Oregon Returns Home to Face Stanford to Begin Home Stand

The Ducks are coming off of a road sweep of the mountain school and are looking for a chance at revenge against the Cardinal.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Feb 10, 2022 5:58 PM EST

The Oregon Ducks will host the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday night to kick off a three-game home stretch. The Pac-12 Tournament kicks off in less than a month from now, and every game is crucial in a tight conference race.

Oregon has already faced off against Stanford back in December, losing 72-69 thanks to a Jaiden Delaire three-pointer as time expired in the Bay Area. But the playing field is completely different now.

Reporter Jon Rothstein’s saying that Dana Altman “aligns Rubik’s Cubes” has been especially true this year. The Ducks fell to 5-5 after their loss to Stanford. They’ve gone 10-2 in their games since then, with one of those losses coming at the hands of reigning champion Baylor.

Just looking at the starting lineup for the Ducks in their first bout with Stanford, you can start to see Altman’s aligning. Senior forward Eric Williams Jr. started in that game and shot a horrendous 1-for-9 from the field and finished with two points.

The Ducks relied heavily on Williams early in the season, using his tall but lean build as the main cog in Altman’s small ball lineup on both sides of the ball. Williams started the season hot, but it was clear that he was being asked too much when shooting performances like in the game against Stanford became more frequent.

Transfer guard Jacob Young came off the bench in the first Ducks-Cardinal meeting, as he took a little bit more time to get acclimated to the offense. Now, it's almost impossible to imagine this year’s team without the show-stopping Young.

Young has started every game since the Stanford loss back in December, and it’s changed the Oregon offense for the better. He’s a human fast-break whenever he gets the ball in transition, and he’s gotten much more comfortable getting to his spots for pull-up jumpers.

In conference games, Young currently ranks second in the Pac-12 in steals with 22 and sixth in points per game at 14.5. So far in the month of February, Young is outdoing himself: 17.5 points per game, two assists per game and 40% shooting from downtown.

Stanford has not been as successful as Oregon in the time since their first meeting, but the Cardinal have certainly found success. They shocked the basketball world on Jan. 11 when they handed undefeated USC its first loss of the season. 16 days later, Stanford upset USC again – this time in Los Angeles.

When Stanford has found success this season, it has been because of its frontcourt. Forwards Spencer Jones, Harrison Ingram and Jaiden Delaire together average 33.2 points per game for the Cardinal in conference matchups.

A sturdy interior has taken down the Ducks on multiple occasions this season. Delaire in particular torched the Ducks for 20 points, while Ingram added 16 points and a trio of three-pointers.

While Oregon has had a better start to 2022 than Stanford, both teams have shown they have the talent and potential to take on the best on the West Coast. Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena will have a big say in how 2022 ends for both squads.

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