Know Your Foes – Cats and Dogs

The Ducks will need Arsalan Kazemi to be heavy on the boards this week. He is averaging 9.6 rebounds per game

The Oregon Ducks (16-2) men’s basketball team looks to keep its home winning streak alive this weekend against the schools from the Apple State.  The Ducks are undefeated at home this year and haven’t lost a contest at home since hosting Colorado in the final game of last year’s regular season.  Those who remember that game know we should have won, but an iffy call late in the game blew Oregon’s chances out of the water.  Entering today’s matchup against Washington State, the Ducks have won 18 straight matchups in Matthew Knight Arena.  Oregon is tied for the seventh best home-streak in the nation.

The records of the Cougars and Huskies provide deceiving numbers for this week’s matchups.  Washington State is 10-8 on the season and has lost four of their first five Pac-12 tilts.  The University of Washington is 12-6 on the year, but a 4-1 record in the Pac-12 leaves them right in the mix for the conference crown.   The Cougars’ senior forward, Brock Motum, is averaging 19.1 points per game. Huskies forward CJ Wilcox also averages 19.1 points-per-game, tying Motum for second best in the conference in that category.

Don’t let their records fool you – both teams out of the Evergreen State have elite scorers.  The Ducks will look to strong defensive play and limiting turnovers to pull out two victories and raise their home winning streak to 20 straight.