WSU-Oregon Preview: Cougs Look to Slow Down High-Flying Ducks

Washington State will play host to the Oregon Ducks on the Pullman campus Sunday evening at 5pm. Cougar Nation will be out in full force to encourage their hoopsters in a rare Sunday game. Not so rare is the fact that the game will be televised on FSN Northwest.

Predicting a win over Oregon State wasn’t exactly rocket science. The Beavers are a team trying to find an identity and play well together. That hasn’t happened for them as of yet.

Oregon is a completely different story. Not only is it a team that can win games in the PAC-10, it will win games in conference play. It will take a strong effort by the Cougs to force the Ducks to wait until next win to begin a winning streak.

VS

Site: Friel Court, Pullman, WA

Tipoff: Sunday 5pm

Television: Fox Sports Net (Northwest)

Online: None

Oregon arrives in Pullman fresh from a loss to the Huskies on Thursday evening. Sure, Washington isn’t one of the top teams in conference, but as is always the case, they are very tough to beat at home. Oregon was in that game right up until the end before falling 78-70. That margin was stretched at the end when Oregon was forced to foul after missing a couple of shots.

The Ducks are an impressive 12-5 on this season, sporting a 3-2 PAC-10 record following their loss to Washington (who earned their first conference win in the process). Oregon loves to run, run, run. Then the Ducks want to run some more. Obviously that is the exact opposite of what WSU imposes on defense when they’re playing their game. The Ducks don’t mind giving up 73 points a game because they are scoring an average of 82 points per game. Yes, these two teams are complete opposites in terms of style.

Scoring—that’s what you think about when considering Oregon. It is a team that loves to fill it up. The Ducks are led by seniors Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen (no, that isn’t a typo on Maarty’s first name) with 18 and 16 points respectively. If you want to get technical—and who doesn’t—both of these seniors have already graduated, earning the bachelor’s degree. That tells you something about their commitment to the Oregon basketball team and their head coach Ernie Kent.

This is Kent’s tenth season at the helm of Duck basketball. His loyalty can be easily traced back to 1977 when he completed his bachelor’s program at Oregon with degrees in community service and public affairs. Yes, if you cut Coach Kent, he’ll quack and bleed a hideous yellow and green with a Nike swoosh.

One stat that jumps out at you when looking at Oregon’s performance thusfar is the fact that they haven’t played well on the road this season. All five of their losses have been outside the friendly confines of McArthur Court. Considering that this is a team with plenty of experience, that’s a bit of a surprise and something that is likely to change very soon.

So here’s the deal. Chances are that the Cougs won’t keep a lid on the Duck offense the way they usually do. However, they will score against this team. Oregon doesn’t have a player that can match up well with Aron Baynes. Baynes is coming off another thunderous performance, too. Cougar Nation should have plenty to cheer about Sunday afternoon.

PREDICTION: WSU 78 - Oregon 64

GO COUGS!!!