Altman's New Lineup Propels Fast Start

Eugene -- Oregon jumped out to a fast 13-3 lead as Dana Altman’s new starting lineup proved to buck the trend of the Ducks woeful starts. The Ducks never trailed in the game and beat Delaware State 83-70. Joseph Young hit his first four three-pointers and helped the ducks shoot almost 50 percent from beyond the arc. Young finished the game with a team high 23 points. Casey Benson continues to do the little things and led the team with seven assists. The Ducks main defensive concern was Delaware State guard Amere May. May, coming off a night when he scored 48 points, was held to only 16 points.

"Everybody that guarded him did a tremendous job on him," said Benson. "Obviously he came in having 48 the last game. We knew he could score the basketball."

Benson wasn’t the only freshman who had an impact; Jordan Bell had another great defensive game as he recorded four blocks to go along with his four rebounds. Bell is now two blocks away from entering Oregon's single-season top five in blocked shots. It wasn’t just Bell’s defense that impacted the game as he had an emphatic slam that brought the crowd to their feet as Bell finished the game with nine points.

Benson said that the dunk "was pretty impressive. It got the crowd into it, it was a big play. I mean they kind of hit some shots, for him to make that play was awesome."

It wasn’t all good for the Ducks, head coach Dana Altman made it very obvious after the game that he expects more from his reserves.

"We jumped out to a great start. Our bench had a hard time finishing plays, we were 0 for 13 off the bench for the first half," Altman said.

Elgin Cook finished the day with 10 points and led the team with 10 rebounds. Michael Chandler continued to get his feet wet and played 16 minutes, finishing with five points and four rebounds. Duck fans should expect to see Chandler play the same amount of minutes the next few games until he shakes off the rust.

The Ducks will host UC Santa Barbra on Monday night. It will be the last game before the holidays and it will be a challenge for this Oregon team.

"They got a real good post player, he’s supposed to be a pro so we just got to get ready for that," said freshman guard Ahmaad Rorie.

The game will tip-off at 6 p.m. and can be viewed on the Pac-12 Networks.