Payton Pritchard and the Ducks Take Care of Business Against UT Arlington, 67-47

Before we get into what happened in tonight’s matchup, I want to know if my readers are a fan of the short shorts coming back in style. Lester Quinones was rocking the look for Memphis on Tuesday and three UT Arlington players were wearing them as well tonight. I’m all for it and I think it’s a great fashion statement. The Michigan Fab Five made baggy shorts cool and now it seems like the lame way to wear your uniform today.

Anyways, the #14 Ducks closed out an impressive week with a win over UT Arlington, 67-47. Payton Pritchard led all scorers with 24 points and is the main reason for Oregon’s early success. Dana Altman and company improve to 4-0 to start the season. Obviously, Oregon will be moving up in the AP rankings come Monday due to the win over #13 Memphis but... is there any possible way we can have both the football and basketball programs ranked in the Top 10 nationally? That would be quite a phenomenal accomplishment for the athletic department in Eugene but we will just have to wait and see if that comes true.

• Payton Pritchard is the NCAA active leader with 112 consecutive starts.
• Chris Duarte hurt his knee against Memphis but was still put in the starting lineup. He can be an elite passer on this team.
• Oregon has been having issues with turnovers and it needs to be solved. Pritchard needs to cut down on his own turnover problem.
• Did you know Pritchard has had 37 different teammates in his Oregon career?
• Addison Patterson could be the most electrifying dunker on the team. Another solid night from the freshman (9 points and 3 rebounds).
• Oregon dominated with the points in the paint (14 in the first half) and the Mavericks had no answer.
• Ducks gave up 9 second chance points and 7 offensive rebounds after twenty minutes of play.
• Oregon ended the first half on a four minute scoring drought. That is absolutely not the way you can end a half if you want to compete in a game. The Ducks must find a way to close out every half in a stronger fashion.

• Payton Pritchard moved up to 5th on the Oregon all-time three-pointer list. He was extremely efficient from the floor with 10-16 shooting.
• CJ Walker had a career-high 8 rebounds.
• Oregon shut down any sort of offensive plan the Mavericks had (shot 23.4% from the field). This was the best overall defensive performance from the Ducks so far.
• U of O won the rebounding battle against UT Arlington, 46-36.
• The Mavericks either live or die by the three-point line and they died from it tonight while shooting 6-30 3PT (20%).
• The Ducks were very efficient from the field, not taking many bad looks and shooting 45.8%.
• Anthony Mathis is shooting the lights out as he is 15-22 (72.2%) from beyond the arc on the season. The grad transfer ranks 7th in the nation in that category.

The Ducks now have a good chunk of time off until their next game against Quentin Grimes and the Houston Cougars of the American Athletic Conference.

Next Game - Houston @ #14 Oregon 9:00 PM ET, PAC-12 Network on Friday, November 22

*Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho