Tipoff: 7:00pm, TV (Comcast SportsNet NW), Radio, Satellite, Internet (Live Audio/Video & Stats)
Who knows, maybe a little road trip can get these guys back into the swing of things. Nothing like taking a trip to the friendly confines of Haas Pavilion and Berkley, California to shake a slumping team back into the focus and intensity needed to win a conference basketball game; at least I hope so. I think it goes without saying that Oregon is going to have to step up their play if they plan on hanging tough with Cal, much less hope of starting off their road trip weekend with a win.
Jerome Randle is Cal's biggest threat. Don't let his 5'10" frame fool you. Randle is a scoring threat from anywhere on the floor. He just dropped 39 on WSU last week and is averaging nearly 20 points per game. Hopefully Ernie decides to put someone other than Porter on him to try and slow him down and make someone else beat them. Cal is a very senior laden team with their four top players in minutes being all seniors.
Cal plays a pretty up tempo game which should help Oregon, considering the number of slow down teams they have played lately. Unfortunately, for Cal they are not a very deep team. Jorge Gutierrez is still out and outside of their top four seniors none of them average more than 6 points per game.
Keys to the Game
Start off quickly. Oregon has fallen into some holes early in their last couple of games which has taken them out of the offense Dunlap would like them to play and caused them to force more shots to try and get back into it. A quick start should allow them to continue to pound it down low to Dunigan and open bigger holes for Armstead, Longmire and Williams to get into the lane.
Shots in the paint. With Cal not being a very deep team either driving to the hoop or pounding it down low to Dunigan should help loosen up Cal's defense and get Oregon either some higher percentage shots or free throws.
Make someone else beat you. If, and that's a big if, Oregon can contain Randle and make someone else beat them, they should be in pretty good shape. This is going to be a very tough game for Oregon to win but limiting Randle's success will go a long way in helping that.
Stats
Since I get to do the preview I thought I would add some stats for us to be able to look at and talk about regarding the teams and it's players.
California
Oregon
-Go Ducks!