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

3. Payton Pritchard needs to be better than Nico Mannion

A big matchup in this game will be the battle between the point guards, Oregon’s senior distributor Pritchard and Arizona’s freshman phenom Nico Mannion. If Oregon wants to come away with a win, the upperclassman from Eugene will have to get the best of the first-year player.

Pritchard is the guy that makes the motor run for Oregon, the 6’2 guard not only leads the team in points (19.4) and assists (5.6) but he is a solid rebounder for his size with 4.3 per game and his 1.6 steals is 2nd best on the team.

Mannion is currently second on the team in scoring behind Nnaji with 13.7 per game and he dishes out 5.3 assists per game. Like many first-year players, Mannion sometimes struggles shooting the ball, shooting 39% from the field and despite taking the most three-pointers on the team (127) he has shot it at just 32%, but he is a very good free-throw shooter, knocking down 81.7% of his attempts.

In this one, Pritchard must use his experience to get the upper hand on Mannion to give his team a chance at the crucial road victory and if he can and Oregon gets a win it would help them create some separation in a tightly-contested Pac-12.