‘Go in there with confidence’: Oregon men’s basketball takes on No. 6 Arizona in Tucson

Three games remain on the schedule for the Oregon men’s basketball team and while the ultimate goal is finding a way to make the NCAA Tournament later this month, there is a more pressing plan for the Ducks.

The Pac-12 Tournament begins March 13 in Las Vegas. Oregon would prefer to not start play until the next day.

In order to get that first-round bye, the Ducks (19-9, 11-6 Pac-12) need a top-four finish in the regular-season standings. They’re currently in third place — behind Arizona (13-4) and Washington State (13-5), and ahead of Colorado (10-7) — but staying there isn’t going to be easy.

Oregon has a game against the No. 6 Wildcats at 11 a.m. Saturday in Tucson, then play the Buffaloes and Utah at home to end the season next Thursday and Saturday.

The Ducks are 0-3 against those teams this season.

“We’ve got three really tough games but as I told the team, those are three great opportunities,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said Wednesday after Oregon defeated Oregon State at Matthew Knight Arena. “You play for this late in the season, to finish in the top four to try to get a bye, try to make something happen in these three games then try to make something happen in the tournament.”

Tough task awaits Oregon in Tucson

After winning seven straight against the Wildcats from 2018-2021, the Ducks have lost three of the last four matchups, including on Jan. 27 in Matthew Knight Arena when Arizona recorded an opening-tip-to-final-buzzer victory, 87-78.

Oregon had no defense for Arizona guard Caleb Love that afternoon, as the senior guard scored a season-high 36 on 12-of-18 shooting from the field, 5-for-8 from 3-point range, and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

The Wildcats shot 49% as a team and outrebounded the Ducks by one — 34-33.

“They’ve got great size so we’re really going to have to rebound the ball,” Altman said. “We let Love just get going here and they got off to a fast start and we never did catch them. They scored too many points and we gave up too many easy ones.”

The Wildcats lead the conference with an average attendance of 12,008 and were undefeated at McKale Center through the first 13 home games of this season until losing to Washington State on Feb. 22.

However, under Altman, the Ducks are 6-6 in Tucson.

“It’s always a challenge down there but we’ve had a little success down there,” Altman said. “But you can’t let the crowd get into it. You can’t give up 80, 90 points — and they’re scoring like crazy at home because they get the crowd going and they start running up and down and we don’t necessarily want to do that.”

Arizona has won eight of its last nine and are averaging 90.1 points during that stretch. The one loss came when Washington State held the Wildcats to 71.

“Like coach always says, ‘Swing away,’” Oregon forward Kwame Evans Jr. said. “So we have to go in there with the mindset to swing away. We have to knock them off first. We just have to go in there with confidence, not worry about the crowd, play our game, execute offense, get stops on defense.”

Oregon (19-9, 11-6 Pac-12) vs. No. 6 Arizona (22-6, 13-4)

Time/date: 11 a.m., Saturday

Site: McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.

TV: ESPN. Radio: KUJZ-FM (95.3).

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.