EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; Coach Ben Howland held a fireside chat with reporters Friday an hour before his team’s practice at the new Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks began the week 0-4 in the Pac-10 but knocked off USC Thursday night in their first game in their new home, giving Howland reason for concern.
“Obviously (Oregon was) pumped up last night, and their zone is good,” Howland said. “Anybody can beat anybody in this league.”
The Bruins will likely see zone again on Saturday, which they struggled against in the second half of Thursday’s game against Oregon State.
“We had a couple bad turnovers in a row,” Howland said. “It’s just mental errors.”
And the Ducks will likely still be running off the adrenalin generated by the opening of their muti-million dollar complex.
Thursday’s grand opening featured lights, lasers, speeches by the Knight family ““ founders of Nike ““ and a special arrival by the Oregon Duck who entered from the roof.
“We’re going to have the Bruin come out of the ceiling in 2012,” Howland said jokingly.
Come Saturday, the video boards will be big and bold, the half court line nearly invisible, and the court simply hard to look at.
Howland said he knows it’s a big weekend for the Ducks.
“I’m sure they’ll be equally fired up for us,” Howland said. “They want to win every home game in this new building. We know we’re going to a hornet’s nest. We have to be up to the sense of urgency and energy level that they’re playing with to win ““ or we won’t.”
The Ducks beat USC without their best player, senior forward Joevan Catron. Catron was held out of the game last night with a strained calf muscle. His status remains uncertain for Saturday.
Jones injury update
Howland said that junior point guard Lazaric Jones’ injured finger appeared mildly swollen this morning because Jones had taped it tightly prior to Thursday’s contest.
But Howland added that Jones made big shots against the Beavers and will play on Saturday as he continues to let the finger heal.
“I think it gave confidence going into tomorrow that yeah, it’s better,” Howland said.
Smith to come off the bench, again
Howland also said that he will continue to start sophomore forward Brendan Lane over freshman center Josh Smith to keep the big man out of foul trouble.
“I think it’s just better for him psychologically to not get a foul in the first three minutes of the game,” Howland said. “That’s the whole deal.”