Oregon will hire Marshall University’s offensive line coach Alex Mirabal to work with the Ducks’ guards and centers, first reported by Grant Taylor of the Herald-Dispatch last week, and announced by Oregon on Wednesday.

“I’m excited to welcome Alex and his family to the Oregon family,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “I’ve known Alex for a long time, and I can’t wait for our student-athletes to start working with him. His attention to detail and leadership ability are part of what makes him a great teacher. Our big guys up front will love his passion for the game.”

Feldman also reported that graduate assistant Cody Woodiel will coach offensive tackles while head coach Mario Cristobal will coach Oregon’s offensive line.

Mirabal has served as Marshall’s offensive line coach since 2013. Prior to that, he served as an assistant head coach at FIU alongside Cristobal. He also coached tight ends and the offensive line during his tenure at FIU. Mirabal and Cristobal’s connection goes back to high school when the two became close friends during their freshman year at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.

Mirabal helped lead Marshall to an 8-5 record last season and helped the team finish fourth nationally in sacks allowed. The Herd allowed on 11 sacks in its 13 games.

College Coaching History 
2018-                    Oregon (Centers & Guards)
2013-17               Marshall (Offensive Line)
2010-12               FIU (Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line)
2007-09               FIU (Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends)

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Oregon’s home-opener on Tuesday was one for the record books.  

The Ducks scored ten runs in the second inning, tied for the most ever in an inning in program history, to bury Seattle 14-0 on Tuesday night in their first game of the year at PK Park. Oregon has now won three straight.

The last time Oregon scored ten runs in an inning was last year in an 11-1 win over Utah.

“It’s a perfect storm,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “Walks, soft hits, couple rollers through the four-hole, some good hitting. You kind of put it all together.”

Oregon (5-2) got contributions from throughout its lineup. Spencer Steer (3-for-5, two runs) led the way with three RBIs while Kyle Kasser (2-for-3, two runs), Evan Williams (1-for-2, one run) and Jakob Goldfarb (1-for-5, one run) each drove in two runs. Ryne Nelson and Jonny DeLuca also drove in a run each.

“We had a lot of good at-bats early, a lot of at-bats with runners in scoring position and we executed our plan,” Steer said.

Seattle (5-4) starter Tyler Oldenberg (1-1) took the loss. He retired three Oregon batters and surrendered nine runs (six earns) on seven hits before being pulled in the second. His replacement, Alden Huschle, fared worse, walking three and giving up four runs while only getting one out.

“Everything we hit kind of found holes and snowballed on them a little bit with their relief pitchers who weren’t throwing strikes and so forth,” Horton said.

The Redhawks committed two errors, and only ten of the 14 runs they allowed were earned.

Oldenberg and Huschle were two of six pitchers Seattle used in the game but the duo allowed all but one Oregon run.

Oregon freshman Cullen Kafka (1-0) got the start, the first of his collegiate career, and allowed two hits and struck out three in three innings of work. Horton and Oregon pitching coach Jason Dietrich had planned to throw an array of pitchers on Tuesday, and the large lead Oregon built early allowed them to use five pitchers out of the bullpen.

Combined, the Ducks’ bullpen struck out nine, walked none and surrendered only four hits in six innings of work to preserve Oregon’s first shutout of the season.

“I was really impressed with our defensive effort, hard to do that in that kind of a kind of a game, getting a shutout, and a staff shutout,” Horton said. “Every guy that coach Dietrich brought in seemed to be very much in character.”

After building a 3-0 lead in the first, the Ducks almost went through the lineup twice in the decisive second inning. They sent 14 batters to the plate to face three different Seattle pitchers.  When the dust settled, Oregon led 13-0.

The Ducks added another run in the seventh on a fielder’s choice and went on for the 14-0 victory.

Horton was somewhat concerned with the fact that the Ducks only recorded one hit after the second inning.

“I thought our pitch selection wasn’t quite as finely tuned,” Horton said. “Not trying to make excuses, I would’ve liked to see more hits in the middle of the game.”

The Ducks will look to improve over the weekend when they welcome Florida Atlantic (6-1) to Eugene for three-game weekend series starting on Friday.

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Watch out, Pac-12. Here come the Ducks.

Oregon won a massive game in thrilling fashion on Saturday night, taking down the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats 98-93 in overtime. The game featured a bit of everything: Multiple players received technical fouls, a future NBA star dominated and the crowd at Matthew Knight Arena provided enough energy to power the city of Eugene for a month.

It also featured an Oregon team that is looking more and more like a squad heading to the March Madness.

While that may still be stretch with the Ducks sitting at 19-10 and 9-7 in conference play, there’s still have a long way to go before anything definitive can be said about Oregon’s NCAA Tournament chances. The one thing that can be said about the Ducks after their thrilling win on Saturday night is that they are playing as well and as confidently as they have all season.

“We feel like we can compete with any team in this league, beat any team in this league,” sophomore forward Keith Smith said. “We’re going to do whatever we need to do going forward to win.”

A hallmark of this season has been Oregon’s inability to close games, and if the Ducks do miss the tournament, that’d be an easy area to place the blame. They squandered late leads against Arizona in January, against Boise State in December, against USC twice and to UCLA just last week.

“We can’t change the past,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Four or five games that I didn’t have them ready and we didn’t get it done and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

But that wasn’t an issue on Saturday. The Ducks felt their backs against the wall, stood their ground and pushed back. Down 13 points with three minutes into the second half, Oregon flipped a switch and rattled off a 25-11 run to take a 65-64 lead with nine minutes left in the game. The game turned into a dogfight, and Matthew Knight Arena into a madhouse. Both teams traded buckets until the regulation horn sounded with the game knotted at 83.

Yes, Arizona came back, but that’s what good teams do.

Great teams smell blood and go for the jugular, which is what Oregon did in overtime. The Ducks kept their composure, got stops, and hit big shot after big shot to put the Cats down.

“We shared the ball like we needed to, got some big stops, we pulled out the win,” Paul White said.

Oregon has not been a great team by any stretch this season, that’s obvious. But the way it played on Saturday, especially down the stretch, highlighted a team that has learned from its mistakes. All those frustrating late-game losses finally taught the Ducks how to avoid them.

“Tonight I think we started to learn from our mistakes in the past and some of those close games,” Smith said. “I think we really just elevated our play and played together instead of going our separate ways.”

The Ducks are playing their best basketball of the season right now, and while they are still on the outside looking in, it appears their best basketball is ahead of them.

“Who knows how many games we’re going to have to win,” White said. “We might have to win the whole Pac-12 Conference Tournament. But if it comes down to it, we’re not looking to lose. We want to continue to take steps in the right direction and I think that’s what we’re doing.”

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The Ducks have their backs against a wall and they know it. Yet, at the same time, they’re playing their best basketball of the season.

Funny what a little pressure can do.

With their win over Arizona State on Thursday, Oregon suddenly looks like a team poised to make a run in the Pac-12 Tournament in two weeks. While the sweep to the LA schools definitely hurt, Oregon’s five games since getting embarrassed by Stanford highlighted a team full of previously unseen energy and intensity. With their NCAA Tournament hopes hanging by threads, Oregon has suddenly found its spark with the conference tournament looming.

Finally, they can feel the pieces fitting into place.

“Coach talks about it, he said we’re close,” Elijah Brown said. “He can feel it.”

On Thursday night, you could also see it.

Oregon outrebounded the Sun Devils by eight, outscored them 36 to 14 in the paint and held the Arizona State to 29 percent shooting in the second half. Individually, Kenny Wooten provided a defense spark, wracking up four blocks, while Brown’s 12 second-half points paced a Duck offense that kept the always dangerous Sun Devils at bay.

It was another step in the right direction for the Ducks, who have played with an added fire and energy since getting a run out of the gym against Stanford almost three weeks ago. Head coach Dana Altman agrees.

“Since the Stanford game, which was a bomb, we’ve played hard,” Altman said. “Our energy level I think has been pretty good.”

Altman conceded the home environment probably helped on Thursday, but said he still liked the intensity and energy his team brought over the previous weekend in Southern California where the Ducks were swept by USC and UCLA.

“We played pretty hard in LA, I’m not going to fault our effort,” Altman said. “We weren’t sharp and we obviously didn’t finish, but I’m not going to fault our effort.”

That’s been the biggest difference for Oregon since Stanford. These Ducks are playing with a hint of desperation, knowing that it’s make it or break it time. While the Ducks still show some traces of the team that disappointed at the PK80 and were routed by Stanford — occasional stagnant offense, questionable shot selections and the lack of a true leader all still remain issues for this team — these last five games, show just how good these Ducks can be when they have something to play for.

At this point, they’re playing for their NCAA Tournament lives. With how wild the conference has been this season, mixed with the recent upheaval at Arizona and Oregon’s improved play of late, the Ducks suddenly look dangerous.

They seem to have learned from their early season mistakes and developed an edge along the way.

“We just have to do our job and prepare,” Brown said. “And if we do that, we don’t have to worry about who we’re playing against. I think we can beat anybody.”

The real litmus test will come on Saturday when Oregon welcomes No. 14 Arizona to Matt Knight. While the Wildcats narrowly beat the Ducks in Tucson in January, they’ll be without Allonzo Trier, their second-leading scorer (19.6 points per game). Hours before Oregon and Arizona State tipped off, the NCAA declared Trier ineligible to play after he tested positive for PEDs for the second time in two seasons.

It’s a heavy blow for Arizona, but the Ducks aren’t focused on it.

“We just gotta keep winning,” Pritchard said. “That’s our only focus.”

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Oregon returns to action this week after getting swept in LA and will host the Arizona schools in the Ducks’ last homestand of the year.

Oregon (17-10, 7-7) hosts Arizona State (19-7, 7-7) on Thursday before facing conference-leading No. 14 Arizona (21-6, 11-3) on Saturday. As of Thursday, the Sun Devils and Wildcats are the only two Pac-12 teams that are locked to for the NCAA Tournament, and while Oregon did lose both games during its SoCal trip, the Ducks are playing some of their best basketball of the season. Come the Pac-12 Tournament in two weeks, and these could be three of the teams fighting for the conference tournament title and an automatic bid for an NCAA Tournament berth.

First up is Arizona State, who the Ducks have already beaten once this year. After entering Pac-12 play 12-0 ranked as the No. 3 team in the country, the Sun Devils have struggled to replicate that early season success. They dropped three of their first four conference games and while they have brought their conference record back to .500 since then, their recent loss to Arizona bumped the Sun Devils out of the AP Top 25 completely.

Still, the Sun Devils success this season is no fluke. They lead the conference in scoring at 84.4 points per game, led by the hot shooting of veteran guards Tra Holder (19.3 points per game on 37 percent shooting from three) and Shannon Evans II (16.8 points per game on 38 percent from deep).

Revenge is sure to be on the minds of Arizona State as well since Oregon handed it its first home loss of the season back on Jan. 11 when the Ducks rallied from an 11-point deficit for a 76-72 win. Conference tournament implications are also on the line with the Ducks and Sun Devils currently tied for seventh place in the conference. The top four teams get first-round byes in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Things only get harder on Saturday when the always dangerous Wildcats arrive for their only trip to Eugene this season. Arizona is coming off two quality wins against USC and Arizona State after losing the two games prior to Washington and UCLA.

Sean Miller’s squad boasts one of the most talented rosters in the country highlighted by three potential NBA players (Deandre Ayton, Allonzo Trier, and Rawle Alkins) one of whom, Ayton, could very well hear his name called first overall in the NBA Draft in June.

Those three carry the load offensively for Arizona, accounting for more than 52 of the 82 points the Wildcats average per game. Ayton (19.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game) anchors the paint while Alkins (13.4 points per game) and Trier (19.6 points per game on 43 percent shooting from deep) headline Arizona’s dangerous perimeter players that make 39 percent of their 3s.

Defensively is where Arizona leaves some to be desired. While they do post a conference-best scoring margin of plus-9.8 points, the Wildcats are eighth in field goal defense and ninth in 3-point defense. They often fall focus all their energy on the offensive end, which usually works in their favor, but leaves them vulnerable on off-shooting nights.

The Arizona schools will surely provide some added motivation for a Duck team fighting to for its tournament life.  

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Oregon women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves was named a semifinalist for the 2018 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award on Wednesday.

The announcement comes two days before the No. 8 Ducks (25-4, 14-2) travel to face the Arizona schools with their first chance at a Pac-12 title since 2000. Oregon’s 25 wins have tied the school’s single-season record. A win over the Washington Huskies earlier this season also marked Graves’ 500th career victory.

Graves is one of ten finalists and the only one from the Pac-12.

Four finalists will be announced on March 14th, with the winner being named on March 31st.  

Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95 

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Oregon is riding high off its sweep of the Washington schools last week, but steeper tests approach, starting with the Los Angeles schools this weekend.

The Ducks travel south to play USC (17-9, 8-5) on Thursday and UCLA (17-8, 8-5) on Saturday. Both games carry heavy postseason implications for each team. UCLA and USC are currently tied for second in the Pac-12 and are bubble teams for at-large bids for the NCAA Tournament. Oregon is tied with Washington for fourth in the conference and is on the outside looking in in terms of making the Big Dance. But, the Ducks are coming off arguably their best weekend of conference play and appear to have some momentum as they make a push for a coveted at-large bid.

The Trojans are the first hurdle the Ducks need to clear. USC is losers of its last three games and suffered its worst loss of conference play — an 81-67 handling by No. 13 Arizona — its last time out. As of now, USC is one of the last four in, according to Joe Lunardi’s bracketology, so the Trojans have plenty to play for coming down the stretch.

The Trojans were picked to finish second in the Pac-12 in the coaches preseason poll, and for good reason. They returned the core of last year’s team that went 26-10 last season and upset six-seed SMU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They boast arguably one of the most talented lineups in the conference, highlighted by point guard Jordan McLaughlin (12.2 points and a conference-best 7.5 assists per game), forward Bennie Boatwright (14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game), and bonafide NBA-prospect Chimezie Metu (15.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game).

The last time these two faced, USC left Eugene with a tightly-contested, 75-70, win that the Trojans sealed down the stretch. The Trojans are also 10-3 at home this season, so a fierce contest surely awaits on Thursday.

UCLA is in almost an identical situation as USC entering this weekend series. But unlike USC, the Bruins have played well of late. They’ve won four of their last five, which includes a 16-point win over Stanford and an eight-point win over No. 13 Arizona in Tucson.

Star guard Aaron Holiday has played exceptionally well of late, averaging 20.4 points and 7.2 assists over the last five games. He’s currently fourth in the conference in points per game with 19.1 and second in assists at 5.5. Foul trouble limited him to only 14 points on 3-of-10 shooting in the Bruins’ last matchup with the Ducks, a game the Ducks won 94-91.

Both USC and UCLA are top-four in the conference for points scored per game, so the Ducks will need to continue playing the stellar defense they have of late. Oregon held both Washington State and Washington under 40 percent shooting.

With so few games left and so much at stake over these next few weeks, every game takes on more importance for all these teams. Sweeps are ideal, splits could be worse, and getting swept could mean the end of the line for some teams.

No one wants to miss out on the tourney, which should make for some intriguing games this weekend.

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At this point in the season, Oregon needs to do one thing above all else: Win.

The Ducks did just that on Sunday, completing a sweep of the Washington schools for Oregon’s first weekend sweep of conference opponents this season. What’s more, is that it seems that Oregon has bounced back from its debilitating loss to Stanford last week and gained some much-needed momentum heading into its toughest, and most critical, stretch of the season.

“I’d definitely say we’re jelling more,” Payton Pritchard said. “We kind of moved past the bad loss to Stanford. So we’re making strides.”

With the weekend sweep, Oregon moved into a tie for fourth place in the conference and mightily improved its resume. The blowout win over Washington is arguably the Ducks’ best win of the year.

But Oregon knows it’s not the time to celebrate. Now, it’s time to dig in.

With six games left, Oregon, which is looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season, will face all five Pac-12 teams with legitimate shots at making the tourney. It’s easily the toughest stretch of Oregon’s season, but that actually plays into Oregon’s favor.

Oregon needs quality wins right now. The Ducks are currently 77th in RPI (per ESPN), a ranking system that the selection committee uses to determine who makes the NCAA Tournament. While the Ducks did jump double-digit spots this weekend, wins over teams like Washington State (179th in RPI) don’t help the Ducks much.

But wins over teams like UCLA and USC, ranked 53rd and 47th in RPI respectively, will. The Ducks will head down to Southern California to play those two next week.

“Going into LA, we’re really going to need to be together,” Pritchard said. “We need to win both, to be quite honest, so we really need to work hard in practice this week and get ready for those two games. … This next trip, LA, will define our destiny in the Pac-12 race.”

The road only gets tougher after that trip. Oregon hosts the Arizona schools (Arizona is 19th and Arizona State 27th) the following weekend before traveling to face the Washington schools (Washington is 45th in RPI) to cap conference play.

“It gives us a really good opportunity because I think the five teams they’re talking about being in the NCAA Tournament, we got each one of them one time,” head coach Dana Altman said.

As of Sunday, the Pac-12 has five teams in position for spots in the tourney according to Joe Lunardi’s bracketology. No. 13 Arizona is the only for sure thing and is currently projected as a four seed. Arizona State is the other probable lock, although after starting the season 12-0 and reaching No. 3 in the AP Poll, the Sun Devils have lost six of their 13 conference games and have dropped from the AP Top 25 altogether. The three other candidates are USC, UCLA and Washington, and are all currently bubble teams.

Oregon is on the outside looking in and knows what’s at stake with these remaining games. With three weeks left in conference play, the Ducks are in true do or die mode if they want an at-large bid. Oregon knows it has a chance and that it won’t be easy by any means.

“We’re going to have our shot,” Altman said. “We’ll see if we’re tough enough and together enough to take advantage of it.”

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Oregon was voted to finish first in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll, the conference announced on Monday. The Ducks garnered 63 points and received seven first-place votes. UCLA was picked to finish second with 55 points and two first-place votes.

Oregon went 54-8, 17-6 last year and finished second in the conference behind Arizona. It was the first time in the last five seasons that Oregon didn’t win the conference outright.

Oregon is also the highest rated team from the Pac-12 in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 3. The Ducks trail only Oklahoma and Florida in that poll.

Oregon’s first game is on Feb. 13 against Georgia in Tempe, Arizona.

Here’s the full breakdown of the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll:

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Stanford routed Oregon 96-61 on Saturday in Palo Alto for the worst loss Oregon has suffered in the Dana Altman era. The previous record was Oregon’s 90-56 loss at Arizona in the 2014-15 season.

Stanford (13-11, 7-4) shot 63 percent from the field, hit 12 3-pointers on a 60-percent clip and outscored Oregon 42-28 in the paint for the Cardinals’ most lopsided victory of the season.

Oregon (15-8, 5-5) was outscored by 16 in the first half and 19 in the second to split the weekend’s road trip. Troy Brown Jr. scored 15 points but only played 24 minutes because of foul trouble while Victor Bailey Jr. chipped in 13 off the bench.

After trading buckets for the first seven minutes of the game, Stanford rattled off a 13-0 run to take a 32-16 lead. The Cardinal made 12 of their first 16 shots of the game. The Ducks responded with a 10-0 run to cut the Cardinal lead to six, but Stanford soon pushed their lead back to double digits.

The Cardinal shot 68 percent from the field and led Oregon 50-34 at the half. Dorian Pickens didn’t miss any of his five shot attempts and led all scorers with 14 points at the break. He finished with 25 points on 9-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3.

Stanford forward Reid Travis had a quiet game by his standards, scoring only nine points, but he added seven rebounds and eight assists. Kezie Okpala scored 11 of his 20 in the second half.

Already leading by double-digits, the Cardinal didn’t let up to start the second half. They opened with a 17-5 run, while the Ducks missed five of their first six shots and Troy Brown picked up his fourth foul with less than 17:25 left.

Daejon Davis’ free throws with 12 minutes left put Stanford up 30 and Oscar De Silva’s free throws with three minutes left gave Stanford its biggest lead of the game at 92-55.

Oregon returns home to host the Washington schools next week.

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