Oregon Basketball kicked off the college basketball season with a win on Monday Night to bring in the Tony Stubblefield era. While the Ducks were expected to beat Montana, the team was certainly tested throughout the game and reacted well to each challenge that was thrown their way. Beating the Montana Grizzlies won't answer a ton of questions, but it did provide some reasons for optimism and some concerns that will need to be fixed.
3 overwhelming positives from Oregon's season opener
Spreading the wealth
The Ducks didn't have one player light up the scoreboard, as it was far more of a team effort in the win. Taylor Bol Bowen was the lone starter to finish with less than 10 points, but with Wei Lin scoring 10 off the bench, the Ducks got 5 players into double figures. Being a well-rounded offense with a ton of options will only help, as it makes it harder for teams to defend when they aren't focused on taking one scorer away.
Taking efficient shots
At times in this game, Oregon looked like the Showtime Lakers, launching lobs and swinging passes around the court to find wide-open looks at the rim. The Ducks finished the game with 54 points in the paint, and it led to Oregon making 60% of their shots compared to Montana's 38%. It won't always be that easy, but this looks to be a team determined to find efficient shots.
Adjustments after timeouts
With a new head coach, it's always interesting to see how they adjust in games, and how the players take those adjustments. Several times in this game, Montana started to jump on the Ducks, and when Tony Stubblefield was able to gather his team, they came out of the break in dominant fashion. Tougher competition may give the Ducks a tougher time, but any switch Stubblefield flipped on Monday Night worked.
3 concerns leaving the season opener
Lack of three point shooting
The modern game of basketball is often decided by which team can knock down the most three-pointers, and in the opener, Oregon didn't do much to suggest that was a priority. The Ducks may have viewed attacking the paint as their best path to victory given their size advantage, but attempting just 11 three-pointers was still surprising. After connecting on 45% of those attempts, Oregon should have plenty of reason to make the three-point shot a bigger part of its offensive game plan moving forward.
Three-point defense
Montana kept this game close and led at times in part due to the fact that they got red hot from 3-point range. The Grizzlies knocked down their first 4 3-point attempts, but finished just 13-30 from deep, missing some wide open looks at times. Tony Stubblefield shared after the game that he wished the team defended the perimeter better, and it'll certainly be a focus moving forward.
Struggles at the free throw line
When Big Ten play begins and the games get tougher, teams will make you regret struggling at the free-throw line. The biggest negative leaving the win over Montana may be the fact that the Ducks went just 12-for-19 (63%) at the charity stripe. It wasn't just Oregon's bigs missing free throws, but a group effort, and the staff will need to drill down on the team in practice to improve the mark.
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