Game Notes: Ducks Host Mavericks

The Ducks open a four-game homestand by hosting Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday (5 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – Oregon has a number of connections to Nebraska-Omaha on the coaching staff. Assistant coach Tony Stubblefield played for the Mavericks in the early 1990s, and graduated from UNO in 1995. Assistant coach Kevin McKenna was UNO's head coach from 2002-05 and led the Mavericks to three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. And head coach Dana Altman is a Nebraska native (Wilber).
• 2 – Freshman Will Richardson has set a season high in scoring in each of the last four games. He had seven points against Syracuse, 10 against Green Bay, 13 versus Texas Southern and 16 at Houston.
• 3 – Bol Bol has scored in double figures in each of his first seven games as a Duck, and has recorded a double-double in three of those games. Nov. 26 against Texas Southern, Bol scored 32 points with 11 rebounds. The 32 points were the most by an Oregon freshman since Tajuan Porter dropped in 33 against UNLV in a 2007 NCAA Sweet 16 game.
• 4 – Of Oregon's 13-player roster, 77 percent (10) are either freshman or sophomores. The three outliers are junior Payton Pritchard, senior Paul White and senior grad transfer Ehab Amin.
• 5 – During the November signing period, the Ducks signed four players to NLIs. The class of Chris Duarte (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic), Isaac Johnson (American Fork, Utah), Chandler Lawson (Memphis, Tenn.) and C.J. Walker (Sanford, Fla.) is currently ranked ninth nationally by Rivals.com. It is the Ducks' fourth straight top-12 recruiting class.
• UNICORN – Bol Bol is the only player ranked among the Pac-12's top 5 in scoring, rebounds, blocks and 3FG percentage.

CLOSE CALLS
Oregon's three losses on the season have all come by less than 10 points. Last year, the Ducks lost eight games in 2017-18 by single digits. The last time the Ducks fielded a team as young as the current squad was 2005-06. That sophomore-laden squad dropped an excruciating 13 games by single digits, but did make a run to the 2006 Pac-10 Tournament semifinals. That same group of players won the Pac-12 Tournament and advanced to the Elite 8 the following year.

RICHARDSON RISES
Freshman Will Richardson has set a season high in scoring in each of the last four games. He had seven points against Syracuse, 10 against Green Bay, 13 versus Texas Southern and 16 at Houston. On the year, he's shooting 61 percent from the field, 77 percent at the free throw line and also dishing out 2.1 assists per game.

UNICORN STATUS
Freshman Bol Bol is currently the only player in the Pac-12 ranked in the league's top five in scoring (21.6 ppg), three-point field goal percentage (.500), rebounds (9.6 rpg) and blocked shots (2.9 bpg).

DOUBOL-DOUBOL
Bol Bol has reached double figures in all seven games this season and had recorded a double-double in three of those games. He made a splash with a double-double (12-12) in his Oregon debut against Portland State, and then followed that with another double-double (23-12) versus Eastern Washington. Bol is the first UO freshman to open his career with back-to-back double-doubles. He was then named to the 2K Classic all-tournament team. He scored 14 points with seven rebounds against Iowa and then scored 26 points versus No. 15 Syracuse. He also had eight blocks for the tournament. Bol's third double-double of the season came against Texas Southern (32-11). He scored 23 points at Houston.

PRITCHARD MOVING UP CAREER ASSIST LIST; EYES 1,000 CAREER POINTS
Payton Pritchard entered his junior year on pace to break Kenya Wilkins' UO career assists record of 614 and he's also increased his scoring to approach 1,000 career points. Pritchard moved past former NBA all-star Terrell Brandon (315/1989-91) for eighth against Eastern Washington and now shows 344 career assists. Fred Jones is seventh with 367 assists from 1998-02. He also has 906 career points coming into the Nebraska-Omaha game. He has scored in double figures in five-of-seven games this year, and has five or more assists in four-of-seven.