Behind Aaron Wise’s first-place finish, the Ducks started their spring season tied for third at the Amer Ari Invitational in Waikoloa, Hawaii.

Wise shot a career low eight-under 64 on the third and final round Saturday and finished the tournament 16-under overall. The win was the fourth of Wise’s college career and the second this season. This win also marks the second win for Wise in Hawaii after winning the Ka’anapali Classic in November 2014.

As a team, the Ducks shot 22-under, finishing in a third-place tie with Arizona State, trailing only UCLA (-27) and tournament winner USC (-29).

In addition to Wise, Zach Foushee finished a combined five-under to finish in a tie for 13th. Brandon McIver finished three-over, while Sulman Raza and Sam Foust, playing in place of Thomas Lim, finished five-over respectively.

After finishing the fall season with two disappointing finishes, the Oregon got back on track in its spring-opener. The Ducks have three weeks to prepare for Southwestern Jones Invitational on Feb. 29 in Westlake, Village California.

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When Teddy Oitzman verbally committed in January 2015 to play golf for Oregon, his work wasn’t done. Oitzman was still trying to convince his friend, Roberto Lebrija, to join him.

The two became friends when Lebrija moved from Mexico City to Oitzman’s hometown of Rancho Santa Fe, California. They began playing together at their home course, The Bridges.

Lebrija visited and gave his verbal commitment to Oregon six months after Oitzman. Oitzman and Lebrija made their commitments official when Oregon head coach Casey Martin signed the two, as well as Kevin Geniza, to National Letters of Intent last November.

The Emerald spoke to Oitzman in a phone interview about his goals for freshman year and his relationship with Lebrija.

Emerald: What factored into your decision of coming to Oregon?

Teddy Oitzman: It was basically, ‘Am I going to choose Pac-12 or Ivy League golf?’ At Columbia, I got a good vibe there, but it was essentially, ‘Do I want to give playing on the (PGA) Tour a good chance? If I do, go play at a Oregon …’ That was ultimately my decision. I said to myself, ‘Do I want to be 22 or 23 years old and didn’t get that much better in college? Or go play at Oregon and have a really good chance of playing on tour.’ My goal is to play on tour, and going to Oregon gives me the best chance of doing that.

E: Since you’re from Southern California, playing in great conditions year round, was it difficult to commit to a place like Oregon that has bad weather for several months of the year?

TO: It kind of sucks playing in rain, but then again I need to get better playing in it. In the PGA Tour, they play in pretty good weather all year. But obviously there’s places, in Europe or wherever, you’re going to play in rain.

If you can break par in Eugene when it’s rainy and windy … I think it will help me a lot.

E: How did you and Roberto come to know each other?

TO: He moved here [Rancho Santa Fe] the summer going into our sophomore year from Mexico City. We play a course called The Bridges in Rancho Santa Fe. It’s a [small] community.  He moved in a pitching-wedge distance away from my house. I started seeing him play at the club when he moved here. We had known each other from national team events, but became really good friends playing golf here every single day.

E: Casey Martin mentioned that you and Roberto are buddies and chose to come to Oregon together. How did that happen?

TO: Yeah, our sophomore year, Roberto and I told each other we were going to play golf at Stanford together. But neither of us really meshed with [Stanford men’s golf head coach] Conrad Ray. It wasn’t for us ultimately, but we still wanted to go to school together.

I committed to Oregon six months before Roberto and I said, ‘Dude, you have to come look at this place … The facilities are great, the home course (Eugene Country Club) is awesome … Casey’s really good, Van’s really good.’

So he went up to Oregon, visited and decided he was going to go there.

E: When you get to U of O, do you have any other short or long-term goals?

TO: Yeah, definitely. When I committed, I didn’t think I was going to start my freshman year. I started working with a new swing coach and new chipping coach in the last six months and my game has improved a lot … It’s helped me gain some confidence. So a goal of mine is to start at least a few events in the fall of my freshman year.

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Only twice in 35 previous tries had Oregon defeated both Arizona and Arizona State in the same road trip. After snapping Arizona’s 49-game home win streak on Thursday, the Ducks avoided a letdown. Their 91-74 win over Arizona State clinched Oregon’s third sweep of the Arizona schools in the team’s history, and the first since the 2011-12 season.

The Ducks (18-4, 7-2 Pac-12) came out hot early, leading by as many as 13 points in the first five minutes of the game. Arizona State (12-10, 2-7) didn’t go quietly, however, and trailed by just one point, 37-36 at halftime.

The teams traded blows into the second half, until Chris Boucher’s back-to-back threes gave the Ducks a 61-50 lead with 12:22 left. Arizona State didn’t get any closer than seven points for the remainder of the game.

Boucher played his best game at Oregon to date, scoring a career-high 26 points, including 4-of-8 from deep to go along with 10 rebounds and seven blocks.

“He had another great game and really got some separation for us hitting a couple threes in the second half,” head coach Dana Altman said in an interview with Oregon IMG Sports Network after the game. “Other than the turnovers and a few bad possessions offensively, we did some good things.”

Three other Ducks scored in double figures: Dillon Brooks (18), Tyler Dorsey (16) and Elgin Cook (14).

The win kept Oregon in sole possession of first place, while Colorado, USC, Utah and Washington are all tied for second with 6-3 conference records.

“This is a good road trip for us, we needed a couple wins,” Altman said. “A long way to go, we’ve got a tough week ahead of us.”

The Ducks return home to face Colorado and Utah next week, beginning with Colorado on Thursday at 6 p.m.

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For the first time in nearly a decade, Oregon women’s ultimate — also known as Fugue — will play a season without former head coach Lou Burruss.

Burruss retired as Fugue’s coach for personal reasons following the team’s win against Stanford in the 2015 USA College Ultimate Championship. As one of the most innovative coaches in college ultimate, Fugue will have a different look without Burruss.

However, Fugue returns six of seven players from the 2011 class: Olivia Bartruff, Rachel Hershey, Bethany Kaylor, Rachel Lanning Alex Ode and Jesse Shofner – the most fifth-year seniors the team has had in recent memory.

“It’s very unusual,” Kaylor said.

In all, Fugue lost only three players to graduation last season, and return experience in practically every position. The fifth-year experience will be especially important without Burruss, not only in teaching fundamentals to new players, but also to insure the team doesn’t get complacent after a championship-winning season. Although Fugue has made it to the championship game in each of the last four seasons, they’ve never repeated as champions.

“I think it’s helpful that all these players have won a national championship and lost a national championship,” Kaylor said. “… It might not be pretty, it usually isn’t, but it’s a really valuable experience to have. I think it’s what’s gotten us this far.”

But contrary to what the team’s past successes suggest, Fugue values other team goals just as much as winning championships. When the team lost to Ohio State in the 2014 championship, the team rallied around each other during adverse times.

“That year was my favorite year coaching because even though we lost in finals, the players had achieved our goal of loving and supporting each other through the good and the bad,” said Katie Weatherhead, who replaced Burruss as head coach.

Weatherhead, a former Fugue player and assistant coach, has spent eight seasons combined as either a player or coach in Burruss’s system.

“I’m still doing all of my duties I had in the past including calling lines and assessing individual performance, but also adding some more strategic guidance and big picture goals,” Weatherhead said. “…I feel pretty confident in my ability to continue the philosophies (Burruss) has instilled in this team.”

Fugue began the 2016 season on Saturday with at the Bellingham Invite in Bellingham, Washington. The team beat Whitman, Western Washington, University of Washington and Victoria, while dropping its only game of the day 11-13 to University of British Columbia.

The tournament offered an early look at what the 2016 team could be capable of, but also where it needs to improve.

“The team looked stellar,” Weatherhead said.  “This preseason tournament is a really great opportunity to find out who we are and recognize what we need to work on.”

The post-Burruss era has officially begun for Oregon Fugue. The thought of winning back-to-back championships is remains on the minds of players, especially the fifth-year seniors. Complacency left Fugue unable to do so in years past, but with the returning experience and talent, 2016 could finally be the repeat year.

“We definitely have the talent and heart for a repeat this season,” Weatherhead said, “but only time will tell if these ladies can pull it off.”

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Few days go by in which Van Williams doesn’t think about the morning his heart stopped beating.

Williams, now in his third year as an Oregon men’s golf assistant coach, was out on a run in Eugene the morning of Nov. 30, 2014. He intended to meet his wife, Dani Williams, somewhere along the last few miles. He never showed up.

Dani called him to find out where he was, but another person answered, telling her that Van was lying unconscious on the side of the road.

Dani hurried to her husband and when she got to him, found Van not breathing. Just as she arrived, an off-duty nurse spotted the two as he was driving by. The nurse recognized that Van had gone into cardiac arrest and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. Paramedics continued to resuscitate Van on the way to the hospital. After 11 minutes without a pulse, his heart started beating again.

Van awoke from a coma the following afternoon to find that nothing was wrong with his heart. All tests came back normal.

“I truly believe it was a miracle,” Van said. “Just thankful that God allowed that miracle to take place.”

Van returned home to Dani and their four children a few days later, grateful to be alive.

The news of Van’s near-fatal episode certainly came as a shock to the Oregon men’s golf team. Head coach Casey Martin said he knew something was wrong when Dani called him that morning.

“I remember I was getting ready to go to church on a Sunday morning and I get this call from Dani and I’m like, ‘Huh, that’s weird,’ ” Martin said. “I picked it up and she said, ‘Look, something bad happened.’ I went in immediately to the ER, saw him and I thought he was a dead man.”

Martin hired Williams in July 2013 after then-assistant Brad Lanning took a job as Loyola Marymount’s head men’s golf coach.

Martin and Williams had known each other since they met at a PGA Tour event in 1998, and became good friends when Williams caddied for Martin on the tour from 2001 to 2004.

Before coming to Oregon, Williams was coaching golf and basketball at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Williams kept in contact with Martin, often calling Martin to pick his brain about golf coaching techniques. Though Williams’ goal was to become a Division I basketball coach, he told Martin of his growing desire to continue coaching golf. Once Lanning’s departure became official, Martin flew Williams out to Eugene during the July 4th weekend for an interview. Williams accepted the job shortly thereafter.

In the two and a half years since, Williams has helped coach two NCAA Championship qualifying teams and developed the likes of Thomas Lim and Aaron Wise, who each made the All-Pac-12 freshmen team in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

“Van is an interesting coach to have, because he doesn’t come from a golf background like a lot of assistants do, but he comes from a competitive background,” Wise said. “He’s someone we can turn to as players, someone we can talk to, someone who cheers us up when we’re down on the golf course.”

On the anniversary of his accident, Williams hiked Spencer Butte in the morning by himself, taking time to reflect on the experience and the year that followed.

“Any time that I complain, my wife smiles at me and says, ‘Yup, thankful you’re alive,’ ” Williams said. “It kind of puts in perspective anything that you go through in everyday life.”

The same perspective can be found among the men’s golf team. Those who were around the team a year ago haven’t forgotten Van’s scare. It serves as a reminder of how much the team is connected beyond the golf course.

“I think that was a big eye opener to us,” Lim said. “It’s a lot more than golf. We’re a family and we need to care about each other because you never know when people are gonna leave.”

Williams still wants to be a head coach someday, but has no plans to leave the Ducks in the immediate future.

“When those right positions begin to open up, I’ll apply, and I don’t know if that’s a year or 10 years,” Williams said. “I could definitely see myself here for a while. I’m in no rush.”

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– University of Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens was named to the the College Football Playoff selection committee on Thursday. Mullens will serve on the committee for three years along with three other newly-appointed members. Mullens will help preside over which top four teams make the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. He will also help in selecting the match-ups for the New Years Six Bowls.

“It is truly an honor to serve on the College Football Playoff selection committee,” Mullens said in a release. “I am looking forward to serving alongside the other distinguished members.”

– After getting its first Pac-12 win against Cal on Sunday, Oregon women’s basketball is hoping to rediscover the early season mojo that led to an 11-0 start. The Ducks travel to play Colorado and Utah this weekend, where they lost to both teams on the road last year. According to forward Jillian Alleyne, the team’s morale was high this week in practice.

“Coming to practice right now, it’s a super good vibe,” Alleyne said before Tuesday’s practice. “People are really happy-go-lucky right now. I think that will cause us to work a lot harder this week.”

– Newly-hired Oregon football defensive coordinator Brady Hoke’s contract is worth $1.8 million guaranteed over three years, according to The Oregonian’s Andrew Greif. Hoke’s annual $700,000 salary will be the highest ever for an Oregon defensive coordinator and isn’t far behind former offensive coordinator Scott Frost’s $755,000 salary in 2015. The contract can be found in its entirety here.

– Early into his collegiate career, men’s tennis freshman Thomas Laurent is proving to be a difference-maker for the team, writes the Emerald’s Jarrid Denney. Laurent is 3-0 in singles matches, having just arrived on campus at the start of winter term. The Montpelier, France native saw plenty of time on court no. 1 in last weekend’s victories over Seattle University and UC Santa Barbara. Going forward, head coach Nils Schyllander sees Laurent and senior Daan Maasland interchangeable in the top spot.

“For coaches, I think it’s good to have tough decisions to make in the lineup,” Oregon sophomore Simon Stevens said. “That means that a lot of players are ready to play and they are able to compete in every spot … That’s a good weapon to know that we can change a little bit. It’s definitely a luxury to put [Maasland] on two.”

– Oregon men’s basketball head coach Dana Altman was not pleased with his team picking up technical fouls in each of its last two games. The first incident occurred on Thursday against Utah after Jordan Bell converted a lay-in to put the Ducks up 16-7 and was subsequently whistled for a technical. Then in the first half of Saturday’s road game at Colorado, Dillon Brooks blocked a shot and also received a technical. Altman didn’t ask officials for an explanation on either call, though both likely came as a result of Bell and Brooks trash talking.

“We pride ourselves on not getting technicals and we had two in two games, so I was really disappointed there,” Altman said.

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The unsettled Pac-12 hierarchy is no closer to being solidified following Oregon’s 89-81 defeat of USC on Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena. It appears that it could be a good thing for the conference too.

The No. 21 Trojans (15-4, 4-2 Pac-12) came into Thursday’s game as only one of two ranked Pac-12 teams — No. 12 Arizona is the other, who USC upset on Jan. 9. In years past, the absence of a top 10 team almost certainly would’ve hurt the conference.

Not this season.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected eight of the 12 conference teams making the NCAA tournament in his latest bracketology released on Monday. Only three games separate one through 10 in the Pac-12 standings. Washington, the current leader of the conference with a 5-1 record, was picked by the media to finish 11th.

The Pac-12 is deep, and not just because of the standings. Seemingly any team can knock off another on any given night. Such was the case Thursday.

USC was starting to look like a conference contender, having won four of five, while Oregon had just lost a head-scratcher at Colorado. And it wasn’t as if USC laid an egg. They put up 40 points in both halves, had four players reach double digits and had four less turnovers than Oregon. The Ducks (15-4, 4-2) simply outplayed them.

“That’s a good basketball team,” head coach Dana Altman said. “They’re very athletic, very talented… I thought we played really hard and that was what we needed to do.”

The Trojans started hot, making their first five baskets. But the Ducks responded, tying the game 12-12 only three and a half minutes into the game.

The Ducks didn’t have their first lead until Elgin Cook found Chris Boucher for an alley-oop dunk to pull ahead 27-26 with 8:56 left in the first half. Five lead changes followed in the remaining eight minutes, before the Ducks took a 46-41 lead into halftime. They didn’t trail for the remainder of the game.

Yet Oregon was the overlooked team coming into this game, while USC and Washington commanded much of the conference’s attention.

“We don’t care,” Dwayne Benjamin said. “We just worry about the people in the locker room, trying to get better every game. We don’t worry about none of that.”

Oregon’s win moves them into a tie for second in the the Pac-12 with USC. However, Oregon and USC’s first matchup of the season came at only the one-third mark of conference play. 12 games still remain and Altman insists it’s too early to judge the depth of the conference.

“I don’t know if you really know where the conference is at until you get through nine games,” Altman said. “Halfway through I think is the first time you can really say who’s in good shape and who isn’t.”

Through six conference games, the Ducks should consider themselves in good shape. So should USC, and pretty much any team in the conference not named Arizona State or Washington State.

“It is a deep conference, we’re much deeper,” Altman said. “I’m not sure we’ve got an Arizona who’s dominating the league like they have the last two years, but I think the balance is much better… It’s going to be a very competitive year, no doubt.”

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Oregon men’s golf head coach Casey Martin was surprised when Kevin Geniza called him last October.

Geniza, a senior at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, had previously committed to Santa Clara University, only to decommit right before his senior year began.

Santa Clara initially attracted Geniza for several reasons: the facilities, great playing conditions year round and an opportunity to get a good education.

But, Santa Clara had a couple drawbacks. It didn’t have a coach with Martin’s coaching record and PGA Tour experience. It also wasn’t in a major conference with a schedule as competitive as the Pac-12’s.

Geniza aspires to play golf professionally, and he felt like Oregon gave him the best chance of doing so. Geniza called Martin to tell him he wanted to be a Duck, joining class of 2016 recruits Roberto Lebrija and Teddy Oitzman.

“I’ve known Casey pretty much through my whole junior career and I know that he’s been a great coach there,” Geniza said. “And Pac-12 golf, there’s no more competitive place to play. It was also a very personal decision, because I knew I needed to see myself advancing my game as far as I can. I could see myself down the road [doing that] at Oregon.”

Likewise, Martin knew who Geniza was. He saw Geniza move up the junior ranks and win back-to-back Oregon 5A boys golf titles for Crescent Valley as a sophomore and junior. When he began recruiting Geniza, Martin said he didn’t need to say much about the university or the team’s national ascension during his tenure.

“It’s part of the whole package,” Martin said of his team’s appeal to potential recruits. “But with us going to NCAA Championships the last couple years, us hosting this year, [recruits] know that … It sells itself.”

Geniza grew up idolizing current Oregon men’s golfers Sulman Raza, Zach Foushee and Nigel Lett, who all competed against one another in Oregon junior championships before joining the Ducks.

“It will be pretty awesome to play with a couple of those guys next year and be on their level,” Geniza said.

It might not be long before Geniza is playing alongside them. The Ducks will lose two key players to graduation after this season in Foushee and Brandon McIver, leaving vacant spots for new players to emerge.

Geniza’s goal is to play early as a freshman.

“I’m definitely aiming for that,” Geniza said. “I know that I have tons of maturing and learning to do, but I know that I can get my game up there and I really hope to play as soon as I get there.”

In the meantime, however, Geniza wants to finish his junior golf career strong. In addition to a run for a third consecutive prep title, Geniza will be competing in the US Amateur Four-Ball in May, a team national championship event, with his older brother, Matthew, who also played at Crescent Valley.

Geniza plans to major in business and wants to pursue a golf-related career if he doesn’t play. But first, Geniza intends to see where his golf career can take him.

“I just want to prepare my game as much as I can before I get to Oregon so I can impact the team and hopefully play right away,” he said.

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After a couple months apart, the Oregon men’s golf team will reunite for the spring season with the ultimate goal of reaching the 2016 NCAA Championships in Eugene.

The Ducks return to a normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday practice schedule this January at Eugene-area courses, including the Eugene Country Club and Emerald Valley Golf Course. It will be the first time the entire team has been together since a “disappointing” end to the fall season in early November. The Ducks finished 10th and sixth, respectively, in their final two fall competitions.

“We didn’t play our best in the last two tournaments of the fall,” head coach Casey Martin said. “I don’t think anybody was really satisfied.”

Many players took time away from golf during November and December knowing it would be their only opportunity to do so before returning for the spring.

The break wasn’t quiet for every Oregon player, however.

Junior Thomas Lim played in the Patriot All-America Dec. 27-31 at the Wigwam Arizona, finishing in a tie for 59th. Sophomore Aaron Wise won the Australian Master of the Amateurs on Saturday, held at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Victoria, Australia. The tournament is the highest ranked amateur golf event in Australia, and many of the world’s top amateurs compete in the event.

In Wednesday’s first round, Wise shot an ace on the par-3 fifth hole. Wise finished the tournament with a combined five-under over four rounds, beating second-place finisher, Jonathan Thomson from the United Kingdom, by two strokes. Wise became only the second American to win the event and the first since 2009.

Martin hopes the team will be fresh coming back from winter break, but it’s not uncommon for players to return rusty. Though Wise and Lim have played plenty of golf away from Oregon during the break, other players haven’t.

Senior Brandon McIver spent much of the break in Montana, his home state, and hasn’t touched his clubs in a month due to weather conditions, Martin said.

When players report to practice next week, Martin and his assistants will begin solidifying the playing lineup.

“Heading into the spring, we need to nail [the lineup] down,” Martin said. “The players that play the best need to start playing a lot more. We’re going to kind of narrow it down and hopefully get ready to peak.”

Wise, Lim, senior Zach Foushee and redshirt junior Sulman Raza likely claimed their spots, having played the most during the fall. McIver should take the fifth and final spot, but an inconsistent fall leaves him no guarantees.

Weather permitting, Oregon will have a full three weeks before travelling to Waikoloa, Hawaii, for the Amer Ari Invitational on Feb. 4, held at the King’s Course. The Ducks opened their spring schedule at the same venue last season, finishing tied for third. They plan on spending a few days in Hawaii leading up to the tournament to get away from the Pacific Northwest winter.

“The guys like going to Hawaii this time of year,” Martin said.

The Ducks had the look of a burnt out team nearing the end of fall. Lineup changes, injuries to key players and working out individual issues kept them from getting into rhythm, Martin said. Solving physical problems on the course will ultimately determine where Oregon finishes, but Martin believes his team has the right mindset.

If the fall season was their mulligan, the Ducks no longer have that luxury. The real test starts now.

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Only an hour before Oregon was set to tip-off its Pac-12 home opener against Cal on Wednesday, the Ducks’ season was clouded with the news of Dylan Ennis’s season-ending foot injury. Playing only 21 total minutes in two games, the senior transfer’s season and possibly his collegiate career came to an abrupt end.

“It’s tough for Dylan. I really feel bad for him,” Dana Altman said.

Ennis, along with Tyler Dorsey and Chris Boucher, all came to Oregon this year expecting to have an impact on the Ducks. Of the three new players, Ennis appeared most likely to contribute immediately, having plenty of Division I experience.

“He’s all about ball,” Altman said. “His toughness would’ve meant so much to our team… When he was healthy in the summer, he was our best player. You talk about going to the gym every day, making guys work, his competitiveness, I wanted our fans to see that.”

But Dorsey, a highly-recruited freshman who nearly committed to Cal, and Boucher, the reigning NJCAA player of the year, were no slouches either.

Playing against Cal freshmen Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, Dorsey and Boucher held their own in a 68-65 victory.

Despite playing Rabb at a considerable size disadvantage, Boucher’s craftiness led to three offensive rebounds, all three of which ended in put-backs. It helped that Rabb got into foul trouble, playing only 23 minutes. But Boucher was active in several facets.

Oregon Ducks forward Chris Boucher (25) feigns innocence towards the ref after he and a Cal player tipped the ball out of bounds. The Oregon Ducks face the California Golden Bears at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. on Jan. 6, 2016. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

One particular sequence perfectly epitomized Boucher’s night. With the Ducks leading 52-50 at the five-minute mark, Boucher hit a three in the corner, his only make on six attempts. Cal quickly inbounded the ball hoping to catch the Ducks napping. Jordan Matthews caught the ball near Cal’s bench and fired a three, but Boucher was there to block Matthews’ shot.

“I wasn’t even thinking about the three after I made the blocked shot,” Boucher said.

In Sunday’s offensive struggle, few players had a worse shooting night than Dorsey. The freshman made just 2 of 8 field goals, and missed all four attempts from deep. Against Cal, however, Dorsey hit two three-pointers in the opening minutes, and led the Ducks in scoring for much of the game.

Oregon and Cal traded leads throughout the second half, but the Ducks held a 60-57 lead and the ball with under a minute remaining. Coming off a timeout, Altman drew up a play in hopes of getting either Brooks or Dorsey open for a shot. Casey Benson found Dorsey in the left corner and Dorsey sank his fourth three-pointer of the game.

“Casey found me and I knocked it down,” Dorsey said. “That separated the game.”

Though Dorsey said he ”really wanted to play” with Ennis in the Oregon backcourt, Ennis’s injury news doesn’t have Dorsey feeling added pressure to score.

“We’ve just got to adjust again like he wasn’t there at the beginning,” Dorsey said. “We have to come together as a team. Other players have to step up.”

Boucher finished with 18 points and Dorsey added 17, carrying the offense on a night when Brooks and Elgin Cook shot a combined 5-of-22 from the field.

After a 70-57 loss to Oregon State on Sunday and two conference games to follow at home, the Ducks faced the possibility of starting 0-3, or possibly worse, in the Pac-12.

“We needed a win, no doubt,” Altman said. “…If you’re gonna stay competitive you got to win at home and get tough on the road.”

Top to bottom, the Pac-12 appears to be especially deep this season. As Altman noted, Washington and Washington State, who were picked to finish at the bottom of the conference, both already have upset wins in conference plays.

“I’m not sure there is an easy swing this year,” he said.

The Ducks will miss Ennis as a leader. Altman said finding their vocal leader will take even more time now that Ennis is out. Although Oregon’s win over call was far from guaranteed, their home-court advantage certainly helped. When they hit the road next, Jan. 14 against Utah, the Ducks will find out how far they have to go.

“We can’t look nobody off,” Dorsey said. “Everybody’s good in the Pac-12 this year.

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