Friday, November 14th, 11:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: McArthur Court (9,087) -- Eugene, Oregon. Television: CSN-NW. Home Record: UNC 0-0, Oregon 0-0. Away Record: UNC 0-0, Oregon 0-0. Neutral Record: UNC 0-0, Oregon 0-0. Conference Record: UNC 0-0, Oregon 0-0. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: Head coach Tad Boyle takes his Northern Colorado squad on the road tonight to open its 2008-09 campaign with a matchup against Oregon in Eugene. The Bears, members of the Big Sky Conference these days, posted a 13-16 record a year ago and finished 6-10 versus the rest of the league. The team did have some trouble out on the road though, winning just three of its 15 games outside of Greeley and Butler-Hancock Arena. As for the Ducks, they played strong during the early part of the schedule in 2007-08, winning all but one game before the middle of December, but then the Pac-10 slate kicked in. Oregon finished an even 9-9 in league play and was 18-14 overall after bowing to Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by a score of 76-69. This is the first-ever meeting between these two schools on the hardwood.

With a guard-oriented roster, the Bears will have to get plenty of production at both ends of the floor out of the backcourt if they hope to make a respectable showing tonight. One of two players to have averaged double-digit scoring a season ago for the squad, Jabril Banks will try to improve upon his team-best 13.2 ppg from a year ago when he shot an impressive 57.5 percent from the field and also cleared a team-high 5.8 rpg in the paint. Although he shot just 38.2 percent from the field and 27.4 percent behind the three-point line, Jefferson Mason is another key component of this group, especially if he decides to spend more time in the paint where he was responsible for 5.5 rpg to go along with his 9.4 ppg. The only player to have started all 29 games last year, Robert Palacios (5.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg) will have to convert better than 57.6 percent at the charity stripe and refrain from slipping out to the perimeter where he made just 1-of-9 three-point tries for a team that finished up at 33.8 percent for the season.

Youth will be served at Oregon this season as six freshmen line the roster and another two redshirt freshmen. Losing both Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen will hit this group hard, but keeping Tajuan Porter around for another season is big for the Ducks. Last season Porter placed third on the team with his 13.9 ppg and was also one of the top passers for the group with his 78 assists through 28 starts and 32 appearances. Someone else who will need to step up his efforts is Joevan Catron who, through 22 starts a season ago, averaged 8.8 ppg and was a strong influence in the paint with close to six rebounds per contest. However, he often limited himself with physical play that cost him minutes and saw him disqualified a team-high five times. Showing a nose for the ball at the offensive end of the floor, LeKendric Longmire played just 12 minutes per game in 2007-08, yet still made sure that the opposition was well aware of his presence with as many offensive rebounds (22) as defensive boards.

The Ducks may be young this time around, but the talent level in Eugene is still far beyond what the Greeley guys are able to put together, which is enough reason to take Oregon in this meeting.

Predicted Outcome

Oregon 81, Northern Colorado 68