Game Notes: Civil War Win Would Cement Pac-12 Title

Oregon and Oregon State renew the most contested rivalry in all of college basketball Saturday at 3 p.m. at Gill Coliseum (ESPN2). It will be the 348th Civil War between the Ducks and Beavers in a series that dates to 1903.

THE STARTING FIVE
1 - Oregon has reached a number of historic milestones in program history:
   * Record of 26-4 (.867) is the best in UO history.
   * 15 conference wins is the most in UO history.
   * Nation-best and program-record 42 consecutive
       wins at home.
   * Second-straight undefeated season at home (17-0).
   * Seventh straight 20-win season.
   * Seventh straight winning season for the first
       time in 77 years.
   * 20 straight winning seasons as a head coach for
       Dana Altman.
   * Program-record 180 wins over seven seasons.
   * Program-record 159 wins over six seasons.
   * Program-record 135 wins over five seasons.
   * Program-record 83 wins over three seasons.
2 - With a win Saturday, Oregon would claim the league title for sixth time in program history. The other five are 1919, 1939, 1945, 2002 and 2016. The Ducks have not clinched a league crown in the State of Oregon since 1945 (2002 and 2016 both happened in Los Angeles).
3 - The last four seasons, Oregon is undefeated after Valentine's Day (21-0) in Pac-12 Conference games (credit to Pac-12 Network's JB Long for that note).
4 - Last Saturday at Stanford, Dana Altman tied W.J. Reinhart (1923-35) for third in UO career coaching wins with 180.
5 - The Ducks are second nationally at 6.8 blocks per game, and lead the nation in total blocks with 203.

LAST TIME VS. OREGON STATE
The Oregon men dominated the 347th edition of the Civil War on Jan. 14, winning 85-43. The margin was the largest ever by the Ducks in a Civil War victory, surpassing a 29-point win in 2002. The Ducks were in command from the opening tip. They led 21-0 before the Beavers finally scored, with 10:44 left in the first half. Dylan Ennis opened the game with a three-pointer, his first of three in the half on the way to 11 points at halftime. There was no letup in the second half, as the Ducks continued to extend their lead while spreading around the minutes. Ten players played at least 11 minutes, and seven played at least 20 for the Ducks, who ended the game on an 11-1 run as OSU missed its last seven field-goal attempts. Oregon finished the night shooting 27-of-52 (.519) and holding OSU to 16-of-51 (.314). The Ducks had 23 assists on their 27 field goals, and committed just 11 turnovers while forcing 21. Freshman Payton Pritchard made 4-of-4 three-point attempts, the West Linn native leading the Ducks with 17 points in his first career Civil War. Ennis added 16 points and was one of three Ducks with five assists, joining Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey. Jordan Bell grabbed nine rebounds and had four of Oregon's 12 blocked shots.

BROOKS' HEROICS NET THIRD PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
National Player of the Year candidate Dillon Brooks earned his third Pac-12 Player of the Week award of the season and fourth of his career on Feb. 27 following his efforts against California and Stanford. Brooks averaged 18 points on 52 percent shooting (16-of-31) in Oregon's road sweep through the Bay Area, highlighted by a team-high 22 points and the game-winning three pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining in the 68-65, come-from-behind victory Feb. 22 at California. The Mississauga, Ontario, native scored seven of his 22 points against the Golden Bears in the final 2:36, including a go-ahead jumper with 58 seconds left before his second game-deciding triple of the Conference season. His first buzzer-beater came Dec. 28 versus UCLA. Brooks' fourth career weekly honor is tied for the most ever by an Oregon player with Blair Rasmussen (1983-85). His three selections this season match the most in a single season by a Ducks player (Jerry Adams, 1985-86). Only the legendary Ron Lee scored more career points than Brooks has through his junior season. Brooks currently shows 1,454 career points at Oregon. Lee had 1,527 career points through his junior season (1975).

BELL MAKING CASE FOR DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jordan Bell's late-game heroics at Stanford lifted Oregon to a 75-73 win on Feb. 25. Bell's tip-in, which came on Oregon's fourth offensive rebound of the possession, proved to be the game-winner with :14 remaining. He is the only player in the Pac-12 ranked in the top 10 in rebounds (10th), blocks (fourth) and steals (eighth). He is also second in field goal percentage (.627).

FINISHING STRONG
Under coach Dana Altman, Oregon has a 45-17 record (.726) during the second half of Pac-12 play. That breaks down to 4-5 in 2011, 7-2 in 2012, 5-4 in 2013, 7-2 in 2014, 8-1 in 2015, 7-2 in 2016 and 7-1 in 2017. Only Arizona (47) has won more over the last six seasons.

"O" CANADA
Three of the Ducks' top four scorers are Canadian: Dillon Brooks (15.6 ppg), Chris Boucher (12.1 ppg) and, Dylan Ennis (11.1 ppg). They are the latest in a recent line of Ducks, most from the Toronto area, to hail from the Great White North. The northern flock:
   * Olu Ashaolu (Toronto, 2012)
   * Devoe Joseph (Toronto, 2012)
   * Richard Amardi (Toronto, 2014)
   * Jason Calliste (Scarborough, Ont., 2014)
   * Dillon Brooks (Mississauga, Ont., 2015-17)
   * Chris Boucher (Montreal, 2016-17)
   * Dylan Ennis (Brampton, Ont., 2016-17)

IN THE POLLS
Dating back to last season, Oregon has been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for a school-record 25 consecutive weeks. The previous mark was 21 weeks that first occurred over the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

DUCKS REACH HIGH MARK IN HUMAN POLLS
The Ducks' ranking of No. 4 by the Associated Press in the Nov. 14 poll was Oregon's highest-ever ranking by A.P. The previous high was No. 5, which happened in the 2016-17 preseason poll, as well as for two weeks in December of 2002. The No. 5 ranking was the Ducks highest ever in a preseason poll.

WINNING THE PERCENTAGES
Oregon's current winning percentage of .867 (26-4) is the best in program history, just ahead of .857 from three seasons: 1927-28 (18-3), 1926-27 (24-4) and 1911-12 (12-2) seasons. The 1939 NCAA Champions are fifth (29-5/.853), with last year's squad (31-7/.816) sixth. The 15 conference wins is also a program best. The Ducks' previous high was 14 in 1938, 1939, 2002 and 2016.

3-, 5-, 6- AND 7-YEAR WIN RECORDS SET
Oregon continues to extend the school records for the most wins over several periods. The current squad has extended the school record to wins over seven-years period to 180, as well as six years (159), five years (135) and three years (83).

SEASON TRENDS
Here's look at some trends from the season. The Ducks are:
   * 23-0 when blocking more shots than opponents
   * 19-0 when having more assists than opponents
   * 21-1 when scoring 70 or more points
   * 21-1 when leading at the half
   * 19-1 when outrebounding opponents
   * 18-1 when committing fewer fouls than opponents
   * 18-1 when having more steals than the opponent