Oregon beats Prairie View 100-67 for 44th straight home win (Nov 13, 2017)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) Troy Brown, Oregon's five-star freshman, already has learned that giving up the AAU flash for a simple play makes college basketball a lot easier and the coach of the Ducks much happier.
Brown had 17 points and nine rebounds, Paul White came off the bench for 16 points and Oregon pulled away to a 100-67 victory over Prairie View A&M on Monday night.
''When I first got here (in June), it was really hard to adjust,'' said Brown, who also had four assists. ''The passes I was trying to make weren't there and I had a lot of turnovers.''
''Getting the ball, rebounding it and pushing it, that's something I've always done, but making the smart play, coach (Dana) Altman has always put that pressure on me.''
Victor Bailey added 15 points as a reserve for the Ducks (2-0), who pushed the nation's longest home winning streak to 44 games at Matthew Knight Arena. Elijah Brown had 12 points.
Zachary Hamilton led the Panthers (0-2) with 23 points, and Austin Starr had 11.
Oregon had a 38-36 rebounding advantage but gave up 16 offensive rebounds that Prairie View turned into a 20-12 edge in second-chance points. Gary Blackston led the Panthers with seven rebounds.
''We didn't do a good job on the boards tonight,'' Altman said. ''We're not blocking out and we're not physical enough on the boards.
''Some of it is leaking out and trying to get the offensive break going when we don't have the ball yet.''
Oregon, which was second in the nation in blocked shots last year, had 11 against the Panthers and a 19-0 advantage in fast-break points. It also went 11 of 27 (40.7 percent) from 3-point range, with six Ducks, led by White's four, hitting at least one.
''We did a good job of getting into the paint and creating for others,'' Troy Brown said. ''When we do stuff like that, it's just a regular practice shot that I feel like everybody on our team can hit no matter what position.''
After trailing by 14, Prairie View cut the margin to 37-28 by halftime. The Ducks started to take control after deploying their three-quarter court press early in the second half.
''Still a lot of work to do, but it was a step in the right direction,'' Altman said.
Oregon shot 60.5 percent in the second half and 55.6 percent (35 of 63) for the game.
BIG PICTURE
Oregon: Dana Altman needs one more victory to become the 10th active NCAA Division I coach with 600 career wins. Altman is 189-70 in his eighth season with the Ducks, who play only one of their first 16 games outside of Oregon.
Prairie View A&M: A six-week, 13-game road odyssey to start the season will take the Panthers to eight states, including Hawaii, before they host Jarvis Christian on Dec. 29.
UP NEXT
Prairie View A&M plays its first of three consecutive games in Las Vegas on Wednesday night against UNLV as part of the MGM Main Event Tournament.
Oregon hosts another Southwestern Athletic Conference also-ran when Alabama State (8-23 last season) visits Friday night. Last year's Final Four team had four more wins (33) than the Ducks' first three opponents combined.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
After scoring a career-high 23 points in Oregon's season-opening win over Coppin State, Roman Sorkin started for only the second time in four years and went scoreless without attempting a shot in 11 minutes. ''No particular reason,'' Altman said. ''He just didn't play as well as he did the other night.''
ROLE PLAYERS
Two Ducks made their debuts coming off redshirt seasons. White, a junior transfer from Georgetown, had a career-high 16 points. M.J. Cage, the son of former NBA player Michael Cage, played four minutes in the second half and scored his first point. ''It was a good start for both of them,'' Altman said.
