Oregon will be at height disadvantage Monday when trying to defend Iowa center Luka Garza

The Ducks’ tallest starter is 6-foot-6, which could pose issues when trying to defend Garza, the 6-foot-11 Hawkeye.

Mar+20%2C+2021%3B+Indianapolis%2C+IN%2C+USA%3B+Iowa+Hawkeyes+center+Luka+Garza+%2855%29+and+Grand+Canyon+Antelopes+center+Asbj+rn+Midtgaard+%2833%29+fight+for+the+ball+during+the+first+round+of+the+2021+NCAA+Tournament+at+Indiana+Farmers+Coliseum.+Mandatory+Credit%3A+Aaron+Doster-USA+TODAY+Sports

© Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Mar 20, 2021; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) and Grand Canyon Antelopes center Asbj rn Midtgaard (33) fight for the ball during the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Robert Read, Pregame Editor


INDIANAPOLIS — The Oregon men’s basketball team has a tall task in front of it. Literally.

The tallest player in Oregon’s starting lineup is 6-foot-6. That could pose a problem for the Ducks when they try to defend Luka Garza — Iowa’s All-American 6-foot-11 center.

“There’s no secret to what we’re going to do,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said ahead of Monday’s Round of 32 matchup between the No. 2 seed Hawkeyes and the No. 7 seed Ducks. “We’re going to throw it inside.”

Garza is averaging 23.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game this season heading into Monday’s game at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which is scheduled to tip off at 11:10 a.m. CST and will air on CBS.

Usually, Garza is matched up with an opposing center at least as tall as he is. This time, the senior will be looking down on his opponents.

The Ducks start three guards and two forwards. Four of the team’s starters stand at 6-6, including both former Rutgers center Eugene Omoruyi and Eric Williams Jr., the closest Oregon has to post players in its starting five.

“When you have a guy like Omoruyi, he’s so versatile,” Garza said. “They can put him on the outside and go five-out. They can play to their advantages, and we’re going to play to ours. It’s going to be an exciting game.”

Oregon, (20-6 overall and winners of 11 of its last 13 games) usually relies on a matchup zone defense and will press at times.

One of Oregon’s two recent losses came to USC, a team led by 7-footer Evan Mobley, one of the Pac-12’s few dominant centers. The Ducks held Mobley to 11 points but allowed the Trojan guards to get hot from the perimeter.

But even compared to Mobley, Garza is an entirely different challenge.

“We haven’t faced a scorer like Garza inside, not many people have,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “He’s a very talented inside player. He’s now shooting the three, which makes him even tougher to guard because he can go outside. Very difficult matchup and they really do a great job of going to him.

“They’re looking for him all the time, they get it in there so they do a great job of locating him. He does a great job of continuing to move his feet. He’s really got good feet. Inside he’s always moving them and trying to keep position using his big body and we’re a small team. It’s a big challenge for us and our guys are going to have to do a tremendous job of tracing the ball on the perimeter so they can’t throw it to him easily.”

Oregon could try and rotate in bench center Franck Kepnang, who plays less than 10 minutes per game but stands at 6-11. But that may be a futile attempt to guard Garza given Kepnang’s inexperience.

There is no stopping Garza, but the Ducks will hope to contain him Monday. And Altman knows how much of a challenge it will be.

“You’ve got to be really careful doubling him and stacking people against him because he’s a great passer and the three-point shooting from their perimeter players,” Altman said. “He is a matchup nightmare because he is so big and his feet are good, he finishes, his efficiency rate is so good.

“We’re going to try some different things on him, hopefully something works. It’s going to be a tough matchup for our team and our guys know that, we’ve talked about it. He’s going to get some points, we’ve got to play through that. We got to make sure that we do the best to be active on the perimeter players so they can’t make easy throws into him and get him some easy baskets.”