Return of the Mahuna: 10-0 Ducks gear up for BYU

by DSH basketball columnist Brian Mahuna

Let me first start off with an apology to all of the DSH readers. I’ve had some… Technical difficulties… since right before the Illinois game and havent been able to really use my computer up until now. I never realized how much I relied on this dinosaur until I wasn’t able to anymore. But, it’s fixed (for now) and Here we are again!

So, where do we begin? The Ducks are 10-0. They have big name victories against Georgetown, Illinois and Ole Miss, with another talented school coming into town this Saturday in BYU. The Illinois game was a statement game in a few different ways for the the Ducks. First, they battled against a tough Big 10 team, arguably the deepest conference in the country. Second, Illinois is one of the best defensive teams in the country.

Swinging Duck: Richard Amardi swoops to the hoop versus Cal-Irvine last week at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks face a bigger challenge Saturday against BYU.

In the current season, with the new hand checking rules, an insane amount of teams are averaging over 80 points a game. The Ducks are one of them, literally second in the entire nation in points per game at just below 90. The highest scoring output the Illini had allowed in their young season was 67 in their only loss. And when the Ducks played them in the Moda Center in Portland, 71 points was enough. Third, the Ducks showed that they can finish games, even when they’re down. Illinois jumped out to a double digit lead in the second half but the Duck battled and battled, chipping away at the lead with stops, scores, and more stops. Eventually Illinois surrendered the lead to the Ducks and thanks to Johnathan Loyd, never got it back.

I think the only thing more anticipated than the Illinois game, was after the Illinois game. The main reason being it marked the end of the 9 game suspension of two key Oregon Players Dominic Artis and Ben Carter. With the suspensions finished, big questions were left unanswered in the days leading up to the UC Irvine game.

How would Coach Altman incorporate these two players into a team that was clearly rolling?

Does Artis take over the starting Job from Loyd who up to that point was playing at an All-Conference Level?

Who’s minutes are going to take a hit in a deep forward rotation?

UC Irvine was the perfect game to slowly but surely fold these two players into the mix. UCI presented their own blend of challenges for the Ducks, mainly their 7’6” freshman Center Mamadou Ndiaye. This monster made Oregon’s biggest player, Waverly Austin look like a shrimp. A picture of Ndiaye and 5’8 Point guard Johnathan Loyd battling down low was all the rage on the interwebs following the game. With such a big force down low, the Ducks proved that getting to the Rim was something they could use, if they wanted and not a necessity. Simply put the Ducks made it rain from the land beyond and UC Irvine simply couldn’t keep up. What started as an intriguing matchup turned into a rout before halftiArtis and Carter both started the game on the bench, and Artis was quick to the floor along with Jason Calliste. Artis’ presence on the floor was felt early and often, not necessarily in a scoring role (he only scored 5 points) but as a game management roll. He handed out three assists and multiple Hockey Assists as well. He grabbed an eye opening 8 rebounds all in 26 minutes. With the game out of reach for the Anteaters, Johnathan Loyd took a back seat, playing only 12 minutes in a masterful coaching move by Dana Altman. Loyd has been one of the MVP’s of this early season, and no one is questioning his senior leadership. But in a game where he simply wasn’t needed, the actual game reps needed to get into a rhythm were given to Artis so that he can help the team in the future. Loyd will play more than 12 minutes against BYU I can almost guarantee, unless of course the Ducks start to roll once again, and Theo Friedman takes over the Point Guard role.

 This BYU game has some interesting things about it as well. BYU is in the top ten in the nation in Points per game (6^th), Rebounds per game (9^th) and Assists per game (8^th) but they’re an unbelievable 94^th in the nation in field goal percentage. This reminds me slightly of those Run and Gun UNLV teams or like that Division 3 team that just puts up shots as fast as possible. The Ducks are a much more efficient scoring team (see 4^th in the country in FG percentage) and if I’m betting my christmas presents on who’s a better defensive team, I’m going to go with the Ducks as well. BYU is 8-4 with a victories over big name teams like Stanford, and Texas. In their four losses, 3 of the teams have been ranked in the top 25 and the other was Utah, another Pac-12 school. The Ducks take on BYU in Eugene on Saturday at 7:30 on the PAC-12 Network.