Oregon Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Ducks
Oregon Basketball looks to repeat as Pac-12 regular-season champions.
Oregon’s Pac-12 Conference dominance continued last season under head coach Dana Altman. In 2020, the Ducks were crowned the Pac-12 Conference regular-season champions for the third time in the last five seasons. Oregon Basketball closed out last season on a four-game winning streak and held off a late-season surge by runner-up UCLA.
In 2019-20, Oregon finished at 24-7 overall (13-5 Pac-12) and was consistently ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll for every week last season. At Matthew Knight Arena, the Ducks were too much to handle at home last season. Oregon was one of 14 teams to go undefeated on their homecourt in 2019-20.
Much of Oregon’s success this past season was due to their graduating senior star point guard, Payton Pritchard (20.5 ppg, 5.5 apg), who was named as the 2019-20 Pac-12 Player of the Year. Pritchard was a four-year starter who led the conference last season in points per game, assists per game, minutes per game, and three-point shots made.
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The Ducks lost a perimeter threat in Pritchard, who shot 41.5 percent from three-point range and put Oregon in the position to finish fifth nationally in three-point shooting percentage. The Ducks as a team made 39.6 percent of their outside shots during the 2019-20 season.
Last season, Oregon fought hard and was able to squeak out multiple close victories. The Ducks were 5-1 last season in games that went into overtime.
What the Ducks will be missing out this season is their star closer with Pritchard. Last season, Pritchard took over games when he got hot and was able to put games away in the win column. He carried the Ducks and came thru in the clutch. One of Pritchard’s clutch moments came against Washington in January when he hit the game-winning three-point shot on a contested fadeaway in overtime.
Besides the graduating departure of Pritchard, Altman lost two more graduating starters with guard Anthony Mathis (8.3 ppg) and Ducks leading rebounder with forward Shakur Juiston (7.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg).
Oregon’s roster also suffered more losses in the offseason when three players decided to transfer out of the program. Starting forward Francis Okoro (3.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg) transferred to St. Louis, guard Addison Patterson (4.6 ppg) went to Nevada, and forward C.J. Walker (4 ppg) transferred to Central Florida.
With six departures in the offseason, Altman will need to find his next gem and rising star on this season’s roster. What to look out for this season is the impact of three key transfers (possibly a fourth and fifth transfer if L.J. Figueroa and Aaron Estrada are both granted waivers), who are all expected to contribute right away for the Ducks.
Entering the 2020-21 season, Oregon was ranked at number 20 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll. We will preview what to expect from the new transfers on the roster with their potential impact, along with the four returning players who are back this season for the Ducks.