The University of Oregon was founded in 1876 in Eugene on 295 acres along the Willamette River. The land was the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people, who were dispossessed of their homeland by the U.S. government and forcibly removed to the Coast Indian Reservation in western Oregon. It was originally established as Oregon State University after the residents of Eugene raised $27,500 and purchased 18 acres for $2.5K. Ranked No. 98 among public schools by USN&WR, No. 241 by WSJ. Endowment $1.6B
Famous alumni include Nike Chairman Phil Knight (Nike designed “O” logo, donated $100Ms for Knight Library, William W. Knight Law Center, Matthew Knight Arena, Hayward Field renovation, Autzen expansion, Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund creation). Often referred to as University of Nike or The House that Nike Built); Actors Edgar Buchanan, Ty Burrell, Lindsay Wagner, David Ogden Stiers, Sam Elliott, Howard Hesseman, Kaitlin Olson; AFL-CIO President Liz Shuyler, HOF QB Dan Fouts, NY Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu, Reader’s Digest co-founder Lila Vell Wallace, Sports commentator Neil Everett, Distance runner Steve Prefontaine subject of films Prefontaine and Without Limits
OU Athletics claims 34 NCAA championships (The first NCAA basketball championship in 1939 vs. Ohio State, 12 Indoor T&F, 10 Outdoor T&F, 10 cross country, 1 Golf and 60 individual T&F champions.) We all know they have no football natties, they remind us of this every time they throw up the “O”s! Known as “Track Town USA”; 22 Olympic medals (all T&F) – 10 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze
Colors: Green and Yellow and just about anything else! Nickname is Ducks (formerly Webfoots), mascot is The Oregon Duck, Fight song is Mighty Oregon, site of the filming of National Lampoon’s Animal House -haha
Basketball started 1902-03 (1785-1420, .557), 1939 NCAA Champions, 2 Final Fours (last 2017), 7 Sweet Sixteens, 18 NCAA appearances, 8 conf championships (last 2021), 6 conf tourney championships (last 2023-24), 6 Pac-12 POY (Ron Lee, Terrell Brandon, Luke Ridnour, Joe Young, Dillon Brooks, Payton Pritchard), 1 Pac Defensive POY Jordan Bell, 5 Pac-12 COY, 1 AP 1st Team AA (Payton Pritchard), 10 NBA 1st Rd Draft picks, 6 current NBA players
All-time vs. SC: 62-69, .473, in NCAA Tournament (0-2) SC won in 1961, 2021.
Winningest coaches: Altman (353-152), Ernie Kent (235-173), Howard Hobson (212-124), William Reinhart (180-101)
Current: Dana Altman (15th season) – 3X Pac-12 COY, 2X MVC COY, Big Eight COY, SoCon COY
Currently, 8-0, W: UCR, Montana, Portland, Troy, OSU, TX A&M, SDSU, Bama
OU is AP No. 12, NET 11 KenPom 19, SC is unranked, NET 180, KenPom 108. OU preseason picked 6th in B1G, SC picked 14th
Oregon scores 81.4 ppg (+12.8), 46.2% FG, 32.8% 3FG, 7.5 3’s/g, 75.5% FT. Rebs 39.8 pg (+5.0); Assists 17.0 pg; TO 10.4 (+2.3); Steals 7.9; Blks 3.8
Oregon Leaders
Scoring: Nathan Bittle 14.6 ppg (52.4% FG, 14.3% 3FG, 86.7% FT), TJ Bamba 13.0 ppg (39.7% FG, 37% 3FG atts, 72.7% FT), Brandon Angel 10.1ppg (62.2 FG, 41.2% 3FG, 85.7% FT), Keeshawn Barthelemy 9.9 ppg (44.8% FG, 50% 3FG, 80% FT), Jackson Shelstad 9.8 ppg (34.1% FG, 25% 3FG, 84.6% FT), Jadrian Tracey 9.3 ppg (52.6% FG, 34.6% 3FG, 6-2.5% FT)
Rebounds: Bittle 9.4 pg, Kwame Evans Jr 4.8, Shelstead 4.0; Assists Shelstad 3.9, Bamba 2.9, Tracey 2.5; Steals Barthelemy 1.9, Shelstead 1.4; Blks Bittle 1.9, Evans 0.6
SC scores: 73.4 ppg (+1.3), 47.2% FG, 20% 3FG, 6.1 3’s/g, 72.7% FT, Rebs 29.5 rpg (-3.9), Assists 16.5 apg, TOs 10.6 pg (+1.6), 14.5 ppg/TO, Steals 6.5, Blks 2.3
SC Leaders
Scoring: Josh Cohen 12.3 ppg (68.3% FG, 20% 3FG, 75% FT), Claude 11.8 ppg (49.2% FG, 30.8% 3FG, 68.4% FT), Agbo 11.4 ppg (38% FG, 35.4% 3FG, 87% FT), T-Will 10.8 ppg (53.8% FG, 40.9% 3FG, 82.4% FT), Thomas 8.3, Yates 7.9, Knowling 5.4
Rebounds: Thomas 5.4 pg, Agbo 4.3, T-Will 4.3; Assists – Thomas 4.9 apg, Claude 3.3; Steals Thomas 1.3 pg, Yates 1.1; Blks – Knowling 0.6 pg
Pregame
Founder’s speaker was Quincy Pondexter. Pondexter starred at San Joaquin Memorial HS in Fresno (23 ppg, 7 rebs, 6 assts). Top 50 by all recruiting sites. MVP of the Pangos AA Camp and All-Star at the Adidas Superstar Camp. Attended UW and ranked 5th in career scoring (1786 pts). No. 26 pick by OKC in 2010, traded to New Orleans Hornets. Played 355 games for Hornets, Grizzlies, Bulls & Spurs in 8-yr NBA career.
Started coaching as a UW asst for the 2022-24 seasons. Followed Coach Conroy to SC.
Coach praises undefeated No. 12 Oregon and says Altman is a great coach. However, he thinks SC has a good chance to pull out a win using some of the tactics the Huskies used in beating OU a couple of times during the last couple of seasons. They will strive to form a wall against Shelstead and Bamba when they push the ball upcourt, play physical with Bittle, deny him the ball in the post and force him into foul trouble and make Bamba go left because he is a strong right-handed driver. Also keep him off the FT line and don’t let Shelstead get going early.
Wants the fans to scream at the refs so we can get some calls, someone should tell him that SC never gets the calls!
Entering the arena I note a lot of Duck fans here, but the students showed to balance that out. Attendance is 4460, a decent crowd at Galen but an embarrassment elsewhere in the B1G.
I spot Josh Morgan and Ethan Anderson courtside (we sure could use Josh’s rim protection and Ethan’s on-ball defense this season!). Danny Green (National Champ, ACC Def POY at UNC, 3x NBA champ, 2nd team NBA All-Def and to connect the dots, coached by Muss with the D-League’s Reno Bighorns. Trevor Ariza NBA champion with Lakers and one-and done Pac-10 All-Freshman team at ucla, became youngest player in NY Knicks history (19 yrs) when taken in 2nd rd of 2004 draft. His son Tajh, a 5-star recruit in the 2026 class who’s reclassifying to the 2025 class is in tow and you can bet Muss is all over him looking to add some star power from local Westchester HS where he followed in his father’s footsteps.
During the game, the camera picks up Kiki Iriafen enjoying herself on the Dance Cam.
Game
Starting lineup is Des, Buzo, T-Will, Saint and Cohen. I am not sure how long Muss can keep giving Saint so many minutes and not get any production from him. He averages 8.3 ppg in 32.2 min. He went scoreless in 30 mins in this one. Yes, he leads the team in rebounds with 5.6 and assists with 4.6 but he was counted on to be a big scorer for SC this season. This is worth monitoring.
The game was highly entertaining and very close, in fact SC led for most of the first half after OU scored the game’s first points at 17:38. OU would tie it at 14-14 on a 3 by Barthelemy at 8:37 before SC gained their largest lead of the game 11 pts at 28-17 on a 3 by Claude at 4:28. SC finished the half up 30-23, after showcasing perhaps their best defense of the year.
For the half:
OU shot 34.6% FG (9-26), 30% 3FG (3-10), 50% FT (2-4).
SC shot 38.5% FG (15-30), 25% 3FG (2-8), 80% FT (8-10)
Whatever Pondexter said the team would do was executed to perfection. Bittle had only 2pts and 2 TOs while picking up his first PF. Shelstead had only 3 pts and Bamba fared even worse, going scoreless (0-6) in the half. I was very, and as it turned out, overly optimistic at this point that SC would finally break through and get a quality win. My hopes were up when SC held a 55-50 lead at 5:16 left in the game after a pair of Agbo FTs.
From there it was the Shelstead show as he scored 21 of his career-high 24 pts in the 2nd half to finish 5-13 FG, 2-8 3FG, 12-14 FT. He continually got to the rim and drew contact. The only other Duck in double digits was Keeshawn Barthelemy 18 pts, 6-9 FG, 4-5 3FG, 2-2 FT. Stanford xfer Brandon Angel had 8 pts. Bamba played 33 min and had a woeful 6pts, 2-13 FG, 1-5 3FG, 1-2 FT. Bittle fouled out in 20 min with only 5 pts. Without Shelstead’s heroics the Trojans win this one, but after being outscored 18-8 to end the game, they lose 68-60. The 8 pt margin being the Ducks largest in the game. For SC, so close and yet so far. They need to find a way to close out games and get the win.
Final stats:
OU: 38.2% FG (21-55), 34.8% 3FG (8-23), 75% FT (18-24)
SC: 34.5% FG (19-55), 15.4% 3FG (2-13), 76.9% FT (20-26)
The Trojans were led by Claude 22 pts, 9-20 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-7 FTs, he also led with 4 assists but turned the ball over 6 times. Agbo had 18 pts, 3-11 FG, 2-8 3FG (the only made 3s for SC), 10-10 FTs. Before fouling out in 32 min, he added only 4 pts to his 14 first half pts. Cohen after missing the last 3 days due to illness played only 14 min and appeared to hurt his ankle/foot. Based on his 8 pts on 3-5 FG and 2-3 FTs in 22 min, Patton, Jr. deserves more court time. He is the best athlete on the team and really should be the designated opener for jump balls instead of the 6 ft 6 Claude. Muss needs to find a role for Wesley Yates, he is fearless on the court and our best shot creator. He is averaging 7.1 ppg with half the court time of Saint (7.3).
SC outrebounded OU 35-34 and both had 14 TOs, but OU turned them into 18 pts to SC’s 14. OU had an 11-5 advantage in 2nd chance pts. SC had only 9 bench pts, much less than they have been averaging to OU’s 23. Surprisingly SC held a 28-18 advantage on points in the paint. Muss is obviously frustrated and unsure how many if any B1G wins this team will get. Claude is among the players preaching patience for a team that has never played together and never played for Muss.
SC loses 68-60 and falls to 5-4 (0-1). OU stays undefeated at 9-0 (1-0).
Next up: at Washington, Dec. 7th at 3pm. B1G Network
Fight on! Beat the Huskies!
Famous alumni include Nike Chairman Phil Knight (Nike designed “O” logo, donated $100Ms for Knight Library, William W. Knight Law Center, Matthew Knight Arena, Hayward Field renovation, Autzen expansion, Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund creation). Often referred to as University of Nike or The House that Nike Built); Actors Edgar Buchanan, Ty Burrell, Lindsay Wagner, David Ogden Stiers, Sam Elliott, Howard Hesseman, Kaitlin Olson; AFL-CIO President Liz Shuyler, HOF QB Dan Fouts, NY Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu, Reader’s Digest co-founder Lila Vell Wallace, Sports commentator Neil Everett, Distance runner Steve Prefontaine subject of films Prefontaine and Without Limits
OU Athletics claims 34 NCAA championships (The first NCAA basketball championship in 1939 vs. Ohio State, 12 Indoor T&F, 10 Outdoor T&F, 10 cross country, 1 Golf and 60 individual T&F champions.) We all know they have no football natties, they remind us of this every time they throw up the “O”s! Known as “Track Town USA”; 22 Olympic medals (all T&F) – 10 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze
Colors: Green and Yellow and just about anything else! Nickname is Ducks (formerly Webfoots), mascot is The Oregon Duck, Fight song is Mighty Oregon, site of the filming of National Lampoon’s Animal House -haha
Basketball started 1902-03 (1785-1420, .557), 1939 NCAA Champions, 2 Final Fours (last 2017), 7 Sweet Sixteens, 18 NCAA appearances, 8 conf championships (last 2021), 6 conf tourney championships (last 2023-24), 6 Pac-12 POY (Ron Lee, Terrell Brandon, Luke Ridnour, Joe Young, Dillon Brooks, Payton Pritchard), 1 Pac Defensive POY Jordan Bell, 5 Pac-12 COY, 1 AP 1st Team AA (Payton Pritchard), 10 NBA 1st Rd Draft picks, 6 current NBA players
All-time vs. SC: 62-69, .473, in NCAA Tournament (0-2) SC won in 1961, 2021.
Winningest coaches: Altman (353-152), Ernie Kent (235-173), Howard Hobson (212-124), William Reinhart (180-101)
Current: Dana Altman (15th season) – 3X Pac-12 COY, 2X MVC COY, Big Eight COY, SoCon COY
Currently, 8-0, W: UCR, Montana, Portland, Troy, OSU, TX A&M, SDSU, Bama
OU is AP No. 12, NET 11 KenPom 19, SC is unranked, NET 180, KenPom 108. OU preseason picked 6th in B1G, SC picked 14th
Oregon scores 81.4 ppg (+12.8), 46.2% FG, 32.8% 3FG, 7.5 3’s/g, 75.5% FT. Rebs 39.8 pg (+5.0); Assists 17.0 pg; TO 10.4 (+2.3); Steals 7.9; Blks 3.8
Oregon Leaders
Scoring: Nathan Bittle 14.6 ppg (52.4% FG, 14.3% 3FG, 86.7% FT), TJ Bamba 13.0 ppg (39.7% FG, 37% 3FG atts, 72.7% FT), Brandon Angel 10.1ppg (62.2 FG, 41.2% 3FG, 85.7% FT), Keeshawn Barthelemy 9.9 ppg (44.8% FG, 50% 3FG, 80% FT), Jackson Shelstad 9.8 ppg (34.1% FG, 25% 3FG, 84.6% FT), Jadrian Tracey 9.3 ppg (52.6% FG, 34.6% 3FG, 6-2.5% FT)
Rebounds: Bittle 9.4 pg, Kwame Evans Jr 4.8, Shelstead 4.0; Assists Shelstad 3.9, Bamba 2.9, Tracey 2.5; Steals Barthelemy 1.9, Shelstead 1.4; Blks Bittle 1.9, Evans 0.6
SC scores: 73.4 ppg (+1.3), 47.2% FG, 20% 3FG, 6.1 3’s/g, 72.7% FT, Rebs 29.5 rpg (-3.9), Assists 16.5 apg, TOs 10.6 pg (+1.6), 14.5 ppg/TO, Steals 6.5, Blks 2.3
SC Leaders
Scoring: Josh Cohen 12.3 ppg (68.3% FG, 20% 3FG, 75% FT), Claude 11.8 ppg (49.2% FG, 30.8% 3FG, 68.4% FT), Agbo 11.4 ppg (38% FG, 35.4% 3FG, 87% FT), T-Will 10.8 ppg (53.8% FG, 40.9% 3FG, 82.4% FT), Thomas 8.3, Yates 7.9, Knowling 5.4
Rebounds: Thomas 5.4 pg, Agbo 4.3, T-Will 4.3; Assists – Thomas 4.9 apg, Claude 3.3; Steals Thomas 1.3 pg, Yates 1.1; Blks – Knowling 0.6 pg
Pregame
Founder’s speaker was Quincy Pondexter. Pondexter starred at San Joaquin Memorial HS in Fresno (23 ppg, 7 rebs, 6 assts). Top 50 by all recruiting sites. MVP of the Pangos AA Camp and All-Star at the Adidas Superstar Camp. Attended UW and ranked 5th in career scoring (1786 pts). No. 26 pick by OKC in 2010, traded to New Orleans Hornets. Played 355 games for Hornets, Grizzlies, Bulls & Spurs in 8-yr NBA career.
Started coaching as a UW asst for the 2022-24 seasons. Followed Coach Conroy to SC.
Coach praises undefeated No. 12 Oregon and says Altman is a great coach. However, he thinks SC has a good chance to pull out a win using some of the tactics the Huskies used in beating OU a couple of times during the last couple of seasons. They will strive to form a wall against Shelstead and Bamba when they push the ball upcourt, play physical with Bittle, deny him the ball in the post and force him into foul trouble and make Bamba go left because he is a strong right-handed driver. Also keep him off the FT line and don’t let Shelstead get going early.
Wants the fans to scream at the refs so we can get some calls, someone should tell him that SC never gets the calls!
Entering the arena I note a lot of Duck fans here, but the students showed to balance that out. Attendance is 4460, a decent crowd at Galen but an embarrassment elsewhere in the B1G.
I spot Josh Morgan and Ethan Anderson courtside (we sure could use Josh’s rim protection and Ethan’s on-ball defense this season!). Danny Green (National Champ, ACC Def POY at UNC, 3x NBA champ, 2nd team NBA All-Def and to connect the dots, coached by Muss with the D-League’s Reno Bighorns. Trevor Ariza NBA champion with Lakers and one-and done Pac-10 All-Freshman team at ucla, became youngest player in NY Knicks history (19 yrs) when taken in 2nd rd of 2004 draft. His son Tajh, a 5-star recruit in the 2026 class who’s reclassifying to the 2025 class is in tow and you can bet Muss is all over him looking to add some star power from local Westchester HS where he followed in his father’s footsteps.
During the game, the camera picks up Kiki Iriafen enjoying herself on the Dance Cam.
Game
Starting lineup is Des, Buzo, T-Will, Saint and Cohen. I am not sure how long Muss can keep giving Saint so many minutes and not get any production from him. He averages 8.3 ppg in 32.2 min. He went scoreless in 30 mins in this one. Yes, he leads the team in rebounds with 5.6 and assists with 4.6 but he was counted on to be a big scorer for SC this season. This is worth monitoring.
The game was highly entertaining and very close, in fact SC led for most of the first half after OU scored the game’s first points at 17:38. OU would tie it at 14-14 on a 3 by Barthelemy at 8:37 before SC gained their largest lead of the game 11 pts at 28-17 on a 3 by Claude at 4:28. SC finished the half up 30-23, after showcasing perhaps their best defense of the year.
For the half:
OU shot 34.6% FG (9-26), 30% 3FG (3-10), 50% FT (2-4).
SC shot 38.5% FG (15-30), 25% 3FG (2-8), 80% FT (8-10)
Whatever Pondexter said the team would do was executed to perfection. Bittle had only 2pts and 2 TOs while picking up his first PF. Shelstead had only 3 pts and Bamba fared even worse, going scoreless (0-6) in the half. I was very, and as it turned out, overly optimistic at this point that SC would finally break through and get a quality win. My hopes were up when SC held a 55-50 lead at 5:16 left in the game after a pair of Agbo FTs.
From there it was the Shelstead show as he scored 21 of his career-high 24 pts in the 2nd half to finish 5-13 FG, 2-8 3FG, 12-14 FT. He continually got to the rim and drew contact. The only other Duck in double digits was Keeshawn Barthelemy 18 pts, 6-9 FG, 4-5 3FG, 2-2 FT. Stanford xfer Brandon Angel had 8 pts. Bamba played 33 min and had a woeful 6pts, 2-13 FG, 1-5 3FG, 1-2 FT. Bittle fouled out in 20 min with only 5 pts. Without Shelstead’s heroics the Trojans win this one, but after being outscored 18-8 to end the game, they lose 68-60. The 8 pt margin being the Ducks largest in the game. For SC, so close and yet so far. They need to find a way to close out games and get the win.
Final stats:
OU: 38.2% FG (21-55), 34.8% 3FG (8-23), 75% FT (18-24)
SC: 34.5% FG (19-55), 15.4% 3FG (2-13), 76.9% FT (20-26)
The Trojans were led by Claude 22 pts, 9-20 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-7 FTs, he also led with 4 assists but turned the ball over 6 times. Agbo had 18 pts, 3-11 FG, 2-8 3FG (the only made 3s for SC), 10-10 FTs. Before fouling out in 32 min, he added only 4 pts to his 14 first half pts. Cohen after missing the last 3 days due to illness played only 14 min and appeared to hurt his ankle/foot. Based on his 8 pts on 3-5 FG and 2-3 FTs in 22 min, Patton, Jr. deserves more court time. He is the best athlete on the team and really should be the designated opener for jump balls instead of the 6 ft 6 Claude. Muss needs to find a role for Wesley Yates, he is fearless on the court and our best shot creator. He is averaging 7.1 ppg with half the court time of Saint (7.3).
SC outrebounded OU 35-34 and both had 14 TOs, but OU turned them into 18 pts to SC’s 14. OU had an 11-5 advantage in 2nd chance pts. SC had only 9 bench pts, much less than they have been averaging to OU’s 23. Surprisingly SC held a 28-18 advantage on points in the paint. Muss is obviously frustrated and unsure how many if any B1G wins this team will get. Claude is among the players preaching patience for a team that has never played together and never played for Muss.
SC loses 68-60 and falls to 5-4 (0-1). OU stays undefeated at 9-0 (1-0).
Next up: at Washington, Dec. 7th at 3pm. B1G Network
Fight on! Beat the Huskies!
