The Oregon bench cheers as the Oregon Ducks host the Montana Grizzlies at Matthew Knight Arena Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 in Eugene, Ore. Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oregon Ducks Basketball Schedule: Best Big Ten Conference Games

Originally posted on Oregon Ducks on SI
By Arden Cravalho | Last updated Nov 12, 2024 11:01 AM ET

The Oregon Ducks men's basketball team is looking to receive a bid into the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time under Ducks coach Dana Altman. He has the talent and depth to complete this task and will have many opportunities to come away with Quad 1 wins and boost their NET ranking.

Besides the Players Era Festival which consists of matchups with Texas A&M (Nov. 26) and San Diego State (Nov. 27), Oregon's non-conference schedule doesn't consist of any other key resume boosting opportunities. The championship day of the Players Era Festival on Nov. 30 would have the Ducks playing the likes of either Houston, Alabama, Rutgers, or Notre Dame.

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Here are the most important Big Ten Conference matchups that will be vital towards Oregon's resume:

vs. UCLA - Dec. 8

vs. Illinois - Jan. 2

at Ohio State - Jan. 9

vs. Purdue - Jan. 18

at UCLA - Jan. 30

at Michigan - Feb. 5

at Michigan State - Feb. 8

vs. Rutgers - Feb. 16

vs. Indiana - March 4

That trip to the state of Michigan is probably going to be toughest stretch of road games that the Ducks will have during conference play. Michigan coach Dusty May is bringing his winning ways from Florida Atlantic to the Wolverines program inside the Crisler Center and will have help from his loaded transfer portal class consisting of Florida Atlantic's Vladislav Goldin, Ohio State's Roddy Gayle Jr., Auburn's Tre Donaldson, and Yale's Danny Wolf.

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Facing Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and his Spartans in the Breslin Center is always a tough road environment to come away with a victory. He always enforces a tenacious defense that breeds toughness in his players.

A lot of talent from opposing teams will be coming to the Matthew Knight Arena this season. UCLA coach Mick Cronin had a special transfer portal haul of Oklahoma State's Eric Dailey Jr., Louisville's Skyy Clark, UCLA's Kobe Johnson, and Loyola Marymount's Dominick Harris. From the national championship runner-up, Purdue's Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith are returning backcourt members for coach Matt Painter.

The star freshman duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey from Rutgers are both potential lottery picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. Indiana's coach Mike Woodson has brought the energy back to Bloomington since taking over and will have loads of help making a deep run with transfers like Arizona's Oumar Ballo, Washington State's Myles Rice and Stanford's Kanaan Carlyle.