Two days after Arizona pulled off the biggest win of its season, an 81-72 win over USC in Los Angeles, the Trojans were able to stay home and heal quickly.
They smacked Oregon in a 72-58 win at the Galen Center on Feb. 22.
The date and the location of that game is one reason why UA assistant coach Danny Peters isnโt assuming the result will be repeated Sunday when the Ducks and Trojans meet in the NCAA Tournamentโs Sweet 16.
โOregon had to play Thursday, Saturday and Monday, and (the USC game) was on the road,โ said Peters, who scouted the Ducks all season for UA game-planning purposes. โThat was a tough game for them. Thatโs the biggest thing you have to look at: When did they play them?โ
Still, Peters and UA assistant coach Jason Terry, who scouted USC all season, were both hesitant to predict a winner Sunday. While Oregon famously thrives on the mismatches created by hybrid wing forwards Eugene Omoruyi and LJ Figueroa, plus the savvy perimeter play of Will Richardson and Chris Duarte, the Trojans have talented post brothers Evan and Isaiah Mobley popping out for 3-pointers or creating havoc inside at will.
USC also deploys big combo forwards such as the 6-9 Chevez Goodwin, 6-8 Drew Peterson and 6-7 Isaiah White. On Feb. 20, Arizonaโs Azuolas Tubelis and Jordan Brown both posted double-doubles and the Wildcats collectively limited Evan Mobley to just two shots in the first half.
โBecause we have three athletic bigs, we were able to match up more with them than some of the other teams across the country,โ Terry said. โThe Mobley brothers are just a matchup nightmare. They both can play on the perimeter. They can both go inside. They can push the ball in transition. If you're not used to seeing that and you don't have the personnel to be able to defend it, it's going to give you tremendous problems.
โCouple that with the fact they have length at every position. (Guard) Tahj Eaddy is 6-3, heโs the shortest guy there, but everybody else is 6-6, and higher. That length alone is just hard to deal with.โ
Except the Ducks might be able to.
With Oregon, you โcan say small but everybody's 6-5 and up, so it's not too small,โ Terry said. โTheyโre able to do some things defensively to cause problems. They switch a lot, they get in their matchup zone, they play ยพ-court press. But the thing about them is they shoot the ball extremely well from 3, and theyโve got multiple guys who can do it. When they're causing problems, creating turnovers and getting out in transition is when they're at their best.
โBut USC is a low turnover team. They're going to control the pace, they're going to get what they want on the offensive end and a lot of the times it ends up in the Evan Mobleyโs hands. So itโs an interesting matchup because they're so familiar with each other. From battling against each other in the Pac 12, I couldn't pick a winner, if I had to.โ
And, really, he doesnโt want to. But the fact that the Ducks and Trojans met only once this season, in that Feb. 22 meeting at Los Angeles, meant the NCAA Tournament selection committee could allow for them to meet before the Elite Eight under current bracketing principles.
โI hate that they have to go up against each other,โ Terry says, โbecause those are two teams that potentially could have been in the Final Four.โ
