The University of Oregon Duck are the last Pac-10 team still playing. On Friday night they will play Creighton in the third game of the best of three in the College Basketball Invitational Championship at Matt Court in Eugne.
The Ducks guaranteed themselves and Altman a winning season, now 20-18, in which few expected the Ducks’ win total to reach double digits of 10 wins this season. The Ducks were picked 10th in the conference in the Pac10 media pre-season poll. Altman's last losing season was 1996 when his second Creighton team finished 14-15.
Of the 54 coaches who started gigs at new schools this season, 14 have collected 20 wins including Altman.
Ducks outscored Creighton 20-7 to take a 14-point lead into halftime, thanks to a 19-2 edge in points off turnovers. Bluejays guard Antoine Young, who had 27 assists and zero turnovers entering the championship series, had four turnovers in the half.
As Oregon stretched its lead to 21 points early (17:53) in the second half, their margin in points off turnovers grew to 26-2. Young couldn’t get the offense going, and when he managed to get the ball into 270-pound Gregory Echenique, the Ducks were usually there to collapse on him and strip the ball away.
The crowd of 7,875 reached a crescendo when Teondre Williams’ breakaway dunk put Oregon up 52-33 and Garrett Sim followed with a fast-break layup.
When the Ducks weren’t scooping up turnovers and sprinting downcourt, Joevan Catron (game-high 18 points) was cleaning things up around the basket, making sure he would play his 133rd career game. And Malcolm Armstead (14 points, 6 assists) was shredding the beleaguered Creighton defense with his penetrations and soft layins off the glass.
The absolutely final game of the season will be at 7 p.m. Friday at Matthew Knight Arena – the deepest into the calendar year either team has gone. Oregon has never played basketball in April until this Friday.
Creighton will be looking for its first road win since Jan. 9, as Wednesday night’s loss was its eighth in a row on the road.
Not bad for a team that last Summer had to cancel a trip to Europe because they didn't have enough players to put on the court.
