.68	14.8 MPG, 8.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.3 BPG
LeKendric Longmire (6'5, 200, Jr.)	9.0	0.41	22.2 MPG, 10.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.2 SPG
Garrett Sim (6'1, 180, So.)	6.8	0.41	16.8 MPG, 7.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.5 APG
Joevan Catron (6'6, 237, Sr.)	6.4	0.30	21.3 MPG, 5.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.5 TOPG
Jamil Wilson (6'7, 209, Fr.)	6.0	0.36	16.8 MPG, 5.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 APG
E.J. Singler (6'6, 210, Fr.)	5.3	0.40	13.2 MPG, 3.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.5 APG
Jeremy Jacob (6'8, 225, So.)	3.4	0.23	15.2 MPG, 4.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG
Josh Crittle (6'8, 250, So.)	1.5	0.19	7.7 MPG, 2.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG
Drew Wiley (6'7, 215, So.)	0.8	0.10	7.6 MPG, 2.0 PPG
Nicholas Fearn (6'1, 190, So.)	0.7	0.25	6 minutes
John Elorriaga (6'2, 183, So.)	0.6	0.19	6 minutes
Matthew Humphrey (6'5, 185, So.)	0.5	0.07	7.8 MPG, 2.6 PPG

* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It redistributes a team's points based not only on points scored, but also by giving credit for assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls. It is a stat intended to determine who had the biggest overall impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

Early-season injuries do funny things to the numbers -- because of the roster shifts, Oregon currently has TEN guys averaging at least 13 minutes per game. That's really tough to do.
Honestly, from Mizzou's perspective the most dangerous player on the court for Oregon could be Michael Dunigan. Vanderbilt used size to extreme advantage against Mizzou, and Dunigan did a nice job in Oregon's last game of banging around, getting to the line and making his free throws. If Dunigan gets hot, either from the field or on the glass (or both), then this game could stay pretty close.
Tajuan Porter has a chance to set the Pac-10's career 3-pointers mark this season. He is a quick guard and good shooter, but I'm curious to see how he handles not only Missouri's bigger guards, but Missouri's much bigger guards. He's giving up eight inches to J.T. Tiller and nine to Zaire Taylor, and while I'm sure he's faced plenty of bigger guards in his day (like, every game of his career), here's where Mizzou's strong defense could take over. If Porter can't really get going, then it's up to younger guys like Teondre Williams and Garrett Sim to knock down outside shots. Both are capable of doing so, but you always want to be able to take away a team's most proven scoring threat, and that's Porter.
Oregon finished with a staggeringly bad 8-23 record last year, but taking a look at the roster, you can kind of see why athletic department may have held onto Ernie Kent for another season. Four of the top six contributors are sophomores this year, with six more at the end of the bench; throw in a couple of freshman contributors (Jamil Wilson and E.J. "Don't Call Me Kyle" Singler), and Oregon's got a ridiculously young team. Porter and Joevan Catron are the only seniors, so this team will be able to continue to grow together for a while.

Keys to the Game

Rebounds. They murdered Missouri in the last game, and if guys like Dunigan and Catron are allowed to not only prevent second chances for Mizzou, but also collect some second chances of their own, then Oregon will stay in this game a lot longer than they should.
The 3-Pointer. Oregon takes 21 3's a game, and Missouri takes 22. Oregon's perimeter defense has been far from amazing in terms of FG% and 3PT%, but you never know who may get hot from one game to another. If the Ducks make over 40% of their 3's and Missouri makes below about 35% of theirs, Oregon could have a chance.
Pace. Oregon likes to play a transition game (though they've only averaged about 68 possessions per game -- Mizzou would prefer closer to 75), with pressure defense and as many fast break opportunities as possible. If they're good at it, they might be able to handle Mizzou's pressure alright and apply some of their own. If they're only decent at it, they will play right into Mizzou's hands and get run off the court. Based on the teams they've played, I can't tell if they're good or only decent ... and I'm leaning toward the latter.

Prediction

I always like Missouri's chances when a team from two time zones away makes a long trip for a game with a weird tip-off time. That's just a really long trip to make for a single basketball game, no? While Oregon could hurt Mizzou on the boards, and while they have a couple of long-distance weapons that could get hot, I can't imagine this game ends up tremendously close. Oregon is still learning how to win again, and Mizzou's ready to take out some frustrations. Mizzou 86, Oregon 67.

MBB Game 4 Recap: Oregon 81, Portland, 88

dvieira — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:00:15 -0000

While most of us were busy trying to will the Oregon Ducks football team to a victory in the desert against the Arizona Wildcats, the men's basketball team spent the evening doing battle with the Portland Pilots at the Chiles Center.

Incoming Rant: Who was in charge of scheduling this game? With the football team looking to grab a shot at the Rose Bowl, why was the men's game not moved to a later time? Those watching the football contest had no shot of getting to the game in Portland. There was plenty of time to get the game moved, even by an hour or two.

I'm not thrilled by any loss but I can accept this one, if for no other reason than because of the talent level of Portland. This isn't a bottom feeder team where we just didn't perform. The Pilots are a team looking to challenge Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference title and make their way into the NCAA Tournament.

Oregon went into halftime with an 8 point lead but the Pilots went on a 15-1 run to start the second half. Last year, that would have been all she wrote for the team but the Ducks battled back, mostly on the hustle and shooting of Malcolm Armstead, who hit two 3 point baskets and a layup off a stolen inbounds play. Oregon was up 72-70 with about 5 minutes to go when Portland went on an 11-2 run to seal the game.

Individual Notes

Malcolm Armstead had a great game, scoring 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and no turnovers. His 8 point burst in the second half kept the Ducks from being blown out and gave the Ducks a chance to win in the closing minutes of the game before Portland pulled away. Not bad for a guy off the bench.

Tajuan Porter went missing in the second half after scoring 13 points in the first half. TP is still hot and cold. If he's going to step up and be that go to guy beyond the arc, the time is now. We need his points and his ability.

Michael Dunigan didn't play in the game due to his hip injury

Jamil Wilson had 3 points and 3 rebounds after starting the game but played limited minutes while spliting time with Jeremy Jacob and EJ Singler.

We had a Drew Wiley sighting who had enough time to play exactly 1 minute of action and drain a 3.

Josh Crittle didn't register any time in the game. For a guy that was one of the brighter spots for the team last year, I can't believe how little playing time he's getting. Is he in the doghouse? Out of shape? Or is it just that the other guys on the team are playing better.

Final Thoughts

I'm about as ok with this loss as I'm going to be. We were in the game, had a good lead and even came back after facing a tough stretch. The team is starting to learn to play together and have that scrappy attitude needed to do well. Playing competitive ball against Portland is a good indication of where this team is. We need to do a much better job defending the 3 point line and Dunigan has become a key component of our defense down low. If he is out for an extended period of time, we'll need someone to step up to fill that role.

Next game: Monday, November 23rd against the Montana Grizzlies from Mac Court in Eugene

Quack Fix: Hoops media day; Steele still predicts Emerald Bowl for Ducks.

JConant — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:42 -0000

Well, ready or not, it's time to start putting some focus on the upcoming Pac-10 basketball season. Today's Quack Fix is a little soft on football coverage - no surprise halfway through a bye week.

Ernie Kent is fairly candid about the pressure he feels to right the ship following last year's 8-23 record. The Ducks start practice Friday night, and Kent had a lot to say about the growth of his team when he sat down with the R-G's Ron Bellamy.
Bellamy offers a few other notes from Oregon's media day.
Evidently Bellamy was winning the day among local beat writers. He writes that post players Nicole Canepa and Ellyce Ironmonger are learning to find a place in Paul Westhead's up-tempo system.
Bob Clark of the R-G gives us an in-depth introduction to E.J. Singler. The freshman from Medford has a lot of things going for him, including a well-established comfort zone for playing at Mac Court.
Of course, we're not completely lacking football news. Rob Moseley gives us links to the latest bowl projections. I would normally pass on this stuff, but I see Phil Steele still isn't a believer. He predicts Oregon will go 2-4 in the second half. What's odd is he has Cal running the table starting this week. Seriously, Phil? Are you even considering how these teams look on the field week to week? Cal's going to beat Oregon State, Arizona, and Stanford, but Oregon will lose to all three?
Gary Horowitz of the Stateman Journal caught up with Chip Kelly, who says the Ducks will remain focused week-to-week right through the civil war. Funny...Kelly said he congratulated the team Wednesday for being half-way-through Pac-10 champs. Evidently some of the guys clapped in celebration, until they realized Chip was being sarcastic.
In case you missed yesterday's practice notes.
Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian reports that former Duck lineman Mark Lewis has been signed to the Seattle Seahawks' practice roster.

As always, if you stumble upon some good, please share in the comments. [UPDATE -jtlight] I've added some videos after the jump, incliding a bunch of basketball team interview and Chip Kelly on PTI, so make sure to check them out.

Chip Kelly on PTI

Coach Kent Media Day Interview

Tajuan Porter Media Day Interview

Michael Dunigan Media Day Interview

Drew Wiley Media Day Interview

LeKendric Longmire Media Day Interview

Back to Basics for Oregon Men's Hoops

dvieira — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:14 -0000

You wanted fundamentals? You got fundamentals. Mike Dunlap is starting fast in his new role as Associate Head Coach for the Men's Basketball team at Oregon. Whether you buy into him having Drew Wiley say hello to his left hand or not, you can't argue with the philosophy. By most accounts, he is starting to light that fire under an Oregon team that needed something...anything to get them up after a horrible 2008-09 campaign. Going back to basics appears to be the approach that is adding wood to that flame. We are still very early in the offseason but if indications are to be believed, Ernie has addressed one of the main issues detractors cite about his leadership...fundamental basketball.

Make no mistake about this move. I'm sure it was very hard for Ernie to make the decision to not renew the contract of his longtime friend Mark Hudson. At the end of the day, he did what was best for the program. This wasn't Pat Kilkenny coming to Ernie saying "You need to hire Dunlap or you are out of here". This was Ernie understanding the flaws in the program and taking steps to fix it before Kilkenny was forced to fix him. It was Ernie that came up with the idea to go after Dunlap and presented it to Kilkenny. There was no backup plan in place. It was either get Dunlap or bust. The deal was made, Oregon has a new Associate Head Coach and reports out of camp are positive.

Dunlap isn't just revitalizing the teams fundamentals and practices, he's running the show. He's inserting his own expertise into the program, all with the quiet backing of Ernie and the rest of the coaches. Ernie has stepped back, something he hasn't always done in the past. Pressure may have had a lot to do with the changes Ernie had to make but he seems to have understood more than what we gave him credit for. He knows where the program was, where it is, and where it needs to be. Hiring Dunlap and stepping back a bit shows that. The question is, will these moves pan out into wins this next season? The issues in program management seem to be getting addressed but only time will tell.

Thank You Ernie! But your Pac-10 Title is in Another Arena: Wazzu 62, Oregon 40

dvieira — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:18:22 -0000

General Observations

Boxscore

As much as I love the game of basketball, and as much as I love the Oregon Ducks, I am so happy the season is over. In a lot of ways, the game against Washington State summed up all of the feelings I've had about the team this year. Inexperience, turnovers and mental mistakes plagued us through the entire game. We did some things right but we did a lot of things like we have all year. Washington State was the worst possible team for us to play in the first round matchup-wise and not only did they kill us on the court, they just happened to be ending the season playing some of their best basketball. A recipe for a first-round exit. Great. Oregon never led in the game, and even though they made some good runs, they couldn't put together a consistent effort to stay in the game. Here are some thoughts from Ernie....

Offensively we were completely out of sync. We turned the ball over way too much. We couldn't score inside. We weren't scoring outside. TP was about the only guy on the floor getting anything done. So many missed layups and scoring opportunities. More so, so many basketball plays on the floor that are there to be made that we're not making right now. With a team that plays defensive like they play, you've got to make basketball plays. We left a lot of plays out on the floor.

A lot of the "basketball plays" Ernie is referring to are hustle and muscle plays from the guys. Going for rebounds was a big factor in the game as the guys were losing battles for the loose balls. Washington State was winning almost all the battles, not just physically but understanding what to do in the exact situation and reacting. Oregon still, even at this late part of the season, isn't reacting to the ball. Too much thinking out there, not enough playing basketball. The Cougars just play solid defense and don't make too many mistakes. When they do make mistakes, you have to capitalize on them and we just didn't do that.

Ernie on the off-season

We've got a grueling, grueling, grueling Spring and off-season coming this way with this group because we got a LOT of work to do...LOT of work to do.

You get the distinct impression that the off-season road is going to be pretty long for Oregon. Not just for players, but coaches as well. Ernie didn't sugarcoat the issue at all. The team will get a week or two off for finals and rest from the long season. After that, back to work fixing the issues from this season. Ernie implied that they knew a lot of the issues coming into the season. That fact doesn't surprise me as much as why it wasn't publicized more. By whatever force, most fans were led to believe that we would be "ok" and at least be middle of the Pac-10. I'm not sure if this was a bad job of setting expectations by Ernie and crew or whether the media got out of hand in their predictions. Ernie hangs his hat on "winning in the off-season" so hopefully the summer will prove to be a winner for Oregon.

On bringing in a strength and conditioning coach

Now we have an opportunity to change Josh Crittle's body even more so. Michael Dunigan, when he takes off his shirt you probably laugh because he doesn't have any muscle there, any bulk there. We got a chance now to put some muscle, put some bulk on him. Garret needs bulk, Drew Wiley needs bulk. Major bulk on Matt Humphrey(s). Those guys have to get size now, they have to get bigger, they have to get stronger.

When I heard Ernie talking about changing Crittle's body, all I could think of was this. So many plays this year break down to not having the size and muscle to execute. Having the size to go up underneath and get a foul or a bucket without getting the ball stripped will save us 10-15 points a game if not more. I'm not sure why Ernie insists on calling Matt Humphrey, Matt Humphreys but he does it every interview. To be honest, I wouldn't mind having more than one if it meant we had his energy, defense and hot shooting ability.

This is a terrible way to end the season for those guys but as TP did a great job of in the locker room says "You know, my senior year is NOT going to be like this and it starts with the off-season" and it really does. It starts with Joevan, LeKendric and TP. They've got to do a nice job of leading this team, but at the same time we have 3 great players coming in the door that are chomping at the bit just to get in the door. Even those three guys, I told them right now. There is nobody that is protected in terms of a scholarship, in terms of "I've got my scholarship so I'm going to be a starter this year". No no no no no. You have your scholarship and you're going to have to earn your opportunity to get out there on that floor again. TP being the exception to that.

A little competition doesn't hurt. With the recruits coming in next season, it serves us well by pushing the existing guys on the team. Ernie also alluded to the new recruits being able to contribute more right away, not out of necessity, but of luxury. I'm encouraged by what Ernie is saying. He's telling us the right things and seems to understand the gravity of the situation.

Stat of the game: 20 points for Tajuan Porter, 20 points for the rest of the team

Some more interesting facts about the game, Taylor Rochestie was 1 of 5 from the field with 4 points in the game. TP did an awesome job defending him the entire game. His 6 assists was double what the entire Oregon team had for the game. The Ducks had no answer for Aron Baynes. 7 of 8 from the field, 6 for 6 from the line for 20 points. Josh Crittle did not have a good game at all. 3 points, 5 turnovers. Catron seems to have hit some sort of wall. Another tough game for him going 2 of 6 from the field with 3 turnovers.

And just to prove who won the poll from before, if Wazzu only dresses Casto, Forrest, Baynes and Rochestie in the game, the Cougars still win 48-40.

Five burning questions with Addicted to Quack

Nuss — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:53:14 -0000

With the Cougars all set to take on Oregon for the third time tomorrow, I racked my brain in an effort to try and come up with some kind of new and unique angle. I couldn't. So I did what any good journalist would do -- pass the buck to someone else!

That somebody else is dviera over at Addicted to Quack, who checks in with his answers to CougCenter's five burning questions regarding the Ducks and tomorrow's game.

CougCenter: Oregon has won a couple of games since we last saw you; what's this team doing differently that allowed it to avoid the dreaded 0-18?

Addicted to Quack: I think there are a few important differences between the team coming down the stretch and what we saw at the beginning of the Pac-10 season.

First and foremost, our defensive intensity is much improved. We are getting some more steals and doing a better job of rebounding and limiting shots. We still have some defensive breakdowns, but we are doing a lot better at lasting the full shot clock. In our meetings with Washington State, we had an awful time playing out the duration of the shot clock. We would do great for 20, 25, even 30 seconds but slack off one time and get burned.

The other difference is that we are playing more of a team style of basketball. The chemistry is a lot better than it was in our previous meetings. It isn't reflective in our percentages but we're doing a lot better on layups and knocking down open shots. When we've had success, we've limited our turnovers and played in a "controlled frenzy".

CougCenter: Did Ernie Kent do enough down the stretch to get his critics off his back?

ATQ: Ernie will NEVER do enough to get the critics off his back. Oregon could win the national championship and people would still want him fired. I think winning a couple of games eased the pressure on our athletic director more than anything else. Having an 0-18 season with a new arena coming down the pipe was going to cause Pat Kilkenny to have some serious discussions with Ernie and crew in the off-season. Now that some sort of hope and progress has been shown, those conversations become a little easier.

Most of the anti-Ernie sentiment revolves around his personality and his pattern of having 1-2 good seasons intermixed with 1-2 really bad seasons. Winning those two games won't do anything to counter those elements. Uncle Pennybags at ATQ has some really good insights to this.

CougCenter: Give us Oregon's game plan for Wednesday. We promise we won't tell Tony.

ATQ: Oregon's game is all about tempo. They need to start off quick to get in a good flow for the rest of the game. Oregon has been frustrated by Washington State's tempo in their previous meetings and I expect Ernie will be looking for high defensive pressure, especially early on in the game. Taylor Rochestie is going to get his points but expect Oregon to do some trapping to get the ball out of his hands. They may even give up some easy buckets on the trap just to get the game tempo flowing more in a style that Oregon likes.

On the offensive side of the ball, perimeter shooting should be a key to how well the Ducks can execute. Oregon should be looking outside first, inside later in this game.

CougCenter: Who is the one guy WSU really has to watch out for in this game?

ATQ: Everyone knows about TP (Tajuan Porter). The guys you really have to look out for are Matt Humphrey and Drew Wiley. Drew is coming off a career night, scoring 18 points against UCLA and is starting to find that confidence from the outside. Humphrey has become "Mr. Hustle" on the defensive side of the ball, causing turnovers and serving to increase the tempo for the Ducks when they need it most. Both Drew and Matt have a great stroke from beyond the arc. If they start hitting and getting steals, look out.

CougCenter: How optimistic are Duck fans that this thing really will get turned around next year?

ATQ: During Ernie's tenure, that's typically how it goes. You are cruising along, doing pretty well, get to the tournament, then you fall off a cliff and have to rebuild. Even in all of the losses this year, there was potential and flashes of brilliance in each game. We had opportunities in every game this year, some we just didn't take advantage of.

Next year, the Pac-10 will be losing some key players to the draft and to graduation. Oregon loses two end of the bench players and that's it. Everyone else is coming back. Another year of maturity combined with the losses in the Pac-10 should help right the ship.

Oregon fans have been through this before. How dramatic the turnaround will be? No one can say, but honestly ... it can't get much worse.

Recap: Oregon Outgunned and Outmanned Against Cal

dvieira — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:34:56 -0000

Strangely enough, I really enjoyed this game. The score doesn't reflect how much better Oregon played as compared to last week. Although to be fair, anything would have been better than last week. With Odia, Longmire, and Wiley all out of action, Ernie proclaimed that we would see "Golden State Warriors Basketball" and for the first half, he was absolutely right. A lot of action, up and down the floor, good open looks...just have to make shots. Jtlight would have to actually admit that we had an offense if he watched the first half. There was more movement by the team that I have seen in a long time. In the end though, having a short rotation after a very long, difficult season was just too much and Oregon just got destoryed in the paint. Tough loss, but I take some comfort in the fact that U of Oregon at Berkley is still in the Pac-10 Title hunt. On to the post game talk from Ernie

On the start of the second half

We talked at halftime. I thought the first five minutes of the second half, there we were again where the game just got away from us again with bad play, bad decisions, bad turnovers, bad defense, boom boom boom boom, there they are, into their rhythm again.

another comment about the second half

The bigger thing in the game was start of the second half, giving them seven out of eight times they scored coming down the floor. That was fatigue and, at the same time, we couldn't score on the other end. That was a short bench.

Lots of talk from Ernie about fatigue in this game and you could really see it on the floor. The first half, especially the first 10-15 minutes, Oregon was flying all over the floor, moving like crazy, fast break, playing in your face defense. You could start to see it trail off at the end of the first half and then it blew up right after halftime. The team came out sluggish, all the movement stopped on offense and Cal players were starting to beat Oregon players off the dribble more. First half was all about great interior passing for Cal. Second half was just out hustling a tired team.

My favorite Ernie quote from the postgame....

Part of your defense is scoring the basketball and you've got to score. You've got to score when you get open looks, you've got to score in transition and we didn't score obviously to stay in the game with them when our defense broke down a little bit because we were a little big stagnant because of what weapons we didn't have on that bench over there.

This statement essentially sums up how this game went. In a lot of ways, that's how the whole year as gone. You just have to capitalize on your opportunities. Cal is making a push at the right time. People may get lost in the fact that they lost to Oregon State earlier and we had one of our better games down in the bay area. The Bears are hot right now, only 1 game out first place. As for us, we get a shot at 9th place Stanford on Saturday. Just remember, we still could get 9th place!

Morning Quack Fix: 2.18.09

PaulSF — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:00:12 -0000

Happy Hump Day. Let's have us some quack:

In recruiting news, the Miami Herald reports Bryce Brown will not sign with Miami, narrowing his list of suitors to Auburn, Kansas State, Tennessee, USC and Oregon.
After breaking the U.S. indoor record for the 5,000 meters, Galen Rupp has been named USA Track & Field's athlete of the week. Oregon's indoor team continues to impress, and Rupp is a big part of their success.
It sounds like the Oregon men's basketball team is pretty banged up. LeKendric Longmire, Churchill Odia and Drew Wiley all sat out Tuesday's practice due to injuries sustained last weekend in Washington. Coach Kent hopes all three will be ready to play in Thursday's game against Cal.
Meanwhile, Cal coach Mike Montgomery thinks Oregon's men's basketball team is "not bad," and that the Ducks "do lots of stuff." Thanks, Mike. Aren't Stanford and Cal types supposed to be smart or something?
And finally, ESPN.com's Pat Forde mentioned the Ducks in this week's rendition of his "Forde Yard Dash" college hoops equivalent, "Forde Minutes." Not surprisingly, the mention isn't exactly positive.

GO DUCKS!

Recap: Tajuan Porter gets Benched for 2nd Half in Loss to ASU

dvieira — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:38:28 -0000

Oregon dropped two in the desert this weekend and has started the Pac-10 season 0-4. I know, I know...rebuilding year right? The Ducks started out well and ended well but just couldn't put together that complete game we've been clamouring for. How many times have we said that this year? Get used to it because it will most likely be the mantra repeated over and over and over. First 10 minutes of the game went well. Next 20 minutes of the game were not good at all. Last 10 minutes of the game went well. Arizona State is the real deal and should compete against UCLA for the conference title this year but that aside, the issues of Oregon flared up and show why we are having the year we are having. Catron specifically had a stretch of 3 straight turnovers that swung the momentum away from the Ducks. If I was sitting there thinking "here we go again," the players must have been too to some extent.

The big news that came out of the loss to the Sun Devils was TP getting benched by Ernie for the entire second half. Bob Clark, of the Register Guard fame, submitted this in his blog:

"The biggest thing to understand is there’s not one single player or one single coach who’s bigger than this program," UO coach Ernie Kent said in discussing the situation with reporters. Kent pulled Porter out of the game with 36 seconds remaining in the first half, explaining that it was due to his junior guard "not making a hustle play" when ASU (14-2 overall, 3-1 in the Pac-10) recovered a loose ball for an Oregon turnover and converted it into two points for a 16-point advantage.

For those that were able to watch the game on FSN, you can visibly see an upset TP get sent to the bench right before halftime. I could see Ernie getting frustrated with TP and the play specifically in question but I didn't anticipate the reaction to the situation from Porter. For someone who is supposed to be a leader on this team, that isn't the way you handle yourself in those situations.

"I felt like that young group was in a better groove," Kent said of Oregon’s lineup of first-year players. "If you want to call it (Porter) being disciplined … I just felt like he needed to sit down at that point in time."

...

Kent also said the dispute "wasn’t necessarily having words, it was more, ‘we’re coaching you, so sit down.’ He needs to do that at times. He challenged a couple coaches there so he needed to sit and watch a little bit."

It doesn't seem like a big deal but how much this frustration starts to boil over in other players remains to be seen. There aren't too many leftovers from last years team that went to the NCAA Tournament. TP hasn't been having a great year so far and combine that with a losing record makes for one frustrated little guy.

Porter finished with three points, all on free throws. That came after he scored only two points in Thursday’s loss to Arizona. Oregon’s leading scorer with an average of 14 points, Porter declined requests from reporters to be interviewed after the game. “He was frustrated because a few things didn’t go his way,” said LeKendric Longmire, who led the Ducks with 15 points.

Even with Porter's troubles, there was some signs of things to come with Drew Wiley coming out of his shell a little bit, knocking down some great shots, having a really good 3-pt play the old fashioned way and hustling all over. The experience is valuable and there was a healthy stretch during the second half with a 5 freshman team that was doing well if not better than the veterens.

On a personal note, I felt the TP benching was more than justified and Ernie made the right call, albeit a difficult one. It was the right thing to do in the situation by the coaching staff to sit him down and let him "think about what he's done".