Washington basketball has some momentum after taking down Oregon State on Thursday, can they keep it up?
After winning their first game in Matthew Knight Arena last season, Washington basketball fell at the hands of the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Tournament championship last season. And is there any sweeter way for Mike Hopkins and his squad to get revenge on their archrival by adding insult to injury and getting a big win over the Ducks at home today? Oregon, who is currently ranked #8 in the country, is coming off a stunning loss at the hands of the Washington State Cougars on Thursday night.
The Ducks are lead in scoring and in energy by senior guard Payton Pritchard who’s currently averaging 19.4 points per game. He is shooting 40.2% behind the three-point line, and is averaging 5.9 assists per game, which is tops on the team.
Junior guard Chris Duarte is second on the Ducks in scoring, currently averaging 13.1 points per game. Oregon has three players that are averaging double digits, the third is sophomore guard Will Richardson, who provides a boost off the bench at 10.3 points per game.
Senior forward Shakur Juiston is the team’s leading rebounder, currently at 6.3 boards per game. He’s probably going to draw the tough task of guarding Isaiah Stewart, who has been clearly the focus of opposing game plans over the past few weeks.
Oregon likes to play their starters a lot, so if the Huskies can wear them down and play with the same energy they did on Thursday night against the Beavers, the Ducks could be in for a long day.
Hopkins stated after the Oregon State game that he wanted Jaden McDaniels healthy for this matchup, so we should see his return to the starting lineup today. This is going to be another tough test for the Huskies in an already challenging schedule. Are they up to the task?