The Oregon Ducks return home on Thursday after a few games in Arizona this past week. Despite a more favorable venue, the competition doesn’t get any easier with the Washington Huskies coming to town.
The Huskies are one of the top teams in the Pac-12 and while that doesn’t say much for their position against the rest of the college basketball world, they’re in a much better position than the Ducks who sorely miss their superstar center and find themselves very vulnerable inside the paint at the moment.
Even on the road, the Huskies should be able to get the win in this one, but can the Ducks put up a stand on a familiar floor or will Washington continue with its winning ways in a week Pac-12?
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Washington Huskies vs. Oregon Ducks
Date and Time: Thursday, January 24, 2019, 9 p.m. ET
Location: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon
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Huskies vs. Ducks TV Coverage: FS1
Washington took some losses in a few difficult non-conference matchups early, but the Huskies have been undefeated so far in conference play and have won seven in a row.
Like most teams, the Huskies are much better at home. They’re 10-0 in Seattle, but 4-4 away, including 2-2 in true road games. Most recently, however, the team topped Colorado in Boulder 77-70. From there, they won against both Stanford and California at home.
The Pac-12 is hardly an elite conference in college hoops this year. Most teams in the conference are wildly flawed, but Washington is amongst the best of the weak class.
In their latest game, the Huskies tore California apart, 71-52. Washington is a very strong defensive team. They shot well enough against the Bears, but really won this game on the glass and defensively, particularly inside.
The team notched 40 rebounds and a staggering 11 blocks in the game. Matisse Thybulle has five blocks and was one of five players with at least 11 points. Hamier Wright added three blocks while Noah Dickerson had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, most coming on the defensive end of the floor.
The rebounding number was big for this team. The Huskies are actually guard heavy. Wright and Sam Timmins are good defensive role players inside, but Thybulle is the team leader in blocks as he does well defending inside and outside.
This team is solid offensively, they’re shooting nearly 46-percent from the floor and over 34-percent outside. The backcourt of Jaylen Nowell and David Crisp led the way in scoring though Dickerson is a strong scorer inside.
On the other side of this matchup, the Ducks aren’t the same team they could—or should—be.
Oregon is coming off a difficult loss to Arizona State and has scored a combined 123 points in his last two games, putting up just 59 against Arizona in a win and 64 in a 14-point loss to the Sun Devils.
The Ducks are just 2-3 in conference and a meager 11-7 overall though they’re 8-3 at home, but just 1-2 there against the Pac-12.
Oregon’s offense isn’t great. The team has 72 PPG and is shooting just 44.2-percent from the floor as a team. Against the Sun Devils, the Ducks sank only a third of their shots from the floor though they did nail 12-of-13 free throws.
In that game, Payton Pritchard led the team with 20-points. He shot well from the perimeter, but struggled inside. Louis King and Paul White both ended with double-digit points and at least a pair of sunk shots outside.
Pritchard is the team’s leading scorer with Bol Bol out for the season. The team desperately misses the big man inside who through nine games had 21 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 2.7 BPG. Pritchard is now tops on the team with 11.9 PPG with White and King the only other two active scorers in the double-digits.
White and King are forwards, but aren’t the type to consistently push towards the basket and dominate the paint. Bol Bol was that player and now Kenny Wooten is coming back from injury he’s the one most likely to take that roll. Of course, unlike Bol Bol, Wooten isn’t a prolific scorer, but he can serve as a presence inside on offense and—especially—defense.
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Without anyone able to push towards the basket, the Ducks will need their deep shots to sink in this one. They have a pretty good outside shooting team, but the deep shots can be hard to rely on and less consistent than those up close.
This is particularly true against a team like Washington that’s got a ton of blocks, even on the outside.
Watch if the Ducks are able to find open shots outside early and see if Oregon is able to get a hot hand or two to rely on outside the arc. If so, they may be able to make this a tough one for Washington.
Watch the early results and see if the Ducks can up their play against a team like Washington. From there, be sure to take advantage of the plethora of live betting opportunities at BookMaker.eu.
Key Player
The Huskies are the better team and they have a huge advantage inside. Wooten is the key to minimizing that.
Since Bol Bol went down, the Ducks have been in a tailspin and understandably so. He was the team’s primary threat inside. It’s hard to lose a likely top-5 NBA draft pick and survive.
In any case, Wooten’s return is significant. He hasn’t done much in the way of scoring in his two games back, shooting just four total shoots from the floor and combining for five points in 39 combined minutes, but he has shown well on the glass with 13 rebounds. He even added black and an assist in the win over Arizona.
This team needs a presence inside and it basically comes down to Wooten. No pressure.
Victory Bailey Jr. is another key player. He had four straight games scoring in the double digits before he put up a goose egg against Arizona State, missing in all nine shots. He’s usually a solid shooter, especially outside, and needs to bounce back.
Huskies vs. Ducks Live Betting
Pritchard, White and King may all manage a few shots and some points, but the Ducks lack the star power without Bol Bol and the depth around the few quality players they still have.
Look for a big game out of Dickerson inside with little to stop him on Oregon’s side of the floor. Meanwhile, the backcourt of Nowell, Crips and Thybulle could all put up strong numbers as well.
Regardless of venue, Washington is much better equipped in this one head-to-head. They’ll win on the glass and pose a significant problem for Oregon shooters given their ability to block.
Check out all of the live betting at BookMaker.eu for Thursday’s college basketball action.
NCAA Basketball Score Prediction: Washington 76, Iowa 61
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