By Ryan Oppenheimer
EUGENE, Ore. — After a comeback win over California, the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team (13-3, 5-0 PAC-12) travel for a pair of road games — Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Colorado (12-5, 3-3 PAC-12) and Sunday at 12 p.m. against Utah (12-5, 3-3 PAC-12).
With such a young roster and coming off of a disappointing 2022-23 campaign, the Ducks weren’t thought to be true threats going into the season. PAC-12 media projected them to finish fourth in the conference. But sure enough, Dana Altman has his squad atop the PAC-12 standings in mid-January, ahead of favorites like fourth-place Arizona, eight-place UCLA and 11th-place USC.
Moreover, the youth hasn’t been an issue because the freshmen have looked like veterans. Jackson Shelstad is doing things even Payton Pritchard wasn’t doing in his first season with the Ducks, such as leading the team in scoring average and flirting with 50/40/90 shooting splits. Kwame Evans Jr. hasn’t been on the same level of superstardom, but he’s started all 16 games and scored nine points per game while hauling in more total rebounds than any other Duck. While he’s more of a natural wing, he did a fine job rotating into the center spot while N’Faly Dante and Nate Bittle missed extended time. Mookie Cook…well, he just needs some more time to ramp up after his injury recovery.
With Dante already back and Bittle’s return imminent, the Ducks have to be feeling good heading into the road trip. However, it won’t be easy to protect their six-game win streak and undefeated conference record against two teams that haven’t lost on their home court yet.
Colorado put a three-game skid to an end last Saturday with a win over USC. Tad Boyle’s team plays an efficient brand of basketball, ranking ninth in the nation with a .501 field goal percentage. The Buffs are very selective with their three-point attempts, taking only 17.1 a game and making them at a 39% rate. KJ Simpson has been arguably the best player in the conference so far, scoring 19.3 a night on 30-of-65 from deep and recording twice as many assists as turnovers — 72 to 36. Tristan da Silva and Cody Williams have been superb sidekicks to Simpson.
Like the Buffaloes, the Runnin’ Utes have also gone 1-3 in their last four coming off of Sunday’s loss at Stanford. Their offense and defense run through their seven-footer Branden Carlson, who puts up 17.2 points per game on 1.6 triples while also blocking 1.6 shots per game. Rollie Worster has been a reliable decision-maker from the point guard position with a 2.93 assist-turnover ratio. They don’t shoot many free throws themselves, but they are one of the best teams at defending without fouling, ranking 18th nationally with a 24.4% defensive free throw rate.
Oregon fans have gotten accustomed to the Ducks’ usual pattern of starting slow and finishing strong. However, their strong performance early this season is a pleasant surprise, and the upcoming road trip provides an opportunity for them to prove they can sustain their success. With the current six-game surge, I see the team slightly regressing to the mean despite putting up a valiant fight in both contests. They’ll likely get it done against Colorado, but the balance and experience of the Utes is an advantage in what should be a tight game.
Prediction: Oregon defeats Colorado 79-72, Utah defeats Oregon 72-68