Oregon Basketball Puts 20 Game Home Winning Streak On The Line vs Colorado

Jan, 26, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks forward E.J. Singler (25) shoots the ball against the Washington Huskies at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

The Oregon Basketball team has had a rough week and a half. The Ducks dropped in the polls from the Top 10, to 19th after a road trip that included two losses, to Stanford and Cal. They would also like to put out of their minds that they have two injured players in Johnathan Lloyd(thumb) and Dominic Artis(foot). They would probably prefer the season ended before last week and we were onto March Madness early. However, Dana Altman and the Ducks are just past the halfway point of the Pac 12 season and find themselves tied with Arizona for the top spot in the Pac 12 headed into the game at Matthew Knight Arena vs the Colorado Buffs(14-7, 4-5 Pac-12)

"“Every season, there’s a series of ups and downs. You’re judged by how you bounce back from the downs”Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman"

Oregon will have to find someone to step up to replace Artis, it is likely that Lloyd will be a go for tonight since he has been practicing with the team. The Ducks without Artis in the lineup are averaging over 21 turnovers per game. (It was unclear at the time of this report if Artis would play vs Colorado.)

Adam Jude from the Oregonian shared some fascinating stats via his Twitter account:

"Oregon’s 16.1 turnovers per game is by far the worst in the Pac-12 … and ranks 321st out of 345 D-I teams. No Pac-10/Pac-12 team has won the conference title in at least the past 12 seasons while leading the league in turnovers. In their past three games, the Ducks have more turnovers (65) than field goals made (64) and more than twice as many assists (30)."

The current 20 game winning streak at Matthew Knight arena is good for third best in school history. With the injuries, Colorado has some other thoughts in mind for the game. Oregon needs to cut down on the turnovers and Senior EJ Singler needs to get back on track after last weeks performance as he was held scoreless in the first half against Stanford.

Oregon goes for 21 on Thursday Night(5pm on ESPNU), but they will need to be more disciplined around the basket to get it.

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Justin Phillips is Sports Reporter for Newsradio 1120 KPNW in Eugene, Oregon