Game Notes: Ducks Host Pilots
THE STARTING 5
In-state rivals Portland and Oregon meet for the 60th time Saturday at noon at Matthew Knight Arena (Pac-12 Network).
• 1 – With Oregon's next win, Dana Altman will tie Louisville's Denny Crum for 24th in NCAA Division I career coaching wins (675).
• 2 – Eric Williams Jr. has scored at least 11 points and grabbed at least six rebounds in every game this season. He is the only player in the Pac-12, and one of just 11 nationally, with six games of at least 11 points and six rebounds. After scoring 905 points in two seasons at Duquesne, Williams Jr. is just 10 points away from reaching 1,000 in his college career.
• 3 – Oregon has won 25 consecutive games at Matthew Knight Arena. That's the second-longest home winning streak in program history and is the sixth-longest active home streak in the nation.
• 4 – Eugene Omoruyi, the second-leading scorer in the Pac-12 (19.5 ppg), and Eric Williams Jr. have scored in double figures in every game this season.
• 5 – During Oregon's five-game winning streak, the Ducks are plus 19.2 points in the paint per game (44.4 to 25.2).
• BENCH – Oregon already has three plus-10 rebound games in six contests this season. The Ducks were plus-16 (38-22) on the boards Dec. 4 versus Seton Hall, plus-14 (45-31) Dec. 7 against Eastern Washington and plus-10 (40-30) Dec. 12 at UW.
• BENCH – Dana Altman is one of five active head coaches in NCAA Division I who have posted a winning record for the last 23 consecutive seasons. The other four, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Bill Self and Jim Boeheim, are in the Hall of Fame.
ALTMAN CLOSING IN ON CRUM, MONTGOMERY, 800 WINS
With Oregon's next win, Dana Altman will tie Louisville's Denny Crum for 24th on the NCAA Division I carer coaching wins list. Altman won his 674th game as a Division I head coach Thursday against San Francisco. Crum won 675 games at Louisville from 1971-2001 and guided the Cardinals to two NCAA championships (1980, 1986) with six Final Four appearances. Just ahead of Crum in 23rd is former Stanford and California coach Mike Montgomery (677). Altman is also closing in on 800 career wins as a head coach (all levels). Including 123 junior college wins, Altman currently stands at 797 career wins.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Ducks are 157-20 (.887) all-time at Matthew Knight Arena since the building opened in 2011.
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD AT MKA
The Ducks are 87-4 (.956) all-time in non-conference games at Matthew Knight Arena. The four non-conference teams to defeat Oregon at MKA are Virginia (67-54, Dec. 18, 2011), Mississippi (79-73, Dec. 7, 2014), Boise State (73-70, Dec. 1, 2017) and Texas Southern (89-84, Nov. 26, 2018). UO won 28 non-conference games in a row at MKA between the Virginia and Ole Miss losses.
DUCKS POST SECOND-LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAK IN PROGRAM HISTORY
Coming into the Portland game, Oregon has won 25 straight at Matthew Knight Arena. That's the sixth-longest active streak in the nation, and is the second-longest in program history. Three of Oregon's five longest home winning streaks have come under Dana Altman.
THE 411 ON THE 6-11
Eric Williams Jr. has scored at least 11 points and grabbed at least six rebounds in every game this season. He is the only player in the Pac-12, and one of just 11 nationally, with six games of at least 11 points and six rebounds this season. Williams needs just 10 more points to reach 1,000 in his collegiate career. The junior scored 905 points in two seasons at Duquesne.
OMORUYI AND WILLIAMS SCORING
The Duck two players who redshirted the 2019-20 season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules, Eugene Omoruyi and Eric Williams Jr., have both scored in double figures in every game this season. Omoruyi is second in the Pac-12 in scoring at 19.5 points per game.
DANTE SETS MKA RECORD; DOUBLES UP AT UW
N'Faly Dante set the Matthew Knight Arena field goal percentage record by making all 10 of his field goal attempts Dec. 9 versus Florida A&M. That's one field goal better than the nine-of-nine effort by Texas Southern's Trayvon Reed in the Tigers' 2018 upset of the Ducks. Dante's 10-of-10 night was just one make shy of the all-time UO record (11-of-11) by Bryce Taylor against USC in the 2007 Pac-10 Tournament championship game. Dante scored a career-high 22 points against the Rattlers. The Bamako, Mali, native followed that game with his first career double-double Dec. 12 at Washington with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
ESTRADA ELIGIBLE
With the NCAA granting a blanket waiver for transfers on Dec. 16, Aaron Estrada gained immediate eligibility. The St. Peter's transfer played two minutes Thursday night versus San Francisco.