Oregon Basketball: 2019-20 keys for a Ducks win at Arizona Wildcats

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 24: The Oregon Ducks mascot celebrates after defeating the UC Irvine Anteaters during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at SAP Center on March 24, 2019 in San Jose, California. Oregon defeated UC Irvine 73-54. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – JANUARY 30: Isaiah Stewart #33 of the Washington Huskies and Zeke Nnaji #22 of the Arizona Wildcats (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

1. Oregon must neutralize Arizona’s advantage on the glass

The first big key to an Oregon victory in this one will come on the glass. Of the two teams, Arizona has a relatively big advantage when it comes to rebounding. The Wildcats rank 90th in the country in defensive rebounding and 119th in overall rebounds per game, while the Ducks rank 225th in defensive rebounding, so Oregon must hold their own on the defensive glass to come away with a victory.

In order to win the rebounding battle Oregon needs to not only focus on crashing the boards, but they need to concentrate on boxing out Zeke Nnaji who leads Arizona with 8.8 rebounds per game, the next top rebounder is Chase Jeter who pulls down 4.6 per game, but Nnaji is the key as he has grabbed 64 more defensive rebounds than the next highest total.

When it comes to the Ducks rebounding, senior Shakur Juiston leads the team with 6.5 per game, with a quartet of Ducks, Francis Okoro, Chris Duarte, Chandler Lawson, and Payton Pritchard accounting for the bulk of the rest of the team’s rebounding, with 18.2 per game. If Oregon can do a good job of neutralizing Nnaji on the defensive glass it will be a big key to an Oregon win.

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