The two nonconference games that stick out on the Oregon?s men?s basketball schedule come next week with a trip to the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, where the Ducks face No. 23 Michigan and either No. 12 Villanova or No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth on back-to-back days.
There is a lesser-known regional round to the tournament that kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight when Oregon faces Detroit at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks also host Toledo on Friday as part of the event.
?We?ve got a tough week with those two home games,? Oregon coach Dana Altman said. ?Toledo is favored to win the MAC, they won 27 games last year and have four starters back. Detroit is an experienced team.?
The Titans, who opened the season with a 77-54 win against Rochester, return 75 percent of their scoring from last year when they went 13-19. Juwon Howard Jr., a 6-foot-5 senior forward, was an all-Horizon League selection after averaging 18.3 points and 5.3 rebounds last season. Guard Jarod Williams was an all-freshman selection after averaging 7.7 points and 2.0 assists
?We?re going to have a much tougher test Monday,? Altman said after Oregon opened the season with a 107-65 win against Coppin State. ?We?ve got four games in 10 days and obviously Michigan and Villanova or VCU will be a great challenge. We will find out a lot more about ourselves here in the next 10 days.?
That does not leave much practice time for the Ducks, who return three players from last year and added six newcomers, although junior center Michael Chandler has yet to practice because of a knee injury.
?It gives the new guys experience on how fast games come and how focused you have to be,? said senior guard Joseph Young, who had 32 points, eight assists and five rebounds against Coppin State. ?It is getting experience playing every other day like how we play in a tournament.?
Young has been joined by a couple freshmen in the backcourt. Ahmaad Rorie got the start against Coppin State and had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Casey Benson came off the bench to add 13 points, three assists and three steals.
?Casey really came in and gave us some good minutes,? Altman said. ?He moved the ball well and had three assists with no turnovers. He hit a couple nice three-pointers, I thought he did a good job. Ahmaad gave us good minutes. He and Casey are both doing a good job talking on defense. Those freshmen guards have to do that for us.?
Oregon fell behind early by nine points against Coppin State before scoring 28 straight points late in the first half to blow out the Eagles.
?We?re going to have to play through some ups and downs,? Altman said. ?Our teams have always fought pretty hard when we got down and this group is going to have to do that. We are a young team so we are going to go through stretches where things don?t click for us. We have to grind games out, find ways to get stops. That will be important for us all year.?
Oregon starters
Dwayne Benjamin, 6-7, Jr. (3.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
Dillon Brooks, 6-6, Fr. (14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
Elgin Cook, 6-6, Jr. (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Ahmaad Rorie, 6-1, Fr. (10.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
Joseph Young, 6-2, Sr. (32.0 ppg, 8.0 apg)
Detroit starters
Anton Wilson 6-5, Jr. (20.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Juwon Howard Jr. 6-5, Sr. (16.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
Brandan Kearney 6-6, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
Matthew Grant 6-0, So. (4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
Patrick Ackerman 6-10, Jr. (4.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg)
There is a lesser-known regional round to the tournament that kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight when Oregon faces Detroit at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks also host Toledo on Friday as part of the event.
?We?ve got a tough week with those two home games,? Oregon coach Dana Altman said. ?Toledo is favored to win the MAC, they won 27 games last year and have four starters back. Detroit is an experienced team.?
The Titans, who opened the season with a 77-54 win against Rochester, return 75 percent of their scoring from last year when they went 13-19. Juwon Howard Jr., a 6-foot-5 senior forward, was an all-Horizon League selection after averaging 18.3 points and 5.3 rebounds last season. Guard Jarod Williams was an all-freshman selection after averaging 7.7 points and 2.0 assists
?We?re going to have a much tougher test Monday,? Altman said after Oregon opened the season with a 107-65 win against Coppin State. ?We?ve got four games in 10 days and obviously Michigan and Villanova or VCU will be a great challenge. We will find out a lot more about ourselves here in the next 10 days.?
That does not leave much practice time for the Ducks, who return three players from last year and added six newcomers, although junior center Michael Chandler has yet to practice because of a knee injury.
?It gives the new guys experience on how fast games come and how focused you have to be,? said senior guard Joseph Young, who had 32 points, eight assists and five rebounds against Coppin State. ?It is getting experience playing every other day like how we play in a tournament.?
Young has been joined by a couple freshmen in the backcourt. Ahmaad Rorie got the start against Coppin State and had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Casey Benson came off the bench to add 13 points, three assists and three steals.
?Casey really came in and gave us some good minutes,? Altman said. ?He moved the ball well and had three assists with no turnovers. He hit a couple nice three-pointers, I thought he did a good job. Ahmaad gave us good minutes. He and Casey are both doing a good job talking on defense. Those freshmen guards have to do that for us.?
Oregon fell behind early by nine points against Coppin State before scoring 28 straight points late in the first half to blow out the Eagles.
?We?re going to have to play through some ups and downs,? Altman said. ?Our teams have always fought pretty hard when we got down and this group is going to have to do that. We are a young team so we are going to go through stretches where things don?t click for us. We have to grind games out, find ways to get stops. That will be important for us all year.?
Oregon starters
Dwayne Benjamin, 6-7, Jr. (3.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
Dillon Brooks, 6-6, Fr. (14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
Elgin Cook, 6-6, Jr. (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Ahmaad Rorie, 6-1, Fr. (10.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
Joseph Young, 6-2, Sr. (32.0 ppg, 8.0 apg)
Detroit starters
Anton Wilson 6-5, Jr. (20.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Juwon Howard Jr. 6-5, Sr. (16.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
Brandan Kearney 6-6, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
Matthew Grant 6-0, So. (4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
Patrick Ackerman 6-10, Jr. (4.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg)
