Game info

Who: Arizona (17-12, 8-8 Pac-12) at Oregon (16-12, 7-8)

Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Watch: ESPN2

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G Justin Coleman (5-10 senior)

G Brandon Randolph (6-6 sophomore)

F Dylan Smith (6-5 junior)

F Ryan Luther (6-9 senior)

C Chase Jeter (6-10 junior)

Probable starters: Oregon

G Payton Pritchard (6-2 junior)

G Louis King (6-9 freshman)

F Paul White (6-9 senior)

F Kenny Wooten (6-9 sophomore)

C Francis Okoro (6-9 freshman)

How they match up

The last time

Arizona shot just 36.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 14 times while Oregon beat the Wildcats 59-54 on Jan. 17 at McKale Center, snapping UA’s six-game winning streak.

The last time in Eugene

With Oregon student fans waving “100 Grand” candy bar signs at Deandre Ayton and booing him every time he touched the ball, the UA star plowed through the Ducks for 28 points and 18 rebounds but ran out of gas in overtime, when Oregon won 98-93 on Feb. 24, 2018. Associate head coach Lorenzo Romar guided the Wildcats while UA coach Sean Miller sat out in the wake of an ESPN report that he had discussed paying Ayton $100,000 to play for the Wildcats. The UA was also without guard Allonzo Trier, who was serving out a second PED-related suspension.

Series history

The Ducks have beaten Arizona five out of the last seven games the teams have played, but the Wildcats are 10-8 against Oregon in the Miller era and lead the all-time series 51-31.

What’s new with the Ducks

Oregon broke a three-game losing streak by crushing ASU 79-51 on Thursday while shooting 49.2 percent, outrebounding the Sun Devils by 18 and holding ASU to 32.1 percent shooting. The Ducks are just 5-6 since beating Arizona and getting forward Kenny Wooten back from a broken jaw.

Oregon has started its past two games with a lineup of four players all at 6-foot-9, featuring freshman Francis Okoro and shot-blocking whiz Kenny Wooten inside, with the versatile Paul White and Louis King on the wings. But the Ducks still transition into a smaller lineup much of the time, inserting guards Victor Bailey Jr., Ehab Amin and Will Richardson. The athletic Bailey has scored in double figures during three of his past five games while Wooten blocked 11 total shots combined during Oregon’s home-court sweep of California and Stanford last month.

Defense is where the Ducks stand out. They are second only to Washington in defensive efficiency, allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions, while mixing schemes, often pressing and deploying a matchup zone.

He said it

“Paul White is a really difficult matchup. In (a big lineup), I would call him the two. Most of the time he plays the four, but they often play real small and bring him into the five and Louis King into four. They do a great job offensively and in isolations getting the ball to (White) in a position where he can create mismatches. So I think part of it is just being ready for the versatility of their lineups. But no matter who they play, they’re going to press, they’re going to play a matchup zone.”

— UA coach Sean Miller

Key player: Paul White

OREGON

While Louis King is the Ducks’ most talented offensive player, White has been a more difficult cover for the Wildcats. He scored 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting at McKale Center on Jan. 17 and 16 on 6-for-8 shooting against UA in Eugene last season. Saturday will be his final regular-season game at Matthew Knight Arena, too, so the Ducks will likely be looking to get him the ball.

Key player: Brandon Randolph

ARIZONA

Is he back? The evidence in Corvallis suggested Arizona’s leading scorer is again in a rhythm, not forcing shots and making nearly all the ones the Beaver defense gave him. But he was just 2 of 9 against Oregon on Jan. 17. Against a defense they routinely struggle with, the Wildcats need Randolph to score more efficiently to have a chance.

Hair game

You could say Brandon Williams’ return helped Brandon Randolph get back on track. Or that the law of averages simply had to work in the favor of Randolph, the Wildcats’ leading scorer overall this season.

But there’s also this fact: After shooting 26.7 percent over six games before Thursday, Randolph took the floor at Oregon State wearing short braids … and shot 7 for 8 from the field.

Did his new hairstyle have anything to do with it?

“Without a doubt, definitely,” Randolph said, grinning. Teammates “told me to never, never take the braids off.”

Seriously, though, Randolph said he was “kind of getting sick of his hair,” while his coach said Williams’ return helped take the pressure off Randolph, who also kept working hard throughout his slump.

“Brandon’s been a good player for us for a long, long time,” Miller said. “If you judge Brandon on the first 20 games, he was maybe the surest bet that we had. So, yeah, hopefully he can return and keep doing what he’s doing. He’s worked hard. He’s never given in.”

Jeter on mend

The Wildcats enjoyed a lunch buffet inside a 12th-floor ballroom featuring ceiling-to-floor windows that showcased the rare snowfall that still covered Eugene on Friday afternoon.

When it was over, center Chase Jeter walked out of the room without a limp.

The Wildcats can only hope that translates into his full availability Saturday at Oregon. Miller said Friday that he didn’t know how effective Jeter would be until he went through a practice Friday and a shootaround Saturday.

However, Miller said Jeter did not suffer anything other than the bruise to his left knee on Thursday at Oregon State, when he came back in the game but left for good shortly afterward because Miller said he wasn’t running normally.

“It’s kind of like his last injury, you really just kind of go on what you’re being told by him,” Miller said, referring to the back injury Jeter suffered on Jan. 19. “But I think the good news is that it’s a bruised knee. There’s no injury per se, more than that.”

Miller said Jeter’s knee bruise compares to the one Alex Barcello suffered at Colorado on Feb. 17. Barcello also was not effective when returning to the game afterward, although he appeared to play without issue on Feb. 21 against California.

Pac-12 Tourney implications

If the Pac-12 season ended before Saturday’s games, the Wildcats and Ducks would actually be previewing a first-round Pac-12 Tournament game.

After winning at Oregon State on Thursday, Arizona pulled into a five-way tie for sixth place in the loss column, and a three-way tie for sixth by percentage. The Wildcats would hold a No. 7 seed while Oregon would become a No. 10.

But, of course, a lot is likely to change before the conference pulls into Las Vegas. The Wildcats are only one game behind UCLA for the No. 5 seed, which would gain them a first-round game against last-place California … but they also could fall as low as No. 10.

One more time

Bill Walton and Dave Pasch will be working their last regular-season UA game Saturday, this time for ESPN2, repeating their appearance at last season’s memorable UA-UO showdown at Matthew Knight Arena.

During that game, the duo touched on ESPN’s report from a day earlier that Miller discussed a pay-for-play scheme. Walton said he didn’t enjoy seeing what was happening but was “proud” to see how the eligible players were competing, and said he was against paying players because not every school makes money.

Not surprisingly, when Oregon was playing well, Walton also said the Ducks were “becoming eagles … evolution in progress.”

Numbers game

5

Times in 29 games Arizona has shot 50 percent or better, while winning all five games (Georgia Southern, Utah Valley, Utah at McKale, at Cal, at OSU).

21.3

Average margin by which the UA’s bench has outscored its opponent’s bench in the past three games.

61.6

Percent Ira Lee is shooting in Pac-12 games, the fourth-best mark in the conference.

99

Consecutive starts point guard Payton Pritchard has made for Oregon.