DOING IT WITH DEFENSE.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Oregon has won three NIT games without once scoring more than 66 points in regulation. The Ducks have advanced despite a rare off night from their all-American and too many missed free throws.

They've won when the offense didn't function very well for long stretches, or didn't produce points for minutes at a time.

And still the Ducks (18-12) have won, and advanced themselves into the NIT semifinals at 6 p.m. PST on Tuesday against Michigan (21-11). Despite all they haven't done offensively, how can the Ducks keep winning?

`If we play defense, we can,' answered Aaron Brooks, the freshman point guard.

Well, guess what? The Ducks are defending as they didn't for most of the season and it's the biggest reason they're on an airplane today bound for New York and the NIT semifinals.

`Guys are kind of believing in what we're able to do if we just defend guys,' Luke Jackson said. `Effort has always got to be there but there's so many little things you have to understand about a defensive game plan, and having the whole team buy into that on every possession is really key. I feel like our team's done that.'

In winning six of seven games in March, Oregon hasn't allowed an opponent to make half of its field-goal attempts. In the past two NIT games, George Mason (.313) and Notre Dame (.381) have had two of the four worst shooting percentages against the Ducks this season. Oregon's three NIT opponents are a combined 17-of-64 (.266) on three-point attempts.

Contrast that with the stretch in February when Oregon lost five of six, and four of those teams that beat the Ducks did make at least half of their shots. In those five defeats, the Ducks gave up an average of 86 points.

In March? Opponents are averaging 66.9 points against the Ducks, and that includes an overtime game.

`The difference is we defend now,' UO coach Ernie Kent said. `Even though we weren't always in rhythm offensively, we've learned that you can always go to the other end and play defense.'

So why the dramatic change?

`We've made some adjustments in some areas and they've done a better job at some things,' Kent said.

Oregon hadn't been switching defenders, but instead had been fighting through screens. It made players more accountable for their defensive performance, players and coaches said.

But then that changed Thursday at Notre Dame, where the Ducks did do more switching to make sure Chris Thomas, the leading scorer for the Irish, never got an open look. His teammates weren't open often, either.

`They couldn't find open shooters,' UO assistant Fred Litzenberger said.

A simple key for that was that Oregon gave an altered look to the Irish from what they would have seen in recent games, when the Ducks weren't switching on screens.

The Ducks bothered Colorado by changing from zone to man-to-man defense. They threw George Mason off with some traps and different methods of pressure.

Whatever Oregon does defensively, the Ducks seem to understand the concept and know what their assignment is for that possession, whether it's starters or reserves filling in for a few minutes.

`We're playing good team defense,' Andre Joseph said. `Everybody's playing as a team, we're not all going our separate ways."

Joseph has set the tone for much of it by taking on the other team's leading perimeter scorer. He has the quickness to defend point guards, his 6-foot-3 height allows him to guard wings and his general demeanor on the court is that no challenge is too difficult.

`He has been the guy who has wanted the best player on the other team, and has done a great job with everyone he's guarded,' Kent said. `As long as he continues to do that, he sets the tone for the entire defense with his energy and how hard he plays out front.'

Three nights after Thomas scored 39 points in a Notre Dame victory, the Irish junior was 7-of-25 from the field against the Ducks. If that was Joseph, and much of it was, he gave it a shrug and a `so what' kind of expression after the game.

`Andre is playing with unbelievable confidence,' fellow senior Jay Anderson said. `He feels he can stop anybody.'

If that's been the most obvious strength of the Oregon defense, being able to play tough on the inside has also suddenly paid dividends. Whether it's the postseason theory of letting players play, or that Oregon's three NIT games have been called by officials from other leagues - the crew at Notre Dame was from the ACC - it's definitely been a different style of basketball on display, particularly in the post area.

`Certainly in these NIT games it's been a lot more physical,' Kent said. `That's allowed us to stay on the floor without getting into foul trouble, and it's allowed us to play defense better.

`We've become a very physical basketball team defensively, and that (opponent shooting) percentage continues to go down a little lower with each contest. As long as they let us play physical and bang, we have the bodies to do that, and we'll continue to play that way.'

CAPTION(S):

Andre Joseph has stepped up his game on both offense and defense to help lead the Ducks to the NIT semifinals. Joseph, a senior, is often called on to guard the opposition's leading scorer. "Everybody's playing as a team, we're not all going our separate ways." - ANDRE JOSEPH, OREGON SENIOR GUARD