Oregon Ducks Will Find Identity vs Washington State Cougars

The Oregon Ducks have won four of their last five games and their identity is becoming more clear as they face Washington State on Sunday.

Payton Pritchard has talked the talk and walked the walk over the last few weeks. Following a rough loss a few weeks ago against the USC Trojans at Matthew Knight Arena, Pritchard talked about this team needing to find their footing and go on a run. Head Coach Dana Altman preferred to take the one game at a time approach. Pritchard was a key player in a 3 point win over UCLA hitting free throws in the final minutes.

The Oregon Ducks took care of Washington on Friday and Pritchard played a big role with assists to Freshman Kenny Wooten who had several big plays on Offense and had 7 blocks on Defense, his career and season high.

Oregon showed vast improvement on Defense holding Washington to just 40 points on Friday night. Oregon had 42 deflections thanks in part to Kenny Wooten. Troy Brown pushed the Offense with a career-high 21 points. The Freshman led the way the entire game and Oregon did not trail for over 35 minutes maintaining the lead throughout.

It was as close to a complete game that Oregon has played in the Pac-12 this season.

The Oregon Ducks are in a key position right now. They face teams ahead of them in the Standings in six of the seven games remaining in the regular season entering Sunday. Washington State has one Pac-12 win. The Cougars lost on Thursday by 32 points to Oregon State. Head Coach Ernie Kent will clearly need a better effort in Eugene and would like nothing more than to knock off the Ducks.

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Washington State has lost six straight Pac-12 games and has yet to win on the road at 0-8. The Cougars have not won in Eugene since 2009. Oregon has won the last seven meetings. Despite their struggles, WSU leads the Pac-12 from downtown.

The Cougars average 11 three-pointers per game. The Oregon Ducks started the Pac-12 season as one of the top teams in Defending shots from distance and will need pressure on Sunday. Carter Scaggs is hitting at a 45 percent clip from three-point range this season.

Washington State and Washington are similar with comeback stories this season. The Cougars have had five comebacks for wins this season. The Oregon Ducks have picked up experience and chemistry over the last three months, at times looking good, others – not so good.

While the identity of this Oregon Ducks squad is still being sorted out they could go a long way with a win on Sunday against Washington State.

Next: Oregon Women Travel To Washington State

The Oregon Ducks and Washington State Cougars tip off at 5 pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.