Oregon Looks for Fifth Straight Win as Home Stretch Continues Against Cal

The Oregon Ducks will welcome the California Golden Bears to Eugene on Saturday for the second game in their three-game home stand.

It will be the first and only regular season meeting between the schools. Dana Altman and the Ducks are fresh off a gritty victory against the other Bay Area school, the Stanford Cardinal, on Thursday.

Oregon took a different route to its 16th win of the season than usual. Usual suspects Will Richardson and Jacob Young shot a combined 6-for-22 from the field. But Altman focused on the positives in his post-game presser.

“Movement was pretty good, (we) hit our free throws,” said Altman. “We messed up a couple switches which gave them a couple threes, but I thought we did a pretty good job."

Stanford matched up well with Oregon thanks to its strong frontcourt, but Oregon big men N’Faly Dante and Franck Kepnang showed out from the center position. The duo produced a combined 16 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and 6-for-7 from the field.

De’Vion Harmon also contributed his best performance in a Ducks jersey against Stanford. He recorded season-bests in points (21), field goals made (8) and tied his season high in three-point field goals made (3).

California is also coming off a significant win, even if its season is trending in the opposite direction of Oregon’s. The Golden Bears took out Oregon State 63-61 for their first road victory of the season, ending a 10-game losing skid.

Cal-Oregon State ended in wild fashion. Cal guard Jordan Shepherd’s layup attempt was seemingly blocked by Oregon State’s Warith Alatishe, only for goal tending to be called to give Cal the two-point lead with 18 seconds left.

Shepherd has been shouldering the load for the Golden Bears as of late, as senior forward Andre Kelly was ruled out for the season after suffering an ankle injury against USC on Jan. 29.

Even with Kelly, who is second in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage at 60.7%, the Bears have had a hard time scoring the ball all season. They currently rank dead last in the conference for scoring offense averaging 64.1 points a game.

Cal’s win over Oregon State gives the Bears a bit of breathing room from the bottom of the Pac, currently standing at 3-11 in conference affairs. But Cal’s only hope at making the NCAA Tournament is through the Pac-12 Tournament less than a month away.

On the other end, Oregon is currently projected as a 10-seed in the bracket in ESPN reporter Joe Lunardi’s latest “Bracketology.” A good close to the regular season and the Ducks are shoo-ins to go dancing. A bad close, and the Ducks will need some magic in the Pac-12 Tournament just like the Bears.

It seems unlikely though – Altman once again has his Oregon squad in sync as March draws closer. The Ducks will look to continue an impressive close to their regular season against the Bears at home Saturday afternoon.

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