LAS VEGAS – Top-seeded Oregon, who enters the Pac-12 tournament as the outright regular season champion for the first time since 2002, will tip off against Washington at noon in the second round.
Last night, Washington comfortably ran past Stanford 91-68 in its first round matchup behind Dejounte Murray’s 25-point leading performance.
For a No. 8 Oregon team that has been preaching steady improvement all season long, this postseason opening game will present another opportunity to take another step forward.
“We’ve got to play to get better for the future of our team,” Dwayne Benjamin said on Monday. “We’re trying to get more cohesive as a team. There’s still things we can do better.”
With March Madness on the horizon, Oregon, who is currently projected as a No. 3 seed in ESPN’s most recent Bracketology, understands how important every game is here on out.
Big picture-wise, it will be looking to add on to its already impressive regular season resume against its conference, which could send as many as six teams to the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“We all love how we felt after winning that,” Benjamin said, “so the closest to us feeling that way again is winning the Pac-12 tournament, and that’s what we want to do.”
Don’t let Washington’s 9-9 conference record fool you. This team is filled with talented underclassmen can play. And, as this year’s surprise team of the conference that started off the year hot, Washington has more than enough confidence to give Oregon some trouble.
Despite not winning Pac-12 Player of the Year, senior Andrew Andrews, who did make First Team All-Pac-12, is having a standout senior campaign, averaging 21.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists.
Murray, the talented point guard who made both Second Team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Freshman, has been adding 15.6 points, 5.7 assists and 4.3 assists. In his last five games, he’s been even hotter, averaging 20.2 points on 54.1 percent shooting.
The last time these two teams faced off on senior day, Washington’s dismal second half proved to be the difference in an 86-73 finish. That was the regular season though. While Oregon went on to secure the conference regular season title with that win, today presents a new challenge.
As seasoned coach Dana Altman knows, the postseason is going to be a whole different animal.
“It’s going to be very competitive,” Altman said. “There’s a lot of schools that can win it.”
The approach for Oregon will be no different: distribute the ball and feed the hot hand. As always, there will be a handful of players to choose from.
Lead man Dillon Brooks, who made First Team All-Pac-12, enters this game averaging 16.7 points. But any given game, Elgin Cook (14.3 points), who also made First Team All-Pac-12, Tyler Dorsey (13.2 points), who earned Pac-12 All-Freshman, and Chris Boucher (12.0 points), who made Pac-12 All-Defensive, have all proven they can carry the load.
“We didn’t really have a go-to,” Altman said. “We had a lot of guys that could make plays. Dillon may have had the most opportunity to make plays, but at some point in time, all of them have stepped up.”
Washington has dropped six of its last eight against Oregon and 17 of its last 20 at neutral sites against ranked opponents. It’s likely going to have to win today’s game to make the NCAA tournament.
Last year, Joseph Young led Oregon to the Pac-12 tournament final only to get trumped 80-52 by top-seeded Arizona. Oregon will be looking for a better result this time around.
“The tournament is very important. That was my first time winning anything,” Cook said about being named regular season conference champs, “so I definitely want to have that feeling again.”
Tipoff is set for noon and the game will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim and @ODEsports for all your Pac-12 tournament coverage.