Newcomers key ranked Oregon.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

U O b a s k e t b a l l

Eight games into the season, Oregon offered a different look Monday night.

The Ducks played as a ranked team for the first time in four seasons, at No. 22 in The Associated Press poll.

UO coach Ernie Kent was back to wearing a suit, his right arm no longer needing a sling to protect the shoulder that underwent surgery Oct. 31.

And more notably, there were 35 points scored by the UO reserves, a season high that included 15 from freshman Joevan Catron and another nine from sophomore Churchill Odia in his playing debut at Oregon.

`You saw two really good players who are starting to come back and can really help us and increase our depth,' Kent said. `Those two kids played extremely well.'

As almost an afterthought, the Ducks raised their record to 8-0 with a 92-64 thumping of Bethune-Cookman (2-4) in front of 6,534 in McArthur Court.

Oh, there was certainly some of the usual. Bryce Taylor led the Ducks in scoring for the second consecutive game with 21 points, and in only 24 minutes. And both he and Tajuan Porter (13 points) continued their streaks of double-figure scoring in every game.

But that was also a season high in points for Taylor, one of five Ducks to match or exceed his top scoring output of the season, including obviously Odia, who last played in a game two seasons ago when he was at Xavier.

`We all know what he's capable of doing,' Taylor said. `Churchill is a great passer and he can knock down open shots.'

In 17 minutes, Odia scored nine points on 3-of-8 shooting, all but one of those a three-point attempt. He also had five assists and two steals.

`I need to work a lot on my shot, I know on a good day I can hit my shots,' Odia said. `I know I've got game. I know what I can bring to this team, it's just been a while since I played. I need to get myself in shape.'

What he appeared to have is a great feel for setting up teammates. While Aaron Brooks had seven of Oregon's 23 assists and again seemed to fill more of the role of point guard, Odia was like a second point guard on the wing.

`Before I came here, my position was point guard (so) I'm kind of used to it,' Odia said. `My first option is to pass and create openings for my teammates. I'm not looking to score, I look to pass first and whatever the defense gives me, I take it.'

All that had to feel good for a player who couldn't play last year as a transfer, and then had to spend the past couple months coming back from his second surgery in the past year on his left knee. It was an enjoyable return, right?

`Why don't you tell me,' Odia responded. `You see the smile on my face.'

If not the same grin, it was certainly a pleasing performance for Catron, who also missed extensive time in recent months as he recovered from hip surgery in the summer to repair torn tissue. He had particularly struggled with his shooting, going 2-of-16 until Monday, when he made all six of his shots, including a three, and also had three rebounds and three steals in 21 minutes.

`I just didn't think about my hip,' said Catron, who added that in previous games, `I was favoring it a lot.

`I've been waiting for a while to see how my hip was going to feel. It felt pretty good, so I just rolled with it.'

He said he received a couple of telephone calls from members of his family back in Illionis, who advised him to `let it all out and play. That's what I tried to do, and it paid off.'

It maybe was also Oregon's strategy after what Kent called a `sluggish' first half. His advice at halftime was `we need to crank it up a notch.'

`We definitely didn't come out with the intensity that we wanted to, we were a little bit lazy defensively at first,' Taylor said. `In the second half we picked it up and played the way we wanted to play.'

Taylor forced a turnover on Bethune-Cookman's initial possession after halftime, and the tone was set. The Ducks had eight of their 12 steals after halftime, and 13 of the 24 turnovers by Bethune-Cookman came in those final 20 minutes.

`In the second half we played better defense and that leads to easier (offensive) looks,' Taylor said.

The Ducks shot 63.3 from the field in the final 20 minutes, their best percentage for a half this season. The 53.1 overall shooting percentage was also a season best for Oregon, fueled by those two dozen Bethune-Cookman turnovers that led to 31 Oregon points.

On those counts, and with the improved depth - and Chamberlain Oguchi remains out with a sprained ankle - the Ducks looked like a team worthy of the top 25. It's a new experience for them, as Oregon's last ranked team featured a couple of guys named Luke.

`It's definitely pretty cool,' Taylor said. `We feel like it's not really a measure of how good we are as a team because we haven't played as well as we're capable of. We look at it as incentive to stay in there and move up with each win.

`We think we're definitely a top 25 team, but this early in the season rankings don't really mean much.'

GAME REPORT: OREGON VS. BETHUNE-COOKMAN

Notes: Aaron Brooks finished with five points, so he's still six shy of becoming the 25th Oregon player with 1,000 career points. With seven assists, he's now within nine of catching Fred Jones (367) for fifth on that career list. ... Oregon is one of nine remaining unbeaten teams in Division I. ... Clemson transfer Jimmy Hudson led Bethune-Cookman with 21 points, including 5-of-7 on three-pointers. ... Oregon was outrebounded 34 to 33, only the second time this season the opponent has had more rebounds than the Ducks. ... The Wildcats made 8-of-14 three-pointers, a 57.1 percentage that is a season high for a UO opponent.

Key Stat: Oregon scored 31 points off 24 turnovers by Bethune-Cookman.

Next: The Ducks play host to Eastern Washington on Friday at 7 p.m.

Oregon 92, Bethune-Cookman 64

BETHUNE-COOKMAN (64)

Mp Fg Ft R F A To S Tp

Hudson ... 34 8-14 0-1 5 4 2 4 1 21

Anderson ... 29 2-3 0-0 2 1 0 3 0 4

Nelson ... 23 4-6 3-5 5 4 1 5 0 11

Pettus ... 30 2-8 0-1 2 2 4 2 1 5

Coleman ... 27 4-7 0-1 4 2 4 6 4 8

Carrier ... 15 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0

Cummings ... 18 3-8 1-2 2 1 1 0 1 9

Weeks ... 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Creppy ... 22 3-9 0-0 11 3 1 2 2 6

Totals ... 200 26-57 4-10 34 18 13 24 9 64

Shooting: Field goals 45.6%, 3-point baskets - 8-14 (Hudson 5-7, Cummings 2-3, Pettus 1-2, Anderson 0-1, Carrier 0-1). Team rebounds - 3. Blocked shots - 4 (Coleman 2, Hudson, Pettus).

OREGON (92)

Mp Fg Ft R F A To S Tp

Hairston ... 29 4-9 0-2 4 1 4 1 0 9

Taylor ... 24 7-11 4-6 6 1 1 1 2 21

Leunen ... 23 4-7 0-1 7 2 1 1 1 9

Brooks ... 29 1-5 3-4 4 4 7 5 2 5

Porter ... 31 4-12 2-2 2 0 2 1 1 13

Platt ... 10 1-1 0-0 2 2 2 0 1 2

Odia ... 17 3-8 0-0 2 3 5 0 2 9

Stelly ... 4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Zahn ... 5 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 4

Schafer ... 7 2-2 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 5

Catron ... 21 6-6 2-4 3 1 1 1 3 15

Totals ... 200 34-64 12-21 33 14 23 11 12 92

Shooting: Field goals 53.1%, 3-point baskets - 12-29 (Taylor 3-4, Odia 3-7, Porter 3-8, Catron 1-1, Hairston 1-2, Leunen 1-2, Stelly 0-1, Brooks 0-4). Team rebounds - 3. Blocked shots - 2 (Hairston, Leunen).

Bethune-Cookman ... 32 32 - 64

Oregon ... 41 51 - 92

Officials - Verne Harris, Tom Spitznagel, Hughes Suffren.

Attendance - 6,534.