PORTLAND, Ore. — There are still games to be played in the PK80 Invitational, but Oregon’s weekend is already over. An early finish is usually what happens when you lose the opening game of a tournament.

The Ducks finished their PK80 run with a disappointing 90-80 loss against Oklahoma on Sunday to cap what has been an equally disappointing weekend. They’ll head into the final seven games of their nonconference schedule with a 5-2 record. Oregon is still searching for answers in what’s been a wildly inconsistent season so far. PK80 only raised more questions.

Head coach Dana Altman learned something, though.

“We need a massive amount of work,” Altman said. “I hope our guys learned that. … Tremendous amount of things to work on.”

The Ducks didn’t play well in any of their three PK80 games. They had promising stretches, but those sputtered out more often than not. You could chalk their performances up to the heightened competition, as Oregon’s previous four opponents, all Oregon wins, have a combined record of 4-20.

Or — and this is the option I’m going with — Oregon just isn’t good. At least, not currently.

The Ducks lack a true, big man, which forces them to rely on stretch forwards who prefer hanging around the perimeter compared to crashing the boards or protecting the paint. And when their threes aren’t falling, their offense becomes stagnant and forces them into tough shots.

The issues are correctable, Altman says, but the road to fixing them won’t be easy.

“All the things we need to do are the tough things,” he said. “We have a lot of volunteers to shoot it and to pass it, but we don’t have any volunteers to do the tough things right now.”

Oregon had those guys the last three years. Dillon Brooks, Jordan Bell, Casey Benson, Chris Boucher, Dylan Ennis, you name it: all those guys stepped up to do the nitty-gritty work when Oregon needed. The question now becomes who on this year’s Oregon squad will step into the role.

The biggest hurdle with finding that answer lies in Oregon’s inexperience, especially in terms of playing together. This team has only practiced together for the last five months, and while they say they’re all comfortable with each other, the on-court product indicates otherwise.

Still, Oregon has the pieces to be a talented team, and they displayed flashes of brilliance against inferior teams. But the problems arise when Oregon isn’t playing cupcakes like 0-6 Alabama State and Coppin State. PK80 put Oregon to the test with legit competition, and the Ducks faltered.

“They just haven’t dealt with any adversity,” Altman said. “So, it’s going to take some time. Young guys — six freshmen out there — they’re struggling with it.”

Oregon did show resilience at times this weekend. Its overtime win against DePaul showed that this team, while young, can push through if it puts its mind to it. It also rallied back against Oklahoma, a far superior foe than DePaul, but couldn’t stop Sooners’ freshman guard Trae Young down the stretch.

At the end of the day, resilience in a loss is just a moral victory, and those won’t make Oregon a legit contender for anything this year.

The season is still in its early stages and Oregon has time to remedy its issues. The next seven games will serve as an indicator of how good this team really is.

“I think we’re a lot better than this,” Altman said, “but I think we’re going to have to work awfully hard to change things around.”

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Less than a month after Oregon and Oklahoma scrimmaged in Las Vegas, the two teams will meet once again; this time, in an official game.

The Ducks (5-1) and Sooners (3-1) will play in the consolation bracket of the PK80 Invitational at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Both teams lost their first games of the tournament, Oregon to UConn and Oklahoma to Arkansas, but won their following games against DePaul and Portland, respectively.

Unlike with offensively-challenged DePaul, Oregon will have its hand full dealing with the Sooners blistering offense. Oklahoma averages 98 points per game, third-best nationally, and is led by freshman Trae Young. Young’s numbers are insane. He averages 24.5 points, 9 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game and shoots 46.9 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from three on more than eight attempts per game. The 6-foot-2 guard was a five-star prospect who was ranked as the 23rd best player in the class of 2017 by ESPN.

6-foot-9 forward/center Khadeem Lattin provides Oklahoma’s lone inside presence. The big man averages 14.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game on 72.7 percent shooting.

Oklahoma’s offense is built around running in transition. It plays at the sixth-fastest pace in the country and averages 13 seconds per possession, the third-fastest rate in the country, per kenpom.com. The Sooners also average 20 assists per game, tied for fifth in the country. On top of that, they shoot 64.2 percent on 2-pointers, the second-best mark in the country, per kenpom.

Defensively, Oklahoma is all over the place. The Sooners allow 80 points per game (292nd in the country) and allow teams to shoot 42.3 percent from three, but limit their opponents to 36.7 percent shooting on 2-pointers, the fourth-best mark in the country, per kenpom.

Still, all these numbers come with the preface that Oklahoma hasn’t played a tough schedule this year. Through four games, they’ve only played one Power 5 team this year. That was Arkansas, which the Sooners lost to 92-83 on Thursday. So far, Oklahoma owns the 185th toughest schedule this season, per kenpom.

Oregon reportedly won its scrimmage against Oklahoma by a close margin. Even though Oregon isn’t playing its best basketball right now, a similar result wouldn’t be surprising given that the Ducks know what to expect from the Sooners.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Up until Thursday night, Payton Pritchard had never lost a game at the Moda Center. The West Linn, Oregon product won two state high school championships at the Trail Blazers’ arena during his prep career, and he claimed he’s 10-0 in the building.

But that alleged streak ended on Thursday night.

In his first game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the home of the Trail Blazers until 1995 and the arena adjacent to the Moda Center, Pritchard scored a career-high 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead Oregon (5-1) to an 89-79 overtime win over DePaul (1-4) in the consolation bracket of PK80 on Friday night. He also finished with six rebounds and a game-high eight assists.

Pritchard had a chance to end the game in regulation, but his step-back three rimmed out as time expired. He made up for it in overtime as he outscored the Blue Demons 7-4, and recorded a rebound and an assist to cap his career performance.

“We needed a couple shots,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “I thought he had some pretty good looks.”

Being the lone returning starter, Pritchard knew he would have to be a leader this season. In taking on that role, Pritchard has embraced two different personalities, both of which emerged on Friday.

“Sometimes he might be a, ‘Let’s Go!’ kind of guy, or sometimes he’ll just be a silent killer,” Oregon forward Paul White said.

On Friday night, though, White saw more of the former.

“Tonight, he was more of the ‘Let’s Go!’ Payton, because he knew how important this game was,” White said. “We knew that we couldn’t lose this game.”

A loss would’ve meant Oregon, the unofficial host of the tournament celebrating Phil Knight’s 80th birthday, would play in the last place game against the University of Portland. Instead, the Ducks got Oklahoma in the consolation championship game on Sunday.

While a Portland and Oregon matchup might have been entertaining for the locals, Pritchard wasn’t about to let his team play in the last place game of a tournament in his hometown.

Pritchard scored 11 in the first half, including three 3-pointers, to go along with three rebounds and four assists. He didn’t score again until there was 9:22 left in the second half, but that’s when Pritchard began to heat up. He rattled off 11 points over the next four minutes to keep DePaul at bay.

His 3-pointer with 2:24 left in overtime put Oregon up three and gave the Ducks enough momentum to ride out until the final buzzer sounded.

And when it did, who better to dribble the clock out than Pritchard. He stood at center court as the Memorial Coliseum crowd — a majority of which were dressed in Oregon green and yellow — rose to its feet and cheered a little bit louder for the Portland area native.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Ahead of PK80, Oregon head coach Dana Altman looked at the tournament as a chance to boost his team’s strength of schedule. If Oregon won its first-round game, it probably would’ve faced No. 4 Michigan State with the possibility of a rematch with No. 9 North Carolina if it defeated the Spartans.

Instead, Oregon lost its first-round matchup with UConn and heads into the consolation bracket for a Friday matchup with DePaul (1-3).

The Blue Demons lost their first-round matchup to Michigan State. Although tied at 31-31 at halftime, the Spartan went on to outscore DePaul 42-20 in the second half for the win. Max Strus and Eli Cain, DePaul’s leading scorers, each had a team-high 12 points in the loss.

Minus the promising first half against Michigan State, DePaul is struggling this season. It opened its season with a 72-58 loss to No. 13 Notre Dame and lost two weeks later to Illinois, 82-73. It beat Delaware State 81-57 on Nov. 13 in what’s been DePaul’s lone win this season.

DePaul is a terrible offensive team. Its scoring average dropped to 65.8 points per game, ranked 310th in the country, after its loss to Michigan State on Friday. The Blue Demons also shoot only 35 percent from the field, the fourth-worst mark in the country, and have shot above 40 percent from the field only once this season (42 percent in their win over Delaware State). They’re not much better from three, as they shoot a mere 26 percent from deep, ranked 330th in the country.

DePaul doesn’t pass the ball well, either. It’s only recorded 40 assists this season (10 per game) to 43 turnovers (10.75 per game), a 0.93 assist-to-turnover ratio, ranked 229th in the country. Only two player average more than two assists per game.

Strus and Cain are the offensive standouts for the Blue Demons. Strus, a 6-foot-6 senior, averages a team-high 13.3 points per game, along with 4.5 rebounds, but shoots only 32.5 percent from the field and 25.9 percent from three. Cain, a 6-foot-6 junior, averages 11.3 points per game on 36.2 percent shooting (20 percent from three) and grabs 5 rebounds a game.

Defensively, the Blue Demons fare somewhat better. They’ve held two ranked teams in Notre Dame and Michigan State well below their scoring averages. They also average about seven steals per game, with guard Devin Gage leading the way with two a game.

Oregon was left licking its wounds after UConn on Thursday, but should have a good opportunity to bounce back against DePaul on Friday. It’ll also be a chance for Oregon to salvage what’s left of this tournament after a disappointing start.

Oregon and DePaul tip-off at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

If Oregon wins, it will face the winner of Portland/Oklahoma on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.

If Oregon loses, it will face the loser of Portland/Oklahoma on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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PORTLAND, Ore. — With eight seconds left in Oregon’s matchup with UConn, the Huskies’ Christian Vital and the Ducks’ Troy Brown Jr. headed in opposite directions.

Vital walked to the free throw line, looking to seal a Huskies’ win, while Brown walked to the Oregon’s bench, the latest victim of a foul out. Brown had just been called for his fifth foul for contesting a rebound Vital secured, and as a result, Vital got two free throws to secure UConn’s inevitable victory.

Similar scenes were all too familiar in Oregon’s 71-63 loss to UConn in the opening round of the PK80 Invitational in Portland on Thursday night. Five players, including three Ducks, fouled out with Brown being the last in a game that featured 53 fouls and 57 free throws

Oregon (4-1) head coach Dana Altman didn’t want to blame the fouls for his team’s effort on Thursday.

“It was not a good effort. I was disappointed from the get-go,” Altman said. “I didn’t like our energy level. I didn’t like our enthusiasm. Our bench wasn’t into it like it should’ve been. Just all-in-all was not a good effort.”

Vital hit one of his two opportunities following Brown’s fifth foul to extend the Huskies’ lead to 69-63. Oregon had one more possession to cut into the lead to have a chance at a miracle comeback, but Payton Pritchard’s deep 3 missed and UConn (4-0) secured the rebound and the win. Pritchard finished with a team-high 14 points but shot 4-of-13 from the field.

That scenario, too, felt familiar. The Ducks struggled offensively down the stretch and connected on only one of their last eight shots. They didn’t make a field goal in the last four minutes of the game. UConn seized the opportunity and finished the game on an 11-1 run over the final three minutes.

“Our first time under the lights and with a little pressure and we sure didn’t handle it very well,” Altman said.

Even without the fouls, it was a game Oregon will soon want to forget. The Ducks turned the ball over 12 times in the second half, which translated to 13 points for UConn. Seven of those turnovers came over the final eight minutes.

Oregon struggled shooting as well. The Ducks shot a measly 33 percent from the field and 21 percent from three. Their offense struggled to find a rhythm as the fouls piled up in the first half. The Ducks entered the second frame with four players in foul trouble while facing a 38-31 deficit.

Oregon fared better in the second half as they took a 53-48 lead with eight minutes remaining. But the Huskies clamped down and ended the game on a 23-10 run.

Elijah Brown (five points, three assists) fouled out with 6:43 left in the game, while MiKyle McIntosh (10 points, 11 rebounds) picked up his fifth foul with twenty seconds remaining. Troy Brown (six points, eight rebounds) followed 13 second later.

“We gotta play better. Like I said, I’m extremely disappointed,” Altman said. “Now it’s just a matter of how we respond. We can’t change it. We didn’t play well. We didn’t play smart. … We gotta go back and re-up and get ready to play tomorrow night.”

Oregon takes on the loser of the DePaul/Michigan State game on Friday night at either 6:30 p.m. or 9 p.m at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. 

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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You won’t find a definition for the term “war daddy” in a regular dictionary. Instead, you’d have to go to Urban Dictionary, an online crowdsourced lexicon of slang, where you’d find that it means: “A beastly defensive lineman that eats up blockers and spits them out for dinner.”

You also might find “badass” or “Henry Mondeaux,” at least if Oregon head coach Willie Taggart wrote the definitions.

Taggart went to that term last week when asked about what he’s seen out of Mondeaux, a senior defensive lineman and the defensive team captain, this year.

“Henry has been a war daddy,” he said. “That guy has been working his butt off all year long, doing everything we ask him to do, not taking a play off.”

When asked to elaborate what that term means, Taggart simply replied “Badass.”

By all accounts, it’s an accurate description for Mondeaux. The senior from Portland, Oregon hasn’t missed a game in his collegiate career, despite playing one of the most physical positions, while also dealing with Type 1 diabetes. He’s been a staple in Oregon’s defense for the past four years: He’s gone from being an eager newcomer to a seasoned veteran leader who’s played a key role in Oregon’s defensive turnaround this season.

Taggart isn’t sure where he first heard the term “war daddy.” He thinks maybe it was back at Western Kentucky or one of his other coaching stops in his career. He isn’t completely sure, but he said that it was something that just stuck with him. He called Royce Freeman a “war daddy” after Freeman’s four-touchdown performance against Arizona on Saturday.

At his press conference on Monday this week, Taggart offered a more eloquent definition for the term.

Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux (92) latches his arms around Cal Berkley’s quarterback Ross Bowers (3). The Oregon Ducks host the California Golden Bears for the Pac-12 home opener at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (Amanda Shigeoka/Emerald)

“It’s not hard to describe: You see those guys that go all out all the time, leave everything on the field and try to get after the guy in front of them every time he has an opportunity to do that,” Taggart said. “A guy that plays through pain and does everything he can to help this football team — a guy who is totally committed to this football team and helping it.”

Mondeaux will take that persona and intensity into the home stretch of Oregon’s season and his career — a stretch Mondeaux is looking to enjoy. As much as he wants to ignore it, he said it’s been tough facing that inevitable reality.

“You know, I’m trying to take it one day at a time, but it’s starting to come up on me that I only have two games in Autzen,” Mondeaux said ahead of the Ducks’ clash with Arizona. “So I’m just trying to take it every day and enjoy myself as much as I can.”

Mondeaux arrived in Eugene as part of Oregon’s 2014 recruiting class and was already a decorated and well-known athlete throughout the state. He excelled in basketball, football and track and field in his prep tenure at Jesuit High School. But at 6-foot-4, 250-pounds, Mondeaux gravitated toward football more than anything else. He accumulated all-state honors his junior and senior years, and in two of the three years he started on both sides of the ball for one of the premier programs in the state.

While the accomplishments were incredible, the fact that Mondeaux was dealing with Type 1 diabetes made them all the more impressive. He was diagnosed his freshman year of high school and began to monitor his blood sugar levels daily. But Mondeaux didn’t let the disease slow him down. All the accolades he achieved in high school came after his diagnosis.

To this day, Mondeaux relies on his diabetes as a source of motivation. He said he plays with other, less fortunate people in mind. He wants to be an inspiration for those who are dealing with similar issues and show them that they too can accomplish whatever they want in life, despite the odds.

“That’s what I try and tell myself before every game and every play,” Mondeaux said. “I just try and think about doing it for them.”

With that mindset, Mondeaux is thriving. He burst onto the scene as a freshman and has appeared in every Oregon game since — a feat stunning for anyone, but especially for a type 1 diabetic. He works with Oregon’s trainers closely, which could explain his sustainability. Or maybe it was all the extra precautions he took to maintain his blood sugar levels. Even he’s not entirely sure the source of his durability.

“I think just being lucky. I really don’t know,” he said. “I think a lot it’s luck just because this sport is so unpredictable.”

Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux (92) brings down Washington Huskies running back Lavon Coleman (22). The Oregon Ducks face the No. 12 Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash. on Nov. 4, 2017. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Mondeaux’s work ethic and fixture in Oregon’s everyday rotations for the past three years made him an easy candidate for a captain role entering this season. Oregon’s new coaching staff was searching for a player who commanded the respect of his peers. Mondeaux fit the bill and his teammates voted him the defensive team captain at the end of fall camp.

“The good thing about that, when the team picks, they know the guys better than all of us,” Taggart said back in late August. “So they know who are the right guys and who they want to lead this team.”

While quiet by nature, Mondeaux is excelling as a leader this season. He leads by example but gets vocal if he needs to. Most importantly, when he talks, his teammates listen.

“He commands the room,” defensive line coach Joe Salave’a said.

“We look to Henry for guidance,” linebacker La’Mar Winston said. “A lot of us do. He’s always there. He’s been here before. He’s been in these positions before. He’s played a lot of ball.”

Oregon’s coaches are thrilled with Mondeaux’s performance this season. It’s the only year they’ll get to coach him, but they say he’s been everything they want in a player. They want to use him as a metaphor for what they hope to build at Oregon and a blueprint for how they want their players to carry themselves.  

“We just want to make sure that we get to utilize his presence and what he brings to the table for the younger guys who are coming in the fold now, and the brand of football that we’re continuing to mold here at Oregon,” Salave’a said.

Taggart echoed that praise.

“He’s what a senior is supposed to be,” he said.

Coaches also credit him and his leadership for helping turn around Oregon’s defense this year. He fit seamlessly into defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt’s 3-4 scheme. He currently ranks third on the team in sacks (5), fifth in tackles for loss (5.5) and his 40 total tackles this season are a career-high. Oregon’s rushing defense now ranks 29th in the country after it held Arizona, a top-ten rushing offense, to 171 yards on the ground.

Oregon State is next in what will be Mondeaux’s fourth and final Civil War. After that, Oregon will wait for its bowl game destination a year after missing out on postseason play for the first time in over a decade.

Oregon will miss Mondeaux’s presence after this season. Replacing experience and leadership is never simple, but at least now Oregon players have a blueprint for how they too can become a “war daddy.”

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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It has taken awhile for Elijah Brown to find his footing in Oregon’s offense. The New Mexico graduate transfer, who led the Lobos in scoring in each of his two seasons in the Mountain West Conference, scored only 16 points and shot a mere 24 percent from the field in his first two games as a Duck.

Head coach Dana Altman chalked Brown’s struggles up to “overthinking.” Brown played more of a score-first role at New Mexico but had to become a team-oriented player for the Ducks.

The transition has not been smooth, but Brown showed major progress toward finding his role on Friday night. Brown finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range), with six assists and two steals in his 24 minutes of play in Oregon’s 114-56 demolition of Alabama State at Matthew Knight Arena. He scored five points in the first half and 10 in the second. His one missed shot came on his first attempt of the second half. 

“I thought Elijah played really good tonight,” Altman said. “I thought he really set a much better tone for us.”

Brown is supposed to be one of Oregon’s go-to scorers this year. He established himself as one during his time at New Mexico. While his first two performances were disappointing, he only needed some time to get back on track.

“I think I was pressing a little too much those first two games,” Brown said. “I came out and kind of let the excitement get to me.”

So what was different for him on Friday night?

“I think tonight I kind of let things come to me,” he said. “I tried to get teammates involved but when I was open, I felt more comfortable shooting it.”

According to both Altman and Brown, that has been the biggest key to getting Brown to fit into Oregon’s schemes. Altman still wants Brown to look to score but is also challenging him to make more plays for his teammates, a role that Brown is still adjusting to.

But what really impressed Altman on Friday night was Brown’s activity on defense. The 6-foot-4 guard led the team in deflections in the first half with seven. He also finished the game with two steals, tied with Keith Smith for the second-most on the team.

One of those steals resulted in one of the plays of the night, a ferocious, two-handed fast-break dunk in the second half that left his teammates in shock.

HIGHLIGHT | Elijah Brown with the steal and slam! #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/4gyWwgYnoe

— Oregon Basketball (@OregonMBB) November 18, 2017

They greeted him with high-fives and jokes about his age a minute later when he returned to the bench. 

“They were all asking me if I was ok, if I had to go back to the training room, get my knees rubbed out or whatever it was,” Brown, who will turn 23 in February, said with a laugh. “They were just extremely surprised. That’s what they were all telling me: ‘I didn’t know you could do that.’”

Altman said that the dunk surprised him somewhat too. Brown is apparently working through a minor but nagging injury and hasn’t shown off that kind of athleticism in practice. But he’s getting healthier, and starting to find his place on this Oregon team at the same time.

Good thing, too. Oregon will need Brown to be that complete player if they want any chance at repeating last year’s historic success.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

The post Elijah Brown breaks through, has his best game as a Duck appeared first on Emerald Media.

“Gifted.”

“Big-time.”

“Versatile.”

That’s how Oregon coaches and players described Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate this week ahead of the Ducks’ Saturday matchup with the Wildcats. Tate is one of the most dangerous playmakers in the country; a quarterback who punishes teams with his legs more than his arm. He presents a unique challenge for Oregon’s defense – one that few other teams have been able to solve this year.

“He’s going to make his plays,” defensive line coach Joe Salave’a said. “The goal is to minimize and put ourselves in a position to be successful.”

Tate started this season as a backup to Brandon Dawkins, who served as Arizona’s starting quarterback for the first five games of the season. But Tate took over primary quarterback duties early in the Wildcats’ week-six bout with Colorado, which Arizona won thanks to 327 rushing yards and five touchdowns from Tate.

In the five games since then, Tate has rushed for 880 yards and seven touchdowns, leading Arizona to a 4-1 record over that span. He currently ranks seventh in the nation in total rushing yards, reaching that point on 111 attempts, good for a nation-best average of 11.6 yards per attempt. No team has held him under 130 yards rushing since he entered the starting lineup.

So what is Oregon’s plan to stop him?

“We need a 12th guy,” defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt said. “There’s no question. We need 11 guys to play defense and another guy just to go run after [Tate].”

If only that was possible. Any other suggestions?

“Pray,” head coach Willie Taggart said.

In all seriousness, Oregon coaches said that they put an emphasis on tackling this week in practice. That was an area that Leavitt wasn’t satisfied with in Oregon’s 38-3 loss to Washington two weeks ago, and for good reason; all five of the Huskies’ touchdowns came on big plays of 30 yards or more.

Oregon has had time to prepare for Tate, though, thanks to a well-timed bye week. They’ve used that time to focus on tackling and creating defensive schemes to stop the dynamic quarterback.

“We’ve got to do a great job of tackling and make sure we’re going to know where he’s at. We’ve just got to do a good job of getting to him and tackling,” Taggart said. “They’re a dynamic offense that has challenges, but if we’re on top of our game and play with a lot of emotion and passion and discipline then we’ll have a chance.”

Tate has drawn some lofty comparisons due to his success as a dual-threat quarterback. Michael Vick and Donovan McNabb were several names that Salave’a threw out when asked if Tate reminds him of anybody he played against during his time in the NFL.

“The kid is gifted,” Salave’a said. “And there [are] some things he’s doing that you can’t coach. It’s a tribute to him and his competitive nature, but also in the scheme that Rich Rod plays, it’s a perfect match.”

The Ducks will have their hands full on Saturday, but they know what it’s going to take to stop Tate.

“It’s gotta be sound football, from the first whistle to the last,” Salave’a said.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

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Several years ago, Troy Brown Jr. and his family were driving home from a preseason basketball tournament at midnight, and Brown Jr. was fuming. His team had just lost a tournament championship game in the closing seconds, and even though he had spent his entire day hooping, he was too fired up to stop.

“He was so mad,” said his dad, Troy Brown Sr. “He had tears coming out of his eyes and he was insisting that I take him to the gym, at midnight, so he could work on his game.”

Brown Jr. hates to lose. He hasn’t had to deal with it much throughout his career, but that only made the losses, when they came, that much more painful.

It’s that competitive fire that helped Brown Jr. become one of the top high school basketball players in the country — a path that ultimately led him to Oregon. He’s the highest-rated recruit of the Dana Altman era and could be Oregon’s first one-and-done player in school history. He’s been in the national spotlight since elementary school and will be once again this fall as he helps usher in a new era of Oregon basketball.

He may not be at Oregon long, but his stop in Eugene will serve as the next step to an already illustrious career that took off over a decade ago.

‘He wanted to accomplish more’

By the age of 3, most children can ride a tricycle or use advanced sentence structure. Brown Jr. was already dunking.

The little plastic hoop that his father set up in their Las Vegas home served as Brown Jr.’s introduction to basketball. He jumped off chairs and tables trying to recreate dunks he saw from the NBA stars of the late ’90s.  

Brown Jr. also played soccer and football and ran track as a kid. But his father recognized early on that basketball would be his son’s path. Brown Sr. played basketball in college at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. That’s also where he met his wife, Lynn, who ran track and played volleyball. The genes were there; they just hoped the motivation would follow.

Oregon Ducks forward Troy Brown (0) looks for a teammate to pass to after recovering a loose ball. The Oregon Ducks play the Prairie View A&M Panthers at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Brown Jr. started playing competitively around the time he was 4, and became a phenom as an elementary school kid. He studied Larry Bird and Penny Hardaway, two players who made their teammates better, and soon adopted a similar playing style.

He stepped into the national spotlight in second grade, when his AAU team competed in the national championship tournament in Orlando.

“Really early on, we kind of had an idea that he’d end up a pretty good basketball player,” Brown Sr. said. “He’s always shown ability to play the game at a pretty high level.”

While Brown Jr. had the physical traits and the ability from an early age, he was constantly playing catch-up to his older sisters, Jada and Janae, who both also excelled at sports. Janae won the shot put at the 2002 National Junior Olympics and Jada won a Nevada state basketball title in high school, which made their jabs at their brother more poignant. The competition, while friendly, fueled Brown Jr. all the same.

“He would see his sisters competing,” Brown Sr. said, “and he wanted to accomplish more.”

Those accomplishments started to build in middle school, as Brown Jr. dominated the Las Vegas’ youth basketball scene. His notoriety spread and he received his first scholarship offer when he was 14 from UNLV.

But before committing anywhere, Brown Jr. had to make it through high school. Nevada has two of the premier high school basketball schools in the country in Bishop Gorman and Findlay Prep, which have created dozens of Division I recruits and a handful of NBA players. Brown Jr. could’ve played at either if he wanted. Instead, he chose Centennial High, a public school where his sister Jada won a state title. He wanted to follow in her footsteps and win a state title for himself. He also wanted to play with his friends, most of whom were going to Centennial.

Playing for a coach like Todd Allen only sweetened the deal.

Allen turned the Centennial program around during his tenure, and the Browns liked the team-oriented style that Allen preached.

Allen heard rumors that Brown Jr. was considering choosing his program over the perennial powerhouses like Gorman and Findlay. So Allen went to watch the eighth grader workout, introduce himself and see what the hype was all about.  

“First time I saw him work out, I knew he was going to be special,” Allen said. “You sit there and think, ‘There’s no way this kid is an eighth-grader. There’s no way.’”

Brown Jr. started all four years at Centennial, leading the Bulldogs to a record of 95-17 while averaging double figures in points every year. A 6-foot-7 point guard, he could smother opposing players on defense or rise over them for dunks and jumpers. He earned McDonald’s All-American honors in 2017, played in the Jordan Brand Classic this past summer, and won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2016 U17 FIBA World Championships — a feat that he routinely brings up to his sisters.

Oregon Ducks forward Troy Brown (0) holds the ball away from an opponent. The Oregon Ducks play the Northwest Christian Beacons for their home opener at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. (AdamEberhardr/Emerald)

He made the most of his time at Centennial. Stepback jumpers, ankle-breaking crossovers and vicious dunks were in store whenever Brown Jr. took the court. His most viral play came in December of his senior year when he dunked on 6-foot-11 Marvin Bagley, a consensus top-three player in the country.

“He’s had dozens of highlight plays and clutch moments that he capitalized on,” said Darian Scott, a high school teammate of Brown Jr. “You will see him doing something impressive every night he’s on the floor. I guarantee it.”

What made Brown Jr. special was what made players like Bird and Hardaway special; he elevated the play of his teammates and inspired others to perform better.

Allen remembers Brown Jr.’s sophomore year when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski visited Centennial. Krzyzewski, who is a two-time inductee of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, could only think of one comparison for Brown Jr.: Magic Johnson, the 6-foot-9, Hall of Fame point guard who won five NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.

“[Krzyzewski] told me that Troy has the ability, with his makeup, to be that good if he chooses to,” Allen said.

Despite all Brown Jr. accomplished in high school, Centennial lost in the state playoffs in each of his four years. He graduated from Centennial in 2017 with a sense of “unfinished business,” according to his father.

“I think it’s driven him to continue to work hard,” Brown Sr. said. “I think just like everything else, he kind of takes it and uses it as energy to drive him.”

Oregon and beyond

By the time he graduated, Brown Jr. had already committed to Oregon. He signed with the Ducks in November of 2016 after Oregon made a late push for him in the fall. He enrolled in early June of this year.

He liked Altman and his staff, which was a primary reason he chose Oregon over Kansas, a more traditional blue-blood program and the place his sister Jada played basketball for four years. Altman said he’s enjoyed working with Brown Jr. in the few months he’s been on campus. He called Brown Jr. a “really good talent” and said that he’s been “easy to work with.”

Oregon Ducks forward Troy Brown (0) dribbles past Prairie View A&M Panthers guard Shaquille Preston (22). The Oregon Ducks play the Prairie View A&M Panthers at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

“Troy is gonna be unbelievable,” sophomore Payton Pritchard said. “He’s gonna have to step up big for us this year.”

The one drawback with Brown Jr., though, is that this could be his only year in an Oregon uniform. Several NBA mock drafts list him as a potential first-round pick. If those predictions hold up, he would be guaranteed millions of dollars if he makes the jump to the pros, a tough offer to reject.

Oregon had three players drafted last year, the most in a single year in program history. Brown Jr. could make Oregon history again this year by being the first Duck to go one-and-done.

“We haven’t had those types of issues before,” Altman said. “… Fortunately for us, he’s just worried about the year.”

Brown Jr. himself said he’s not thinking about the draft.

“One and done is always in the picture,” Brown Jr. told John Canzano on The Bald Faced Truth back in May. “But I never really thought of it like that. I’m just here to play basketball and whatever happens, happens.”

He has time to make that decision — June 11 is the deadline. Oregon’s season will be long over by then, but Brown Jr. will be sure to make every moment of his career as a Duck count, no matter how long it lasts.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

The post What can Brown do for you: How Troy Brown became Oregon’s next big thing appeared first on Emerald Media.

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

Despite turning the ball over 12 times and committing 23 fouls in the game, Oregon outscored Prairie View A&M by 24 points in the second half for a 100-67 win Monday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

By no means did Oregon (2-0) play its best, but head coach Dana Altman liked the improvement he saw from his squad coming off of Friday’s season opener against Coppin State.

“I thought our activity was a little better,” Altman said. “We still gotta get our ball movement much better on the offensive end. Defensively we talked a little better. ….  It was a step in the right direction.”

Oregon held a nine-point lead at halftime, but turned the pace up coming out of the break. The Ducks outscored Prairie View (0-2) 19-0 on fastbreak points, with 14 of those coming in the second half. A Troy Brown layup with 10:03 left in the game put Oregon up 65-44.

The Ducks are trying to play with a higher tempo this season, but it’s one of the many areas that they feel they can improve on at this point in the year.

“I think at times we have spurts where we play as fast as we want to but it needs to be more consistent over the course of the whole game,” Keith Smith said, who finished with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting. “We want to push it a lot more than we actually do.”

Aside from picking up the tempo, Oregon also picked up its defensive intensity. The Ducks came out with more activity in their zone press, forcing 12 Panther turnovers in the second half. That, in turn, led to more fastbreak opportunities which helped Oregon build momentum, and its lead, as the game went on.

“In the first half, I feel like we were getting kind of lackadaisical with the press,” said Troy Brown. “But having V.J. [Bailey] up top and Keith up top, it really helped us push up and make them have a lot of turnovers.”

Roman Sorkin stole the show on Friday with his career night, but Monday’s matchup showed more parity on the scoreboard.

Five Ducks scored double figures, including Paul White, who was making his Oregon debut after missing Friday’s season opener with a foot injury. He scored 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three. M.J. Cage also made his Oregon debut, scoring one point and grabbing two rebounds in four minutes of play.

Troy Brown scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, both team highs, and dished out four assists. He wasn’t the only freshman to contribute. Bailey and Abu Kigab scored 15 and 10 points off the bench, respectively.

While the scoring increased with the change of tempo, the fouls and turnovers did as well. The game turned into a parade to the free throw line as the two teams’ shot 31 of the 49 free throw of the game in the second half. Oregon also turned the ball over six more times in the second half, a number that Altman said needs to decrease as the Ducks prepare for better competition in the coming weeks.

“We can’t be an effective offense if we’re turning the sucker over all the time,” Altman said.

Oregon welcomes Alabama State (0-2) to Matthew Knight on Friday, looking to stay undefeated on the year.

Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris

The post Oregon beats Prairie View A&M behind strong second-half play appeared first on Emerald Media.