The Four Factors:

• Field goal percentage (eFG): Regular field goal percentage with additional weight given to three-pointers
• Turnover rate (TOV): Measurement of ball security
• Rebounding percentage (Reb): Percentage of the possible rebounds an offense or defense collects
• Free throw rate (FTR): Rate at which a team gets to the foul line, or fouls the opposing team

A lot has changed since Oregon dropped a 85-77 decision to Washington in Seattle.

To start, Oregon has gained a bit of an identity on both offense and defense. Its ball movement has improved and its communication on defense has improved.

But the biggest factor in Wednesday’s game has nothing to do with Oregon at all. The dismissal of Washington’s 7-footer Robert Upshaw, who averaged 10.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and a nation leading 4.47 blocks per game, has already made a significant impact on how the Huskies defend.

In the first game after Upshaw’s dismissal, Stanford center Stefan Nastic dominated the Huskies, going 8-11 from the field for 17 points. The Cardinal amassed a 52 percent shooting percentage, with a large portion of those baskets coming from the lane.

So, the Four Factors for this game should be disrupted slightly, particularly in Washington’s rebounding and shooting percentages. The statistics used in the diagrams account for Washington’s entire season, which includes Upshaw’s contributions.

Washington runs an inside-out offense, as Upshaw wasn’t the only threat the Huskies had down low. Senior forward Shawn Kemp and junior forward Mike Anderson are both capable rebounders and inside scorers, but after those two, Washington’s front court depth comparable to Oregon’s.

On the perimeter, Nigel Williams Goss is a servicable slashing guard while Andrew Andrews sticks on the perimeter. The Huskies aren’t a very good perimeter team at all, as they rank last in the Pac-12 in three point percentage. Their high expected field goal percentage comes from their good two point shooting percentage, which ranks third in the Pac-12 at 50 percent.

With Upshaw out, Oregon should have an advantage in all of the four offensive factors.

The Huskies were a popular pick to make the NCAA Tournament because of their stellar defense, which was almost completely anchored by Upshaw’s presence. Washington is ranked fifth in the conference in field goal percentage against at 42.4 percent, and second in two point field goal percentage against at 44.3 percent.

After Stanford’s offensive performance against the Huskies, it was obvious to see that Upshaw’s rim-protection was the biggest factor in Washington’s success. Even if he didn’t pick up a statistic on plays, Upshaw’s frame prevented easy trips to the basket and adjusted nearly every shot that he could stand in front of. Without him, Washington’s defense took a big step backward.

If Oregon can attack the basket against a team without a strong rim protector, like it did in the first half of its game against Arizona State, the Ducks will succeed.

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On Saturday morning, the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers were undefeated and were likely the best basketball team in the country outside of No. 1 ranked Kentucky.

Head coach Tony Bennett built a reliable system that demanded crisp offensive execution and a dominant defense, while having just one McDonald’s All-American.

No. 4 Duke, which had three losses in its past six games, headed to Charlottesville to take on Virginia with eight McDonald’s All-Americans.

That’s the same amount as No. 1 Kentucky, which has famously platooned its players to accommodate the needs of multiple high-grade NBA prospects.

The contest between the two heavyweights started out with Virginia in front. The Cavaliers smothered the Blue Devils’ offense and ran its offensive sets to perfection.

At halftime, Duke’s freshman-phenom Jalil Okafor had more turnovers than he did points. The Blue Devils didn’t even have one three-pointer until about halfway through the second half.

But when Duke’s shots started to fall, Virginia was put under the microscope.

Duke had players that could create shots, Virginia didn’t. When the plays broke down, Duke succeeded and made clutch shots, Virginia failed and withered.

When it was all said and done, Duke emerged with a big 69-63 win.

It was another display of a non-traditional basketball program, with a clear identity and winning streak, falling short against a highly-talented, historically vaunted program.

Virginia’s narrative was much more enjoyable than Duke’s to the nation at-large.

Who wouldn’t cheer for the grass-root start-up over the corporate machine?

But, just like business, money – or talent – talks.

To win in college basketball, teams need talent. The players might not need to be identified as a McDonald’s All-Americans or five-star recruits, but top-notch talent will always beat well-coached hustle players.

Even some of the best Cinderella stories, like Davidson, VCU, Butler or UConn had high-end NBA talent on their rosters.

Teams like Virginia, Gonzaga and Wisconsin may very well find themselves playing deep into the NCAA Tournament. But when they have to face teams that combine hustle and talent like Kentucky, Duke, Louisville or even Arizona, they are going to be a step behind.

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Despite a horrific end to regulation, the Oregon men’s basketball team picked up a hard earned 68-67 victory over Arizona State in overtime at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.

Elgin Cook led the Ducks (15-7, 5-4) with 23 points, but Joseph Young’s late game heroics pushed Oregon over the top.

In the first half, the Ducks attempted just one free throw, but committed only three turnovers and shot 50 percent from the field. Oregon also outscored ASU 15-0 in points off of turnovers to establish a bit of separation early on.

A well played first half gave Oregon a 34-29 lead at halftime, but a slew of Shaquille McKissic three pointers to start the second half put ASU right back in the game. McKissic finished with 24 points, five rebounds, one assist, two steals and a blocked shot.

Following McKissic’s fifth three pointer at the 15:13 mark in the second half, ASU went cold. The team went 2-14 from beyond the three-point line. The Sun Devils also shot just 46 percent from the free throw line, but found a way to lock down its defense.

ASU forced nine turnovers and pushed the Ducks’ shooting percentages below 45 percent in the second half.

With both teams struggling on offense, the two teams’ playmakers had to step up in the stretch run.

ASU called a timeout with 1:06 left in regulation, down by one. The Ducks executed well on defense and forced a Sun Devil miss, but Cook touched the rebound last as it ricocheted out of bounds, giving ASU a chance to win the game with the shot clock off.

Instead, McKissic attempted a quick shot off of an inbound pass and missed. Bell collected the rebound and pushed the ball up to Young, who promptly knocked down two clutch free throws to give Oregon a 60-57 lead.

ASU moved the ball up-court quickly and got a clean look at a three, but missed, giving Ahmad Rorie a chance to ice the game at the free throw line.

With the stadium roaring, Rorie missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving ASU the ball back down three points with 14 seconds left. The Sun Devils passed the ball around the perimeter and McKissic wound up with it.

From the left elbow, McKissic rose above two defenders and drained an off-balance three, tying the game.

In overtime, the teams could only muster four field goals. But, Oregon went 6-6 from the free throw line in overtime, keeping them right alongside the Sun Devils in the final moments.

With a minute remaining in overtime, McKissic and Young traded baskets, giving ASU a chance to win the game on the final possession, but the Ducks played strong defense and kept the Sun Devils on the perimeter. Before ASU could set a play up, the clock ran out.

Young and Cook scored each of Oregon’s points in overtime, with Young scoring the final four points that helped Oregon stretch and regain its lead in the late going.

After a string mistakes nearly cost it the game, Oregon emerged victorious. The win marks Oregon’s first Pac-12 road win.

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The Four Factors:

• Field goal percentage (eFG): Regular field goal percentage with additional weight given to three-pointers
• Turnover rate (TOV): Measurement of ball security
• Rebounding percentage (Reb): Percentage of the possible rebounds an offense or defense collects
• Free throw rate (FTR): Rate at which a team gets to the foul line, or fouls the opposing team

After getting thumped by Arizona, Oregon will face an entirely different challenge against Arizona State on Friday.

The Sun Devils (11-10, 3-5) have an offense based on the perimeter, but ASU still rebounds well and draws fouls at a decent rate. ASU’s defense gives up its fair share of baskets, ranking No. 11 in the Pac-12 in shooting percentage against, but keeps its opponents off the boards very well and causes plenty of turnovers.

Despite Arizona State’s strength on the defensive boards, Oregon (14-7, 4-4) matches up well with the Sun Devils.

Oregon claimed advantage in expected field goal percentage in nearly every game this season, but because the statistic weighs three-pointers more than two-pointers, Arizona State’s strong perimeter game gives it a slight advantage over the Ducks in that category. The Sun Devils also have a major advantage in free throw rate, while Oregon has an edge on the offensive glass and in turnover percentage.

In their last meeting, Oregon held Arizona State to 40 percent shooting, mostly due to the Sun Devils going 3-17 from three point range. If Oregon can shift back to the offensive prowess it showed against the LA schools last week, most of the burden in this contest will fall on Oregon’s defense.

The defensive statistics are also fairly even. Oregon has better field goal percentages against and free throw rates, but Arizona State rebounds more efficiently on defense and causes more turnovers.

The Sun Devils rank No. 11 in the Pac-12 in shooting percentage against, but No. 2 in turnovers forced and No. 5 in points per game at 65.4 points allowed.  ASU’s impressive rebound rate represents a reason for concern on Oregon’s part. In each of their conference losses, the Ducks have been significantly out-rebounded on both ends of the court.

Arizona State out-rebounded Oregon State 28-20 and shot 15 more free throws (23-8,) en route to an easy 73-55 win over the Beavers on Wednesday.

If the Ducks’ offense throws away opportunities like it did in Tucson, Arizona State has the template that will give Oregon trouble. If Arizona State is hitting its outside shots and Oregon fails to take care of the ball, the Ducks might be in for a tough night in Tempe.

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No. 6 Arizona buried the Oregon men’s basketball team with an explosive 19-4 run in the second half to coast to a 90-56 victory on Wednesday night in Tucson.

After trailing by 15 at halftime, Oregon (14-7, 4-4) cut the Wildcats’ lead down to 10 points with 13:06 left to play. Arizona (19-2, 7-1) head coach Sean Miller quickly called a timeout and his team responded with a 19-4 run that flushed away the Ducks’ chances at an upset.

Whenever the Wildcats’ offense briefly fell out of sync, the defense quickly locked down the Oregon attack.

Whenever Oregon fell out of sync, Arizona capitalized, leading to a lopsided Wildcats win.

The Wildcats shot 59.3 percent from the field, held Oregon to 40.4 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Ducks 34 to 20 in a dominant display of their superior talent and athleticism.

Each of Arizona’s starters finished in double figures, while Gabe York chipped in 16 points off the bench.

Elgin Cook led the Ducks with 16 points on 7-11 shooting. Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell held Joe Young to just 12 points. Dillon Brooks had a rough night and went 2-10 from the field, but made seven free throws to finish with 11 points.

Freshman Roman Sorkin received valuable minutes in his second career game, but looked rattled in the face of elite competition. Sorkin finished with one rebound and two turnovers in seven minutes.

Oregon has now lost all three of its conference road games and has given up at least 85 points in each of those contests.

The Ducks will have to regroup quickly as they head north to Tempe to take on Arizona State on Friday at 5 p.m.

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Following its impressive sweep of USC and UCLA, the Oregon men’s basketball team is in search of its first quality win of the season against No. 6 Arizona in Tucson.

The Wednesday night game represents more than just another measuring stick. It is one of the Ducks’ few chances to pick up a quality win and improve their chances at participating in the NCAA tournament.

Last time, Arizona had no problem dispatching an unorganized and undisciplined Oregon team in Eugene. The Wildcats dominated the glass, limited their turnovers, shot almost 50 percent from the field and earned plenty of free throws in the 80-62 win.

On defense, the Wildcats held the Ducks well below their season average in field goal percentage.

It was a textbook win for a physical, defense-oriented Arizona team.

If the Ducks want to reverse their fortune against the Wildcats, they’ll have to utilize several strengths in key statistical areas to pull off an upset.

Those strengths can be identified through a handful of key statistics called the Four Factors:

• Field goal percentage (eFG): Regular field goal percentage with additional weight given to three-pointers
• Turnover rate (TOV): Measurement of ball security
• Rebounding percentage (Reb): Percentage of the possible rebounds an offense or defense collects
• Free throw rate (FTR): Rate at which a team gets to the foul line, or fouls the opposing team

The first chart describes the differences between Oregon’s and Arizona’s offenses. Both are relatively effective. Oregon has one of the highest expected field goal percentages in the country at 51.8 percent, but Arizona’s strong interior offense puts them even higher on the list at 54 percent.

Both teams have low turnover rates.

Oregon owns a slight edge in rebound percentage while Arizona is one of the best teams in the country at drawing fouls. The first time Arizona and Oregon met on the hardwood this season, the Wildcats scored 24 points on free throws alone. Expect that to be a telling sign of Oregon’s success on Wednesday night.

Oregon can exploit its high rebound rate, a product of the Ducks’ aggressive scoring forwards. The Ducks will need a shooting performance similar to the one they employed against UCLA on Saturday. But if their shots are not falling, Jordan Bell, Dillon Brooks, Michael Chandler and maybe Roman Sorkin should crash the boards and earn second-chance points. That won’t be easy against the stifling Arizona front court.

Arizona’s defense is devastating because of its rebounding. Arizona collects 77 percent of its opponent’s missed shots. The Wildcats may not lead the conference in total rebounds, but they do lead the Pac-12 in rebounds against, meaning Arizona keeps teams off the offensive boards extremely well (as shown by the chart above).

Arizona also forces a decent number of turnovers. The team leads the conference and the Wildcats claim one of the nation’s best defensive turnover rates — they’re in the top 50.

Oregon’s two slight advantages come in expected field goal percentage against and free throw rate. The Ducks need to prevent easy baskets. If Bell can stay out of foul trouble, Oregon’s guards can pressure Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell and funnel ball handlers towards Bell in the paint.

The Ducks have a tough task ahead of them. Arizona’s rebounding and efficiency on offense will likely be too much to overcome unless the Ducks continue their hot shooting streak.

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– Oregon men’s basketball used a scorching hot first half to bury the visiting UCLA Bruins 82-64 on Saturday.

– The Ducks’ women’s basketball team forced overtime against Arizona, but fell just short of picking up a Pac-12 win 81-78.

– Katelyn Loper welcomes change for the better with head coach Kelly Graves at the helm.

– Oregon track and field dominated the distance events at the Rod McCravy Invitational. The Ducks set event and school records in the 5000 and distance medley.

– The men’s tennis team had a rough outing against No. 7 North Carolina in a 4-0 shutout. The women’s tennis team had a bit more success in their 6-1 win over UNLV.

– Football received a commitment from three star linebacker Fotu Leiato over UCLA and Oklahoma.

– Oregon women’s soccer assistant coach Manny Martin has been on an inspiring journey from Portugal to Eugene.

– Marcus Mariota suffered a shoulder sprain in the national championship game. The Heisman winner told staradvertiser.com that he’s still making a decision on whether or not to throw at the upcoming NFL combine.

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Oregon men’s basketball took advantage of a scorching start from the field to blow out UCLA 82-64 at Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday.

In the first half, the Ducks (14-6, 4-3) shot 75 percent from the field, went 6-7 from three-point range and held UCLA (11-9, 3-4) to 42.9 percent shooting to build an insurmountable 46-31 lead by halftime. Oregon finished with a 62.3 percent shooting clip on a day where everything seemed to go its way.

“Coach always says we have 10 games making it and 10 games where we’re not going to make it,” Jalil Abdul-Bassit said. “Today was one of those nights where we shot the ball well.”

While its actual shooting percentage may have been an anomaly, Oregon consistently found good shots with ball movement and unselfish play.

“All the made baskets provide a lot of energy,” head coach Dana Altman said. “We really talked the last couple of days about if we didn’t like what we got in transition, make them guard a bit more. I thought our possessions went longer and we got better shots because of it.”

Dwayne Benjamin had a flawless 6-6 performance from the floor, with three uncontested three-point baskets. Ahmaad Rorie shot 4-4 from the field to bolster Oregon’s gaudy percentages.

Joseph Young, the Ducks’ leading scorer, finished with 16. In all, five Ducks finished with double-digit scoring totals, including four of the five starters. Jordan Bell rounded out the unit to lead the team with seven rebounds and five assists.

“If we move the ball, everyone can make open shots,” Benjamin said.

Defensively, the Ducks weren’t perfect. But after their shooting barrage in the first half, there wasn’t much UCLA could do to get back into the game. Norman Powell and Bryce Alford led the way for the Bruins with 23 and 15 points, respectively. Kevon Looney chipped in 15 points despite fouling out early in the second half.

With the absence of center Tony Parker, UCLA’s weak supporting cast was the difference in the game. Outside of Alford, Powell and Looney, the Bruins went 5-22 from the field for just 11 points.

UCLA finished the game with 41 percent shooting, just below their season average of 46 percent.

To finish off the near-perfect game for Oregon, freshman Roman Sorkin made his debut with a smooth jump shot to close out the game.

“He’s going to have opportunities,” Altman said. “He’s picked things up quick. He definitely needs strength… But his skill level – you could see from the one shot he took – it comes out of his hand pretty nice.”

With a huge confidence boost under its belt, Oregon heads out to Tucson, Arizona to take on the No. 7 Wildcats on Wednesday night in search of its first quality win of the season.

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Following back-to-back losses on the road to both Washington and Washington State, Oregon head coach Dana Altman recapped the weekend, discussed what the team has been working on in practice and is looking forward to the team’s upcoming game against USC.

Were you disappointed in the way the team handled its first Pac-12 road trip?

We scored a lot of points. Offensively, we moved the ball pretty well, but defensively we were not good. There’s no other way I can put it. It wasn’t just the new guys, it was all of us. Again, I’ve got to take my share of the responsibility; it’s my job to get them in the right spot and get them to communicate. We didn’t perform well defensively in either game. I thought in the first half against Washington we did a nice job, but obviously in the second half we had a lot of breakdowns.

What have you been focusing on in practice?

Defensively, we’ve got to get better. We’re making a lot of mistakes. Not a lot of communication going on and guys out of position. That’s my fault. Fundamentally we’ve just got to get more sound, but then we’ve got to turn it up a notch too. That’s on them. We’ve all got to work together here and get a lot better defensively.

What are some things you have been doing to improve the communication?

We spent the whole practice yesterday defensively and just trying to get guys in the right position, talking. We did a lot of transition defense, USC has a very good transition team, so we worked a lot on that. It’s not rocket science, we’ve just got to get guys back and got to get them working together.

Does this weekend have a big impact on where your season could go?

Home games are always really important; conference home games do determine a lot of your fate. They have the previous three or four years, so I think they will this year also. It’s a big weekend for us, just because you’re at home.

Talk about USC’s point guards.

They’ve got two good ones. (Jordan) McLaughlin is a freshman, (Julian) Jacobs is a sophomore, they’re both good players. They’ve got a lot of quickness at the point, we’re going to have to control their transition. Both of those guys can get to the rim and cause teams to break down. Our guys are going to have to do a great job out front.

Talk about Joseph Young approaching the 1000 point milestone and his impact at Oregon.

In a two year span, that’s pretty good. There’s not a lot of guys that do that. He has been a wonderful scorer for us. Last year we had a lot more veterans around him. This year he’s got a younger team that he’s got to work with so it’s been a little harder on him. He’s an accomplished scorer, he scores in a lot of different ways. He’s had a solid year for us, but he’s had a couple of games where he’s put a little too much pressure on himself. He needs to lighten up a little bit and it’s awfully hard because he’s trying to make a great impression and he wants our team to win so bad. He just needs to relax at times and let the game come to him, but it’s quite an accomplishment to score so many points in 40 to 50 games.

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Pac-12 basketball has been out of the college basketball penthouse for a while.

With three teams in the mock NCAA tournament bracket, ESPN’s bracketology currently has the Pac-12 as the most underrepresented major conference in the country.

Perennial powerhouse conferences, like the Big East and ACC, are predicted to have nearly half of their members represented in March. On the other hand, the Pac-12 might be lucky to have more than two teams participating when the bracket is finalized.

No. 7 Arizona and No. 12 Utah are the two teams that look to have locked down a bid, while Stanford represents the only Pac-12 team not in the top 25 to make it onto the latest bracket prediction.

ESPN and CBS currently project Arizona to receive a No. 2 seed, while ESPN gave Utah a No. 3 seed and CBS picked the Utes as a No. 4 seed. Both outlets placed Stanford as a No. 8 seed.

One of the most reliable ranking systems used by the selection committee is the Ratings Percentage Index – which weighs strength of schedule, conference strength, and out of conference schedules when evaluating teams.

Currently, the teams that were selected to be the “last teams in,” have an average ranking of 51 in the RPI. The “first teams out,” have an average ranking of 49. The slight disparity between the two signals that the selection committee favors teams with lesser records in major conferences.

Oregon’s case for an at-large bid is pretty far-fetched.

The Ducks are ranked No. 91, have no victories over the top 50 teams and played one of the nation’s worst out of conference schedules according to the RPI.

For Oregon to have a shot, it would need to reverse its course against its competition. Other than Arizona and Utah, the only two Pac-12 teams in the RPI’s top 50 are Stanford and Washington, which have RPI rankings of No. 25 and No. 48.

At this point, Oregon would have to pick up a win against either Arizona or Utah, sweep the remaining Pac-12 teams in the RPI top 50 and avoid bad losses to teams like USC and Arizona State from here on out.

This weekend, Oregon must take care of business against the Trojans, but if it has serious aspirations to make a tournament run, beating RPI ranked No. 65 UCLA  would go a long way.

While the Ducks are on the outside looking in at an NCAA tournament bid, an NIT or CBI postseason tournament bid could go a long way toward advancing the development of Oregon’s younger players.

Either way, if Oregon wants to win a game in any tournament, the team has to start improving its all-around play as soon as possible.

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