Arizona will attempt to come off its first loss of the season when they do battle with the Ducks of Oregon in a few short hours.
The Wildcats have attained a 21-1 start thanks to an incredible defense and veteran guard play. But their ability to continue such success will be challenged in the wake of the broke foot that will keep stud forward Brandon Ashley out for the rest of the year.
Ashley’s importance might not be so critical in this game, however. The Ducks have a very weak front court. While Mike Moser has been a nice scorer at the power forward position, the awful play of Waverly Austin and youth of new center Ben Carter make this one of the weakest defensive groups in the conference.
Oregon’s has struggled lately, losing six of eight thanks to a defense that cannot stop anyone, and that makes their ability to keep this one tight a major question mark. This team simply lacks the interior ingredients to hold serve in this game regardless of Arizona having their full team or not.
But in terms of overing the current spread, the Ducks do have a nice offense working in their favor. Sean Miller’s club has been sluggish in the role of big favorite, ad that is essentially what they are here as this line opened around 11 and has since been bet up to 12.
Oregon has a nice collection of guards who can shoot from the perimeter, and the three ball is always a potential equalizer. While the ‘Cats do defend the perimeter well and have done an excellent job at containing penetration, they have proven susceptible to the perimeter look at times this year.
Dana Altman’s team is awful on the defensive glass, so it will be interesting to see how Arizona performs in terms of offensive rebounding without Ashley. The 6’8 sophomore has been a menace on both ends of the floor and will be missed, but it seems like Arizona has enough firepower to make up for his loss in this game.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a special talent fully capable of utilizing his newfound minutes to the best of his ability. The 6’7 freshman from Philly is a ridiculous athlete and explosive transition body. He will likely come in and defend Moser at least in the early going.
Watch the guard match-up. T.J. McConnell is having a solid year since transferring from Duquesne, but he struggled at times to stay in front of Justin Cobbs in their Saturday night loss to Cal. Dominic Artis and Johnathan Lloyd are both very quick and shifty players who could also given McConnell some trouble here.
Should Oregon be able to generate sue penetration and kick out opportunities utilizing the three ball, they can keep this game close. This line seems fair and I do not see this game as a quality betting opportunity. Still, seeing what kind of punch Arizona packs in lieu of losing one of their stars should be interesting.
