Ducks switch up `D' to ground RedHawks.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

SPOKANE - If defense was the prime topic of conversation before the game, as in how would Miami (Ohio) defend Oregon, it turned around afterward to the impact Oregon's matchup zone had in the Ducks posting a 58-56 victory in the NCAA Tournament.

The Ducks were trailing 9-0 after the RedHawks went inside to score on their first four possessions.

`We went to the matchup and it gave us a lot of energy,' UO coach Ernie Kent said. `We got moving.'

The Ducks also took the lead, going on a 20-0 run while holding Miami without a point for 10 minutes.

In 13 possessions, the RedHawks turned the ball over five times and missed eight shots from the field.

`They're a team that pounds it inside a lot and the matchup zone allows us to front the post (player),' Oregon's Malik Hairston said. `We worked them and were able to keep the ball out of the middle.'

Instead of Tim Pollitz scoring on the inside, the RedHawks were shooting jump shots from the outside, or seeing the Ducks intercept or tip passes headed inside.

`We were doing the things we should have done in the man (defense),' Maarty Leunen said. `We weren't letting them catch the ball in the post and were pressuring every shot.

`They run a good offense, and when you let them run their offense, it's pretty tough.'

Pollitz was 8-for-11 from the field in scoring 21 points.

More than one Oregon defender found the 6-foot-6, 230-pound junior a load to keep away from the basket.

`He's a tough guy,' UO freshman Joevan Catron said. `He can score with either hand, he never stops working and he has a nice touch.'

While the zone helped control Pollitz, it left Michael Bramos open on the outside and his trio of three-pointers late in the first half got Miami back in the game. That prompted the Ducks to return to man-to-man defense.

`We felt like he was getting away from us a little bit so we needed to lock him down from man,' Kent said.

`We went back to the matchup zone two or three times in the second half ... we wanted to throw it at them to keep them off-guard.'

Sunday's game against Winthrop is likely to require defensive alterations during the game as well. The Eagles twice this season went over 100 points, and averaged 75.3 points.

`We're a really good defensive team, and Sunday is going to be another big challenge for us defensively,' Kent said. `Defense is the key. You've got to set the tone that way, and we did not do that in the first three or four possessions (Friday) in our man. I thought we did that on our 20-0 run and with our matchup zone.'