IU basketball game day essentials: Hoosiers face Oregon in Eugene

Game Day Essentials:

Indiana (18-11, 9-9) vs. Oregon (21-8, 10-8)

• Tip Time: 9 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday
• Location: Matthew Knight Arena (12,364), Eugene, Ore.
• Television: FS1 (Guy Haberman, Casey Jacobsen)
• Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, John Herrick)
• Stream: Fox Sports
• Point Spread:  Oregon is a 6.5-point favorite
• KenPom Projected Score:  Oregon 77  Indiana 71
• History: Indiana leads leads, 3-0.
• Last Meeting: IU 68, Oregon 60 on Dec. 28, 1978, in Portland
• Tickets (via our StubHub affiliate link)

Oregon’s Dana Altman

Dana Altman is in his 36th overall season as a Division 1 head coach and his 15th season with Oregon. Across his career, he has compiled a career record of 775-403.

Altman began his career with one season at Marshall before a four-year tenure at Kansas State. From 1990 to 1994, Altman led the Wildcats to an NCAA Tournament appearance and two appearances in the NIT. Altman accepted the head coaching position at Creighton following the 1993-1994 season.

Altman had an impressive 16-season tenure at Creighton before moving to Oregon. Altman led the Bluejays to seven NCAA Tournaments, along with earning three regular season MVC titles. He won back-to-back MVC Coach of the Year awards in 2001 and 2002. The 2001-2002 season stands out, with Altman leading Creighton to a 23-9 overall record, an MVC regular season, and an MVC tournament title.

With almost 15 completed seasons under his belt at Oregon, Altman has also seen plenty of success. He’s taken the Ducks to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, with his best finish coming in the 2016-17 season, where he made the Final Four. Before Oregon joined the Big Ten, he earned three Pac-12 Coach of the Year awards. He also led the Ducks to four Pac-12 regular season titles and four conference tournament titles.

Oregon’s results and roster:

Oregon’s Game Notes (via Oregon Athletics)

SEASON SUPERLATIVES

• Nate Bittle tied his career high of 23 points against Wisconsin, adding six rebounds and three blocks. He
  finished +13 in the game.
• Jackson Shelstad scored a career-high 26 points vs. Northwestern, his fifth 20-point game of the
  season, all coming in Big 10 play.
• Supreme Cook grabbed his 1,000th career rebound against Rutgers, his 146th career game for Fairfield,
  Georgetown and Oregon.
• Rutgers’ 57 points were the fewest by an Oregon opponent in conference play since Cal was held to
  51 on 3/2/23.
• Oregon is 13-4 this season when recording five or more steals and 4-0 when posting double digit steals in a game.
• The Ducks outscored Washington 20-9 over the final 5:36 of the game on 1/21, including a 9-0 run.
• Oregon held Purdue to just 2-of-12 shooting from three-point range, the Ducks’ sixth time this season holding an opponent under 20% from deep.
• Nate Bittle’s career-high six blocked shots against Purdue were the most in a game by a Duck
  since KJ Evans swatted six last season.
• The Ducks recorded a season-high 22 assists on 31 makes in the win over Penn State on 1/12.
• Keeshawn Barthelemy eclipsed the 1,000 point marker for his career with his three-pointer late
  in the second half vs. OSU on 1/9, helping secure the Ducks’ come-from-behind win.
• UO shot 51.8% from the field and 42.9% from three against Maryland on 1/5, along with 86.7%
  from the free throw line.
• Supreme Cook scored a season-high 20 points vs. Illinois on 1/2, finishing 8-for-11 from the field.
• Oregon finished nonconference play 11-0, the first unbeaten nonconference slate since 2013-14.

AMONG THE BEST OF THE BIGS

• Nate Bittle was named one of the top 10 candidates for the 2025 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, given annually to college basketball’s top center by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
• First in the Big Ten in blocks (63) and 9th in rebounds (206).
• Four of the top 10 candidates play in the Big Ten (Derik Queen – Maryland, Vladislav Goldin – Michigan, Dawson Garcia – Minnesota)

AGAINST THE TOP 25

• The Ducks have taken on a ranked opponent seven times this season, going 3-4 in such games so far. Oregon sports two of the nation’s best wins in 2024-25, knocking off now-No. 6 Alabama and No. 12 Texas A&M.
• UO picked up their first road win against a top 25 team since 2021-22 with the 77-73
• The Ducks secured their first Big Ten win at Matthew Knight Arena against Maryland, who now sits at No. 16 in the AP poll.
• Dana Altman’s Ducks are 41-45 against ranked opponents.

Oregon’s KenPom notable numbers

(out of 364 teams)

Tempo – No. 144 (Offense No. 93 / Defense No. 261)

Offensive Efficiency – No. 35

• The Ducks hold an effective field goal percentage of 52.4% on the year (No. 106). As a team, they shoot 34.7% on threes (No. 126) and 52.5% on twos (No. 129).
• Almost every offensive metric is in the 120-180 range compared to other Division 1 teams. Their best metric on offense is their free-throw percentage, which sits at 76.3% (No. 49).
• Their point distribution is fairly even as well, with free throws being the highest compared to other teams at 19.4%, No. 146.
• Three-pointers aren’t an emphasis, as they attempt them at a 38.6% rate (No. 177). They do fairly assist well with a 54.2% rate for every made field goal (No. 113).

Defensive Efficiency – No. 40

• Teams are shooting a 49.6% effective field goal percentage against Oregon (No. 113). They shoot 31.5% from three (No. 58) and 51% from two (No. 183).
• Oregon does a good job of limiting opportunities from the line with a 27.6% attempt rate for every field goal attempt (No. 53).
• Teams have found the most success on two, as it makes up 52.5% of total points in opponent point distribution (No. 69).
• They can be a bit vulnerable on the offensive glass with a 29.4% opposing rate (No. 161).

OG’s Pick

Win/Loss Record: 22-4

This is a very intriguing matchup in my opinion. Oregon, at times, looked unstoppable in their nonconference slate, topping teams like Alabama and Texas A&M, and they have some really impressive victories over Maryland and Wisconsin in the Big Ten.

However, some of their games also look similar to Indiana, if not worse. I’m looking at that Illinois result where the Illini point up 109 points, an away loss to Minnesota, and that Purdue loss at home to name a few. Still, it would be unjust to judge Oregon just by those matchups alone.

The main metric to pay attention to is Oregon’s opposing 2-point percentages. That’s where teams have had the most success. Big roles from Ballo and Reneau are a must if Indiana wants a chance.

The Hoosiers have a chance to cement themselves in the NCAA Tournament with a win over Oregon. Can they do it?

I don’t think it comes tonight.

PICK: Oregon 79 – Indiana 71

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