No. 11 Oregon looks for 5th straight vs. Stanford
The Pac-12-leading Oregon Ducks look for their fifth straight win Saturday afternoon when they face Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.
No. 11 Oregon (18-4, 7-2 Pac-12) held on for a 77-72 win over California on Thursday night in Berkeley, with Payton Pritchard leading the way with 21 points and eight assists. Pritchard, who had just two points in the first half, became Oregon's all-time assists leader.
"That's something that I'm going to remember forever," Pritchard told the Oregon athletics website. "But I couldn't have done it without a lot of great teammates hitting shots."
Pritchard has been a consistent force for the Ducks all season, making him a conference player of the year candidate, but fellow guard Chris Duarte has come on of late. The Dominican Republic native has scored a combined 73 points in the Ducks' last three games, including 19 against Cal.
The Ducks trailed by as many as seven points in the second half but rallied to take the lead and go up by as many as 12 late in the game. Oregon coach Dana Altman, with 629 wins, is one away from tying the legendary John Wooden for 28th place all-time in coaching wins.
Oregon's press defense was also a factor, with nine turnovers forced in the first half. Cal made it interesting with a late run in the final minute, which gave pause for Altman.
"Our press has been effective this year, but our defense overall has to improve," he said.
Next up is the Cardinal, who have given the Ducks fits in Palo Alto. Stanford has won three of the last five at home, and in 2016 upset the No. 11 Ducks 76-72 in Maples Pavilion. Stanford leads the overall series with 80 wins to 53 for Oregon.
But Stanford is coming off a loss at home to Oregon State, 68-63, in which the Cardinal trailed from the 3:14 mark of the first half through the entire second half, unable to answer a 15-3 Beavers run to close out the first 20 minutes.
Oscar da Silva's 22 points and eight rebounds led Stanford (15-5, 4-3) in the loss. The Cardinal have dropped three straight and dropped to fourth place in the conference after leading the league at 4-0 a few weeks ago.
Da Silva is the Cardinal's leading scorer and rebounder at 16.3 points per game and 5.9 rebounds. Tyrell Terry averages 15.4 and 5.2 from the guard position.
Stanford has already matched its win total from last season, 15, despite its current losing streak.
Coach Jerod Haase has said defense is the Cardinal's path to success this season. The Cardinal made 6 of 18 3-pointers Thursday.
"As long as defensively everybody's contributing, we'll be fine," Haase said earlier in the season. "I don't mind shooting 23 or 30 (3-pointers), there's not a magic number for us. It's how we get those 3s. If we just come down and shoot it quickly, generally that's not going to be the shot we want to shoot."
--Field Level Media
