On an evening devoted to honoring seniors in their final home game, it may be the reappearance of a certain freshman who will take center stage in the Civil War men’s basketball game against Oregon State on Thursday.
The team’s last game of the season in Matthew Knight Arena is the final hurrah for four seniors: E.J. Singler, Tony Woods, Carlos Emory and Arsalan Kazemi. But the rivalry matchup with the Beavers will also serve as freshman point guard Dominic Artis’ first appearance in over five weeks. The freshman will play minimal minutes after missing nine games but will have the opportunity to set up some scoring chances for his senior teammates.
The entire team has struggled without him, whose shooting abilities open the floor for others, while his assists spell solid scoring for his teammates. Minus Artis, the Ducks have scored eight fewer points per game in Pac-12 play.
Before he went down, his main beneficiary was the quartet of seniors, each having played in a University of Oregon uniform for varying lengths.
The freshest neophyte is Kazemi, who made his debut this year for Oregon after he spent his first three seasons at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The Iranian native, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 226 pounds, was cleared by the NCAA to play after two preseason games had already passed. His first game as a Duck was against Vanderbilt, and he made an immediate impact, scoring five points and grabbing five rebounds off the bench. He has been a hustle player for the Ducks all year, starting in 18 of the 26 games he was available for, scoring 9.2 points per game while averaging a team-high 9.8 rebounds each contest (third in the Pac-12) and another team-high 2.3 steals. His most impressive performance was in last week’s loss to Cal, in which he scored 11 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
Emory and Woods have both spent two seasons playing for the Ducks, and each have had a tremendous impact on the program, contributing to the two best seasons for UO men’s basketball in the past five years.
A transfer from a junior college in Texas, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Emory has been the Ducks’ highlight-maker. Arguably the best pure athlete on the team, he is a versatile player who has routinely thrown down monster jams and scores in bunches from either the forward or guard position. This season, in a primarily off-the-bench role, he has provided 10.8 points per game and 4.4 rebounds. His largest scoring outburst was in an overtime win at Washington State on Feb. 16. This year alone, he has scored 13 or more in 11 of the Ducks’ 28 games.
Tony Woods is Oregon’s go-to big man. His tall 6-foot-11 frame provides length in the post, making him a formidable shot blocker and above-average scorer. The center used his first two years of eligibility at Wake Forest and has grown into his role in the paint for Oregon over the last two seasons. He started in 27 of 28 games this year and improved in virtually every category from last season to this one. He had chipped in 9.4 points per game along with 3.7 rebounds a block each matchup. His best game as a Duck was against UCLA this past January, when he shot 8 of 9 from the field for 18 points.
Lastly is Singler, the only senior who has spent his entire college tenure playing as a Duck. Raised in Southern Oregon and the younger brother former of Duke-now-Detroit-Pistons standout Kyle Singler, the forward has been the face of Ducks’ basketball for the majority of his career. He is the unquestioned leader of the squad and has averaged 11 points as well as five rebounds per game in every season except his freshman one. He ranked third in the entire country in free throw percentage his junior year with a 90.9 mark. His most complete game was against Washington State this month, leading the Ducks to an overtime win with 25 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting and 9-of-10 free throws.
For these four Ducks, the highest point tally they have achieved together while meeting their individual averages was the last time they took the court. This past Saturday in the win against Stanford, Kazemi, Emory, Woods and Singler combined for a total of 58 of the Ducks’ 77 points. Emory led with 19, Kazemi had 15, Singler got 12 and Woods notched nine. The total of 58 against the Cardinal was exactly double what they conjured in the their first Pac-12 loss to them this year — and both games were played without Artis.