Game Recap: OREGON 112, TRINITY WESTERN 71

SETTING EXPECTATIONS

Trinity Western is a lot better than Fraser Valley. The Spartans have at least four shooters who are better than anyone on Fraser Valley's roster. They got frisky with Purdue, cutting it to around five in the fourth quarter before Purdue closed it out 82-66. Marquette beat them by 30. Grand Canyon beat them by 29.

Oregon beat them by 41, jumped out early, and it was never really a contest.

Oregon's 41 is the largest margin anyone put on them. Oregon's 39-point first quarter is the biggest single quarter anyone hung on them, and Trinity Western's 16 in that quarter was their worst start of the summer. 

THE DEFENSE

Oregon shot 51.1% and 32.3% from three. Trinity Western shot 34.7% and 27.9% from three.

What other teams allowed Trinity Western: Purdue 40.4%, Grand Canyon 34.3%, Marquette 30.8%.

Oregon had 9 blocks, 12 steals and forced 21 turnovers, all of which lead the field. Purdue had 18 stocks, Marquette 17, Grand Canyon 10. Nobody else got past six blocks.

THE BROADER READ

Broadly, again, the story is defense. There were so many runouts. Trinity Western was not prepared for Oregon's length, and they kept trying to do things they simply could not do against a team this long.

This was their fourth game against a Division I opponent. That leaves me believing Oregon is longer and more athletic than the other teams they have played. Both announcing crews certainly made it sound that way. 

Oregon did it down two bigs. Malique Ewin did not play. Taylor Bol Bowen did not play. Sean Stewart played eight minutes. Oregon was undersized relative to its own roster and still defended at a higher level than pretty much anyone else on this swing.

Torvik has Purdue around 28th and Rothstein has them around 23rd. Torvik has Marquette around 30th and Oregon 32nd, with Grand Canyon at 54th. Through two common opponents, Oregon played all the Canadian competition better than either Purdue or Marquette, or any of their other opponents. 

Two common opponents is a dangerous sample.  It’s likely to mean nothing. Don't read too much into August. But they certainly look competent.  I come out of this stretch pretty excited about the season and pretty confident we’re well above a bubble team.

PLAYER NOTES

ANDREW MEADOW. 23 pts, 9-14 FG, 3-6 3P, 2-2 FT, 5 reb, 0 ast, 19 min.

He has to be the current favorite to lead this team in scoring. He's clever, he's very good moving without the ball, and he puts himself in spots where he can do damage. He is not looking to pass, he's looking to finish plays. He took 26 shots across the two games with zero assists, and every single one was either a wide open three or a drive straight to the rim. Great stroke, lethal around the basket. It will be really interesting to see if it holds up against Big Ten athletes. Against these kids it was not fair.

PHARAOH COMPTON. 16 pts, 8-12 FG, 9 reb (7 off), 2 stl, 1 blk, 3 PF, 2 TO, 19 min.

He wasn't just our best big, he might have been our best player. A different class of player than anything they had. It’s not a big surprise, it's exactly what we thought we were getting, and it's exactly what he did last year at San Diego State, so I'd expect those percentages to hold up in real play. Great hands, great finisher around the rim, slips screens and rolls well, great on the offensive glass. The turnovers and the three fouls not particularly concerning: twice Trinity Western guys ran into him and fell down and got the call. That won't happen in real Division I basketball…although his one negative last year was a very pesky foul rate, and trouble staying on the floor.  I can’t imagine that will be a problem with our depth. On defense he didn't move his feet as well as the other night and got beat around the corner a couple of times, and he did not get out on shooters in the first half.  That seemed to change after halftime though.

FRED PAYNE. 15 pts, 6-12 FG, 2-6 3P, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 TO, 17 min.

Steady. One turnover. Not particularly efficient, but he bails out of possessions and has a nice little midrange game. He'll do fine.  If we’re down 1 and need need need a bucket, and somebody has to create it, this is probably the guy. 

JASPER JOHNSON. 14 pts, 5-8 FG, 4-6 3P, 5 reb, 3 ast, 24 min.

Decided he wanted to spend all day bombing again. That’s going to be his thing. Got hot for a stretch and hit four in a row. Nice all-around game.  He wears a t-shirt under the jersey so it’s hard to say if he’s put on any weight yet.  Adding strength will be his key to doing this stuff to D1 players.  Shooting is shooting.  But he’ll need a lot more strength to hold up against Michigan than he will against Trinity Western.  TBD.  But he’s a great floor spacer for us. 

DWAYNE ARISTODE. 14 pts, 6-8 FG, 1-3 3P, 3 reb, 20 min.

A couple of wild plays, where he looked really good going to the hoop.  No wasted motion, or effort.  Direct, athletic, and efficient.  As a floor spacer, I feel so good about him catching and shooting. It looks relaxed. He's ready to fire, he's always on balance and calm, and it gets off fast.  I feel incredible about his catch and shoot.  His defense was awesome.  He doesn’t get many steals, but man he’s a lock-down defender. 

Meadow, Aristode and Johnson are all going to bomb. It would behoove us to have at least two of them on the floor in any minutes that matter. Those three plus Riley should be the bulk of the wing minutes at the 2-3, and steal a lot of minutes from the 4. They can all really play, and there is real separation between those four and everyone else.

TYRONE RILEY IV. 12 pts, 6-12 FG, 0-4 3P, 6 reb, 5 ast, 6 stl, 21 min.

Six steals leading to a ton of runouts and dunks. He was 6-of-12, which probably means he was 0-for-6 in the half court and 6-for-6 on runouts off his own steals. That's good and bad. He should have torn this team up, and he should have torn the last team up. There wasn't a defender in either gym who could hold a candle to his athleticism. If he's going to be a creator on this team he has to show more than that, and it's a little concerning he didn't show more going to the basket against either team.

That said, he was cold, and he still had five assists and six steals. He was head up, jumping passing lanes, aware, connecting the team, moving the ball, finding open guys. He was our sixth leading scorer and made an enormous difference in the game.

It looks to me like he’s slotting in as a high-level connector piece, and will not be a primary creator like I thought he might be coming into the year. 

TAJH ARIZA. 8 pts, 2-10 FG, 0-2 3P, 9 reb, 5 ast, 3 blk, 21 min.

Needs to shoot less, and I'm sure he will once the real season comes around. He doesn't finish particularly well at the rim yet and needs more strength, and he couldn't find his shot. Maybe it comes around, but it's not here yet. Then you look at the line: nine boards, five assists, three blocks. He's stuffing the stat sheet up and down. He's got a lot of potential, but I don't think it’s as a scorer.

JERRY EASTER. 5 pts, 2-5 FG, 1-2 FT, 3 reb, 3 ast, 17 min.

Played fine, and actually opened the game at point guard, so he's clearly the third point guard. His defense got beat a couple of times and didn't look great. On offense he was really aggressive going to the hole and really good at getting to the free throw line, which tends to work itself out. Ran the pick and roll pretty well.

SEVEN SPURLOCK. 0 pts, 0-1 FG, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 3 TO, 15 min.

Tough game. Really loose with the ball, played out of control, and his only shot was ugly. Didn't stuff the stat sheet the way he did the night before. He can be really tenacious and he's got a great body, a tough kid ready to play. His role is going to be a twelfth man, a monkey wrench. Stick him in, see if he can cause some havoc on defense, then pull him back out. He's a tone changer and that's how we'll use him.

SEAN STEWART. 0 pts, 0-2 FG, 2 reb, 1 ast, 8 min.

Only eight minutes. I don't know if there's an injury there. There was talk about him working on his three point shot over the summer, and maybe he's still working on it. But we know what he is. He's hyperathletic, a really good defensive big, an undersized big who can play up in size because of the athleticism, which lets us get out and run. And he's a monster on the offensive glass. He's a good player with a real role on this team.

JACK VANDENBERG - Trinity Western.

Someone should tell that kid he could make money in the United States if he can shoot like that. Trinity Western's number four went for 21 points on 7-of-18, and 7-of-16 from three, in 32 minutes.

He started all four games against Division I this summer:

Purdue. 20 pts, 7-14 FG, 4-10 3P, 2 reb, 3 ast, 37 min.

Marquette. 19 pts, 6-13 FG, 5-12 3P, 8 reb, 4 ast, 30 min.

Grand Canyon. 15 pts, 4-12 FG, 4-11 3P, 1 reb, 4 ast, 29 min.

Oregon. 21 pts, 7-18 FG, 7-16 3P, 4 reb, 3 ast, 32 min.

That's 75 points on 42.1% shooting and 20-of-49 from three, 40.8%, against four top-50 D1 teams.  Quad1 games. Lol.  

Jack.  Baby.  Lets get a visa. 

NEXT

Ducks play Tuesday night in a game with no live coverage.