Oregon Basketball: With an Eye on the Pac 12 Title, Ducks Can’t Look Past Colorado

Wednesday night was another good example of why they play the games in College Basketball. Five of the Top 25 teams went down.

Oregon(23-6, 12-4 Pac 12) has had a week to prepare for the road trip that closes the regular season. Thursday night the Ducks head to Colorado(19-9, 9-7 Pac 12). Oregon had problems shooting the ball in the last game against the Buffaloes, shooting for under 30 percent for the game back on February 8th . The loss also snapped the Ducks 20 game home winning streak dating back to last season. It also was the final game of a three game losing streak.

"“It’s time to win a prize. You do all these things, you practice so hard, right now is just the time to get it done. We talk about this being championship time. we have a really good chance and we feel like we gave one away easy to Colorado when we played here and we’re going to go and get it back.” –Arsalan Kazemi"

Feb, 9, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks forward Arsalan Kazemi (14)                           Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Since that game Oregon has turned things around. They have won 5 of 6, including road wins against Washington and Washington State. Oregon is now ranked #19 in the country and welcomed back Freshman Dominic Artis to the lineup vs Oregon State last week in an 85-75 win on an emotional Senior Night. Freshman Damyean Dotson injured his hip after falling hard to the floor in the first half against Oregon State last week. He has practiced this week with no signs from the injury.

Colorado has won 4 of 6 since they beat the Ducks in Eugene on February 8th, including a loss to Arizona State in Overtime 63-62. The Buffaloes are 14-1 at Home this season, their only loss against UCLA on January 12th 78-75. Their most recent road outing last Saturday against Cal didn’t go so well and resulted in a loss 62-46. The Buffaloes shot 23 percent from the field, their lowest output of the season.

"“It’ll be a tough game for us. You look at their numbers, unbelievable difference in the road and home stats so we are going to have to play a lot better than we did here.  We missed a lot of shots inside. We had some bad turnovers and we’re going to have to play better all around.” –Dana Altman"

There are other teams that would like to factor into the Pac 12 Title Race before Thursday’s game. When the time comes the Ducks need to take care of the ball, rebound, and if they can get some fast breaks with Artis on the floor the rest should take care of itself on Thursday night(6pm, ESPN2). If Oregon can take care of business this weekend they will get the top seed in the Pac 12 Tournament next week, which includes a first round ‘bye’. With several Top 25 Teams going down Wednesday Night, Oregon can make a nice move up the polls if they continue to win.

The Ducks travel to Utah(11-17, 3-13 Pac 12) to close out the regular season on Saturday morning(11:30 tip, Pac 12 Network).

Oregon Ducks This Week:

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