Plenty of trends jump off the stat sheet heading into Thursday’s matchup between No. 23 Oregon and No. 18 Arizona, but no figure matters more than this one: 5.
The Ducks head to McKale Center at No. 5 in the nation according to RealTimeRPI.com, certainly ahead of their national ranking. The Ducks, tied for the Pac-12 lead with a 5-2 record, also boast the nation’s fifth-toughest strength-of-schedule rating, according to the site.
Quality wins over Baylor, USC and at Utah highlight the Ducks’ resume, and Oregon has also scored top-64 wins over Valparaiso, UC Irvine, Alabama, Cal, Stanford and UCLA.
Oregon is battle-tested and proven, and while other numbers may matter in this matchup, they don’t mean as much as those.
Let’s take a look anyway:
1. Hurricane Tyler. Better hope Sean Miller has an umbrella, because it might be raining threes again on Thursday.
One game after being stunned by reserve guard Jordan Mathews and his 28 points with six 3-pointers, the Wildcats welcome yet another sharpshooter in Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey.
The one-time Arizona commit is averaging an impressive 13.4 points per game in the Ducks’ balanced offense, and he’s shooting 45 percent from 3-point range, fourth in the conference and tops among freshman. Lest you think the sample size must surely be small, his 36 3-pointers rank eighth in the league, and he has four games with four threes this year.
2. On the Mark. It’s hard not to feel for Mark Tollefson, whose return to the Bay Area was a yo-yo that snapped off the string on Saturday. The former University of San Francisco star managed three points and one rebound in the Wildcats’ 74-73 loss at Cal, his second-lowest scoring output of the season.
His disappearing act was made all the more surprising by the fact that he entered the matchup with three straight games in double-figures, and he’ll need to show up once more against an Oregon front court that features two bigs – Chris Boucher and Dillon Brooks – who combine for more than 14 rebounds per game.
“I think Boucher is the best first-year player in the conference,” Miller said at his weekly press conference. “You could make the case Ryan Anderson and him are because their team has had success, both of the guys, and statistically they are able to back up my claim.”
3. Wait, rewind … Arizona would absolutely love if this season was a repeat of last season’s success over the Ducks. The Wildcats had mostly so-so results against Oregon during Sean Miller’s tenure, but last season’s 80-62 win in early January at Matthew Knight Arena did much to ease Arizona’s woes.
Not as much as their next game, though, when the Wildcats throttled the Ducks, 90-56, behind six players in double-figures. Gabe York led the way that day, with 16 points off the bench.
“He can make the pass, he’s our best free-throw shooter and he makes everyone else better because they have to defend the 3-point shot. He’s certainly one of the best in the Pac-12,” Miller said.
