Scouting report: Arizona Wildcats vs. Oregon Ducks

The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews all of the game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of the Arizona Wildcats' Pac-12 road opener against Oregon on Thursday. 

Game info

Who: No. 24 Arizona (11-3, 1-0) at No. 9 Oregon (12-3, 1-1)

Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Ore. 

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

TV: ESPN 

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)

G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)

F Josh Green (6-6 freshman)

F Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)

C Chase Jeter (6-10 senior)

Probable starters: Oregon

G Payton Pritchard (6-2 senior)

G Anthony Mathis (6-4 senior)

F Chris Duarte (6-6 junior)

F Shakur Juiston (6-7 senior)

C Francis Okoro (6-9 sophomore)

How they match up

The series: The Ducks have beaten the Wildcats in six of the past eight matchups, including two overtime Oregon wins. The UA also has lost its last three games in Eugene, not beating the Ducks there since their Elite Eight season of 2014-15. Last season, the Ducks beat the Wildcats 59-54 at McKale Center when the UA shot just 36.5% and 73-47 in Eugene, where the Wildcats had 12 turnovers in the first half and shot just 19.2 percent in the second half. Arizona is 8-9 against Oregon since Dana Altman took over the Ducks in 2010-11 but 51-32 overall in the all-time series.

This season: The Wildcats and Ducks will meet again Feb. 22 at McKale Center.

Oregon overview: Picked to win the Pac-12 this season after Altman reloaded the Ducks well into last summer, Oregon took five straight wins and a No. 4 ranking into Colorado last weekend before losing. But the Ducks hung on to win at Utah and still have considerable upside remaining, considering that five-star freshman center N’Faly Dante has played only five games and senior forward Shakur Juiston missed all of December after suffering a lower leg injury against North Carolina on Nov. 29. Dante was not admitted for the fall quarter at Oregon after deciding last summer to reclassify and skip his senior season of high school, but he enrolled last month at the end of the academic quarter. The relatively agile 250-pound freshman has been playing off the bench behind 235-pounder Francis Okoro, while Juiston adds size and experience at power forward as a grad transfer from UNLV.

The Ducks also mix in 6-8 forward Chandler Lawson off the bench, though versatile freshman forward C.J. Walker is not expected to play Thursday because of back and knee injuries.

While Oregon’s frontcourt is improving, the Ducks’ strength early has come from a backcourt led by Payton Pritchard. Oregon shoots 39.9% from 3-point range, the eighth-best mark in the country, but does so carefully: Only 34.9% of its total field goals are taken from long range. Grad transfer Anthony Mathis, a high school teammate of Pritchard’s who transferred from New Mexico, is shooting 48.7% from 3 while making 2.5 per game. Juco transfer Chris Duarte is making 36.2% of his 69 3s, while Pritchard has hit 38.8% from 3 while taking an average of 4.4 trips to the free-throw line and leading the Ducks in scoring at 18.7 points on average.

Defensively, Oregon continues to mix it up, sometimes on the same possession, with a combination of zones, presses and man-to-man.

He said it

"They’re one of the nation’s best teams. I think that’s obvious, and you can really put an asterisk next to that too, because N’Faly Dante has only been playing for five games, and some of their biggest wins came without him and he is a terrific talent, a game changer around the basket.

“They have much bigger size and a lot of times they have two bigs on the court. In the past they’ve had maybe that one shot-blocker or big and maybe four perimeter players. And Payton Pritchard … there aren’t any guards in the country that are playing at a higher level or mean more to their team than what Payton Pritchard means to Oregon.

Defensively “they play a matchup zone, they press and drop to a matchup zone, and they mix in their full-court pressure. They can play man-to-man. They seem to do that at some point each game. They really try to protect the rim and create turnovers. This year, they’re not creating as many turnovers, but they also have more size.” — UA head coach Sean Miller

Key player (Arizona): Josh Green

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Green’s athleticism and length have long been apparent offensively, but the Wildcats may need it most applied defensively against the Ducks. Green will likely be asked to guard versatile Oregon scorer Chris Duarte and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he had to help out with Pritchard or long-range shooter Anthony Mathis.

Key player (Oregon): Payton Pritchard

Faces come and go all the time in high-major college basketball, but not Pritchard’s. The Ducks’ senior point guard started in the 2017 Final Four as a freshman and has developed into a national player-of-the-year candidate this season. His talent, longevity and intensity have put him on pace to become Oregon’s career leader in assists, steals, wins and games played.

Sidelines

Cinnabons, anyone?

Under coach Sean Miller, Arizona almost always stays at a full-service hotel on the road, where there’s in-house catering for team meals, meeting rooms for film or coursework studies and a well-equipped gym for coaches to work out in.

The Eugene Hilton is one of those places.

Except, through no fault of that downtown business hotel, the Wildcats haven’t had the best of memories there lately, losing games during their past three stays. That includes blowout losses last season and in 2016-17 plus the UA’s unforgettable overtime game loss in 2017-18 — the one in which Miller didn’t coach after ESPN reported he discussed paying then-star Deandre Ayton $100,000, the one in which Oregon students waved “100 Grand” candy bar signs and booed Ayton — and the one that the Ducks won 98-93 in overtime despite 23 points and 18 rebounds from the UA’s unquestionably angry 7-footer.

“Have to change our karma in Eugene,” said Ryan Reynolds, the UA’s director of basketball operations.

If changing hotels is a superstitious move, though, Miller acknowledged that might only go so far.

“At the end of the day, when the jump ball goes up, you’re still going to be playing at Oregon and you’re still going to have Dana Altman over there in a white shirt and green tie. And you’re going to have great crowd and really good team to play against.”

The other problem is there aren’t a lot of full-service hotels in Eugene, so the Wildcats instead opted to camp along Interstate 5 in nearby Springfield at one of those limited-service chain hotels known for free continental breakfasts.

But, never fear, the Wildcats’ pregame fuel won’t be limited to cinnamon rolls, oatmeal packets and vials of Froot Loops: Reynolds said the hotel does have a private meeting room, and that outside restaurants will bring catering to them.

Scout team gets real

Already with Nevada transfer Jordan Brown and walk-ons who could have played college basketball elsewhere, the Arizona scout team is gaining significant strength behind the scenes this month.

Georgetown transfer James Akinjo is expected to join the Wildcats in practice next week while former Phoenix Pinnacle standout Jordan Mains was added to the active roster last week after recovering from a knee injury. Both are likely to practice with the scout team, which mimics the upcoming opponent.

A 6-6 forward, Mains had low-major Division I offers before injuring his knee and, because he played with Nico Mannion at Pinnacle, he was familiar to the UA staff.

“He’s a very good player,” Miller said. “With the guys that are walk-ons, it always helps when you have guys with size. He’s a good shooter as well and more important, he’s a really good kid. So we’re happy to have him.”

Payton’s place

There’s another bad memory about Oregon that the Wildcats won’t be able to forget Thursday no matter where they stay.

Because Payton Pritchard is occupying Matt Knight Arena for another season.

“I feel like he’s played against us 20 times,” Miller said.

Last season at Knight Arena against the Wildcats, Pritchard had 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals with no turnovers. In the 2017-18 overtime game, he had 13 points, five rebounds and eight assists to only one turnover.

This season, Pritchard is leading the Ducks in scoring (18.7 points) and dishing an average of 5.9 assists.

“There aren’t any guards in the country that are playing at a higher level or mean more to their team than what Payton Pritchard means to Oregon,” Miller said. “He is a stud. He’s a monster to deal with. He’s already won them a lot of games and he’s gonna win them plenty more here in the next couple of months. He’s a handful.”

Numbers game

4

Quadrant 1 wins so far this season by Oregon (Memphis, Seton Hall, Michigan, Colorado).

4 

Oregon’s highest-ever AP Top 25 ranking, reached on Nov. 14, 2016, by its eventual 2017 Final Four team and last week before the Ducks lost at Colorado.

14

Points Max Hazzard needs to hit 1,000 for his career between UC Irvine and Arizona.

124

 Straight Oregon games Pritchard has started.