Oregon Basketball: Ducks Take Sole Possession of First Place to Pullman

Feb 13, 2013, Seattle, WA, USA; Oregon Ducks center Tony Woods (55) drives to the basket against the Washington Huskies during the second half at Alaska Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday night was one of those crazy nights in the Pac 12. Two of the better teams in the conference went down, including 9th ranked Arizona. USC also beat Stanford by a point 65-64. So what does this mean for the Ducks? Well the good news is going into Saturday’s game with the Washington State Cougars it won’t be a jumble at the top of the standings. If there is anything that crazy nights can tell us, its that you have to play the game on the court, not on paper and anything can happen on any given night. The Ducks(20-5, 9-3 Pac 12) now have a full game lead in the conference.

Oregon comes off of the win against Washington 68-52 on Wednesday to face off with the Cougars in Pullman Saturday night. Arsalan Kazemi is playing better basketball of late, more than he played against Stanford and Cal a few weeks ago. The Ducks are still without Freshman Dominic Artis. Head Coach Dana Altman has been able to fill his role with Junior Johnathan Loyd who showed some confidence against Washington, scoring 11 points.

Washington State(11-14, 2-10 Pac 12) is currently on a five game losing streak heading into the game. (Saturday, 4pm, Pac 12 Networks). Their last victory was at Oregon State on January 26th. If the Ducks can keep down the turnovers, as they did against Washington, committing only 9, and Loyd continues his solid play, Oregon should come home with a win and be set to faceoff with Stanford and Cal next week at Matthew Knight Arena.

In March Madness Prediction News, Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracketology is out. Oregon is set as a falling 6 seed, playing North Carolina(an 11 seed) in Kansas City. The other teams in the bracket are 3rd seed Kansas and 14 seed Davidson.

The Ducks This Week:

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