It is at Matthew Knight Arena, and I realize most of you will not be able to watch it, so I will check in with reports for you over the course of the game. Every game will help this team begin to come together!

Takai Simpkins had 18 points and the winning basket vs. Hawaii...

Oregon should win this game by double digits. This should be much easier than Hawaii, in theory.

Ducks favored -15.5

Hope they're over the opening-game jitters.

Go Ducks!

(and no injuries)

Shelstad started. Night and day with ball movement right now. Ducks up early 20-15.

Halfway through the first half...Oregon is up 17-15 after trailing for most of the first ten minutes. Outside shooting sucks, but Bittle is getting more involved with a sweet block by Stewart.

Great to see Shelstad playing again, even if limited minutes.

Oregon down 5 at half. Shot 26% from the floor in the first half.

They were in the bonus at 10 minutes left in the half but failed to take advantage. Lists of threes and contested jumpers.

32-27, Rice Owls at half. Whew!

They are on fire now! FG% up to 31% 😂

Ducks lead 40-38. 11:49 left

At the halfway point in the second half....Oregon leads 46-40 with ten minutes left. Defense is starting to kick in, and as noted earlier--the outside shooting is improving.

54-49 Oregon with five minutes left. Anybody's game...

Talk about a shooting slump. Lin is now 1 for his last 18 shots. Yikes!!!

Ducks win 67-63!

Not pretty, and the hold-overs lead the way....Shelstad, Bittle and Evans. We generated a ton of fouls in the second half and got a lot at the line.

Not quite ready for Prime-Time!

Ducks get 18 more points on free throws. Rice gets 14 more points on field goals. That's the 67-63 difference.

That margin on free throws reminds of watching Lute Olson harass the refs at games in Tucson.

Horrible horrible shooting once again. Oregon has one shooter who is above average behind the 3point line which is Shelsted, that is pathetic, absolutely pathetic, and that's on Altman not recruiting players who can shoot the ball reliably.

I know I'm a broken record, but I just don't understand how you don't see that when you have a point guard like Shelsted and big man like Bittle, you have to surround them with snipers from the outside, not a bunch of slashers. We don't have one guy who is just a dead eye from outside. If I were an opponent I would sag off everyone other than Shelsted and make Oregon shoot 25 to 30 3s because it looks like this might be Altman's worst shooting team ever.

It is early, but we don't hit open shots, it's not like all of these 3s are contested.

Our defense will be decent, but to win we'll need to convert that D into fast break points and we'll have rebound better on the defensive glass. I do think we have the potential to be a better rebounding team than last year.

I really hope I'll eat my words, but it doesn't look good.

I like Stewart, that guy needs to start. I would play a big lineup with Evans at the 3.

I will add, the team did perform better, Shelsted adds a lot to the team, and the offense will get better as they begin to play with each other more. Altman still is a great coach, and I expect him to continue his tradition of having his teams perform towards the end of the season. We have had games like this in the past, and we've also lost some stinkers, so it isn't like this is unheard of to struggle in the first couple games.

It's a different type of team, we will defend better than some of the previous seasons, and I do think we will rebound better. I just wonder if we'll be able to score enough. Simpkins and Evans are the key to everything, they have to shoot better in order to open up the inside.

Simpkins had a bad shooting night, but he's probably the one best suited to being an option to either get shots for Shelsted or providing a out ball to Shelsted or Bittle. Lindsey was terrible at the line, but looking at his past he has shown some ability to shoot from the outside, so there's some hope there.

Simpkins was a 37 percent 3 point shooter last year, if he can just bump that up a little bit it would be big for us.

Pryor will hustle, he'll defend, but he can't shoot, and I'm worried that will be a big downfall for us.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by spartan2785