The Ducks look for another win after making a statement in Boulder.
The Oregon men’s mountain road trip is off to a roaring start after the team beat Colorado at home for the first time ever Thursday night. Spearheaded by a terrific 21-point performance from redshirt senior Jacob Young, the Ducks will look to carry this momentum into Saturday as they head to the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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The Ducks won in Boulder for the first time in program history.
In their earlier meeting this season, the Ducks won by a comfortable 13-point margin as Will Richardson had one of his best performances of the season. He scored 26 points, hitting five of his six shots from behind the arc, which was good for a career high–a mark he would surpass two weeks later against USC on the road in Los Angeles. Despite the margin of victory against the Utes, the Ducks were trailing most of the game, but a high-powered second half would allow the team to come away victorious.
This game would spark the Ducks earlier six-game win streak, while the Utes would be in the midst of a program record 10-game losing streak that came to an end Thursday against the Oregon State Beavers. Picked to finish tenth in the preseason Pac-12 poll, Utah’s season has been nothing short of rough, and injuries to center Branden Carlson has kept his playtime inconsistent throughout the year.
Utah’s other conference win comes from the equally maligned Cal Golden Bears over two months ago in early December, where guard Both Gach and Carlson would combine for 31 points in an eight point win. Utah’s rotating starting lineups mean that despite these two leading the Utes in PPG scoring, they might not start come tip off.
In terms of NET and Kenpom rankings, these teams are in dramatically different stratospheres. Oregon currently sits at No. 51 in NET rating, and No. 50 in KenPom, while Utah is No. 123 and No. 111 respectively.
Utah’s record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams is 1-10, while Oregon’s is 4-5. Oregon is currently predicted as one of the last four in by both ESPN and CBS for next month’s NCAA Tournament, and another solid win on the road could continue the upward trend they’ve seen since the start of the new year.
Players to Watch:
For Oregon, it’ll be the same duo that’s been the driving force behind most of their success this season in Richardson and Young. Utah’s tendency to give up points in bunches to guards could spell disaster if this high powered duo maintains their current level of play, and Richardson’s success earlier this season could be an indicator of what’s to come. Richardson also currently leads the Pac-12 in three-point percentage at 45%, and sits at ninth in total field-goal percentage at 49.6%. Young also performed well against Utah earlier this year, dropping 22 points in what has become a performance he’s built on over the course of the last month.
Utah will need to be at their best to contend with a red-hot Oregon team, and while both Gach and Carlson will likely shoulder the brunt of the scoring, freshman Lazar Stefanovic could present a problem for Oregon if he’s able to replicate his scorcher of a game against Oregon State (15 pts, 5-9 3pt FG).
The Serbian guard hasn’t shot terrifically well this season, currently sitting at 35.6% from the floor, and 31.8% from three, but he’s shown the ability to explode from beyond the arc if he’s able to get his shot to fall. Rollie Worster hasn’t been a prolific scorer this season, but provides versatility as a defender and leads the Utes in steals on the season, as well as being the only player to start every game for the Utes.
Oregon is set to face off against Utah at 5:30 PST Saturday in Salt Lake City, and will be broadcasted on FS1.
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