Game Notes: Ducks at USC
Oregon and No. 17 USC - two teams tied at the top of the Pac-12 in the loss column - meet Monday at 6 p.m. in Los Angeles (FS1) in a rescheduled game that was initially slated for Jan. 30.
THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Saturday against Utah, Oregon secured its 11th consecutive winning season, a program first. The win will also assured Dana Altman of his 24th consecutive winning season as a head coach; an active streak shared by only by Altman and four Hall of Famers: Jim Boeheim, Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self and Tom Izzo.
• 3 – Chris Duarte is one of just three players in the nation averaging at least 17.0 points and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 50 percent from the field, and is the only major conference player putting up those numbers.
• 4 – Eugene Omoruyi has scored in double figures in 17-of-18 games this season. He is fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 17.2 points per game.
• 5 – Oregon's top five scorers – Chris Duarte, Eugene Omoruyi, Will Richardson, LJ Figueroa and Eric Williams Jr. – have all played in the same game two times this season, Feb. 11 at Arizona State and Saturday against Utah.
• BENCH – Under Dana Altman, Oregon has won nearly 90 percent of its games (187-21) when holding opponents below 70 points.
• BENCH – With Eugene Omoruyi scoring his 1,000th point as a collegian Feb. 13 at Arizona, Oregon is now just one of two schools nationally with four 1,000-point scorers on the roster. Ole Miss is the other.
OREGON SETS SCHOOL MARK WITH 11TH STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON
The Ducks' win against Utah on Saturday guaranteed Oregon its 11th consecutive winning season, a program first. The previous best was 10 winning seasons in a row over the decade between 1923-32, under coaches William Reinhart and George Bohler. Oregon now has 273 wins over the last 11 seasons, two shy of the school record (275) over that span.
ALTMAN RECORDS 24TH CONSECUTIVE WINNING SEASON
Dana Altman now has 24 consecutive winning seasons as a head coach. He is currently one of five active head coaches in NCAA Division I who have posted a winning record for 24 consecutive seasons (the other four are in the Hall of Fame). For Altman, that streak runs from the 1997-98 season through 2020-21, and covers his final 13 seasons at Creighton and his first 11 in Eugene.
Active 23-plus Consecutive Winning Seasons as a Head Coach
1. 44 *Jim Boeheim - Syracuse, 1976-77 – 2019-20
2. 37 *Mike Krzyzewski - Duke, 1983-84 – 2019-20+
3. 26 *Bill Self - Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, Kansas, 1995-96 – 2020-21
4. 24 *Tom Izzo - Michigan State, 1996-97 – 2019-20
5. 24 Dana Altman - Creighton, Oregon, 1997-98 – 2020-21
* member of the Hall of Fame
+ During the '94-95 season, Krzyzewski coached the team to a 9-3 record before taking a leave of absence to recover from back surgery.
FOUR 1,000 POINT SCORERS ON THE ROSTER
Feb. 13 at Arizona, Eugene Omoruyi became the fourth current Duck to have scored 1,000 points in college. Two other teammates reached that milestone this year - Eric Williams Jr. Dec. 31 against California and LJ Figueroa Dec. 19 versus Portland. Amauri Hardy came into the year with 1,000 points scored while playing for UNLV. Oregon and Ole Miss are the only two programs in the country with four active 1,000-point scorers.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
Oregon leads the Pac-12 in steals per game (7.6) and has clamped down on the defensive end in the last couple of weeks. The Ducks recently held three straight opponents to below 40 percent shooting from the field. Arizona State shot 33.3 percent (Feb. 11), Arizona was at 38.6 percent (Feb 13) and Colorado came in at 33.4 percent (Feb.18). Overall the Ducks have held six opponent below 40 percent this season.
REPUBLIC OF DUARTE
Chris Duarte had his highlight moment Feb. 13 at Arizona, hitting the game-winning three-pointer with :17 remaining. Duarte is one three Division I players nationally averaging at least 17.0 points and 2.0 steals per game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. The other two are DeVante Jones of Coastal Carolina and Peter Kiss of Bryant. Between Dec. 19 and Jan. 9, the Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate had a five-game stretch where he averaged 23.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while hitting 57.7 percent from the field (41-of-71) and 50 percent from three-point range (19-of-38). He has scored in double figures in 13 straight games.
OMORUYI DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING
Senior forward Eugene Omoruyi is the only Duck to start all 18 games this season and has scored in double figures in 17 of those 18 contests. Recently, he had 21 points with seven rebounds Feb. 4 against Washington State; 25 points and three steals Feb. 6 versus Washington; his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds Feb. 11 at Arizona State; 18 points Feb. 13 at Arizona; 13 points and a career-high five steals Feb. 18 against Colorado. Omoruyi was nearly unstoppable in the paint Dec. 31 versus California, making nine-of-10 field goal attempts in the lane, finishing with 26 points and a career-high five steals. He had 15 points and a season-high five assists Jan. 2 against Stanford and 18 points Jan. 7 at Colorado. He has been Oregon's leading scorer 10 times.
DUARTE NAMED TO JERRY WEST SHOOTING GUARD OF THE YEAR TOP 10 LIST
Senior guard Chris Duarte was named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Top 10 list by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the only Pac-12 player among the Jerry West Award final 10. Duarte is sixth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 17.1 points per game and leads the league in both steals at 2.1 per game and three-pointers made at 2.6 per game. He is ranked among the Pac-12's top 10 in seven different statistical categories. Duarte is also 28th nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.423).