Huskies Play First Game at New Matthew Knight Arena

The Washington Huskies will try to stop a short two game losing streak when they take on the Oregon Ducks today.

  The Huskies however, have won two in a row in Eugene and will look to make it three. The last two Huskies wins in Eugene was at McArthur Court which was home to the Oregon Ducks from 1926 to 2010.  Despite, Washington's recent success at McArthur Court the Huskies will have to win in an odd environment at new Matthew Knight Arena.

Before you pickup the phone to phone your eye doctor because you think your eyes are bad. When you read this, you have to  realize this is the design of new Matthew Knight Arena. The unique court has the College basketball world buzzing. Personally, I think it is ugly but  what's new I think everything Oregon is ugly. On the other hand I think it's a good thing for College Basketball. Oregon has established some home court advantage. A home court advantage that you would only find in Boise State with their blue turf or Eastern Washington with their red turf.

Matthew Knight Arena opened on January 13th against USC. Oregon won that game 68-62. The Ducks are coming off a 69-43 win against Washington State and are 2-1 in their new court. Matthew Knight Arena is also the second biggest arena in College Basketball.

For the Huskies to get the win today they will have to shoot a lot better from three point range. In the Huskies recent two game skid they have shot 20-60 from three point range. Also, the Huskies big three players in Isaiah Thomas,  Matthew Bryan Amaning and Justin Holiday have shot 17-64 combined.

The Huskies lead the series 184-103 and have won 11 out of their last 14 meetings. Oregon is 11-11 on the year and 4-6 in the Pac 10. For Oregon to pull of the upset today they will likely play a Zone defense that should confuse the Huskies. The Huskies have done poorly against a zone defense all year. Their lack of ball movement and settling for outside jumpers way too often is a concern of mine. Consequently, when Scott Suggs is your teams leading scorer in a game likely things have gone from bad to worse.

All that said, I think the Huskies will get the job done today. The Huskies will need to almost run the table the rest of the way to win the Pac 10 regular season title. If the Huskies play the way they can today the Huskies should win easy. Oregon doesn't have the depth nor the athletes Washington has to compete for the whole game. I believe the Huskies will play smart and play with emotion and the Huskies will win 72-57.  Look for Terrence Ross to have a monster game today. His 25 points led all scores in the Huskies 87-69 in on January 6th. the last time these two teams met.