SEATTLE – Washington and Oregon, a defensive struggle?
That could be the case today when the Northwest men’s basketball rivals meet at 5 p.m. today at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The winner of the contest will join UCLA atop the league standings.
The normally high-powered No. 10 Huskies (4-2 Pacific-10 Conference, 15-2 overall) have struggled, relative to themselves, on offense in conference play. Washington, which still leads the nation in scoring at 87.3 points a game, is averaging 80.2 points in league play. But in the past four games, the Huskies are down to 73.8 points, including back-to-back 69-point efforts.
Washington is shooting 48.6 percent overall but just 43.8 percent in conference play. At the line, the Huskies are shooting a conference-worst 67.6 percent in league games.
The good news, though, is that Washington has won both of those 69-point games, including Thursday’s victory over Oregon State. In that game, Washington shot a season-low 33.3 percent. Washington senior forward Bobby Jones jokingly assured reporters that the team was not shaving points against the Beavers.
“Our defense was still good,” Jones said. “It put us in position to win. It was a blessing our defense was there to help us out. When we knew things weren’t going our way, we held down defensively and that was able to keep us in the game.”
Oregon State did some good things defensively against Washington, including blocking seven shots. But more often, it was the Huskies missing some easy shots, including what coach Lorenzo Romar estimated as eight open layups. But Romar said despite the offensive futility, there was “a beauty” to the win.
“We are leading the nation in scoring, we’re playing against a team that went to Cal and won, and a team that has given us problems,” Romar said. “But yet we found a way to win shooting 33 percent from the floor. That’s a very positive sign for our team.”
For its part, Oregon has purposefully slowed down its pace from the days of Luke Ridnour and Luke Jackson running up and down the floor.
The Ducks won their third game in a row at Washington State Thursday 52-50, the lowest point total Oregon has won with in 18 years. Oregon (4-2, 10-8) is averaging 65 points in Pac-10 games and has not scored more than 73 in the conference.
Oregon coach Ernie Kent said slowing the game down has allowed his team to control the ball more and played with more energy for longer, particularly on defense. The Ducks rarely push the ball up the floor after made baskets and Kent said it allows the starters to be on the court longer.
“It’s given Aaron Brooks a chance to settle down more and play headier basketball,” Kent said. “It’s cut the turnovers down. We keep our starters and studs on the floor for longer periods of time. We’ve shortened our bench. If I had my way, this would be a running program but for this team, we’ve settled into a style that’s worked for us.”
Prior to its winning streak, Oregon had lost eight of 11. Three of the losses were to Vanderbilt, Georgetown and Illinois but it also lost back-to-back games to Portland and Portland State. But the Ducks got a lift when Jordan Kent re-joined the team after completing the football season. Kent, a 6-foot-5 swingman, had scored just three points in nine games before scoring 13 against WSU. But he’s had 35 rebounds in six games and has provided strong defense and toughness for the Ducks. Romar compared Kent to Dennis Rodman in his ability to help his team win without having to score.
“The addition of Jordan Kent is what really makes them a better team,” Romar said. “He is their energy guy, their glue guy. He can flat out win you games without scoring.”
Oregon starts four guards. Besides Kent, there’s Malik Hairston, Aaron Brooks and Bryce Taylor. Hairston sank two late 3-pointers to beat the Cougars and he leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg), making 47.3 percent of his 3-pointers.
Brooks, a Seattle native, is averaging 12.1 points this season, and 15.0 points per Pac-10 contest, while Taylor is averaging 9.8 points.
Jones said Washington will continue to pressure its opponents on defense and he figures that, with as many capable offensive players as the Huskies have, a shooting night like they had against OSU won’t likely happen again.
“Any given day, your shot might not be falling,” Jones said. “But for some reason, it happened to five or six of us in the same game. … We’ll come out with some pressure and this time hit some shots. Then it could be a different game. If not, they could hang around.”
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