Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena feels like an inflection point for the No. 16-ranked Oregon Duck men’s basketball program. The Ducks are eighth in the Big Ten Standings and have lost three of their last four games. This game will greatly impact how the rest of the season goes.

The Ducks still have to play at Michigan and Michigan State next week, gritty teams in Northwestern and Rutgers at home, and then another tough road trip at Iowa and at No. 17 Wisconsin in three weeks. Home games against USC and Indiana will be difficult, and then the Ducks close out their season at Washington in March. The schedule that the Ducks face to close out its season presents a path where the Ducks can climb back into the top four of the Big Ten Standings and position themselves for one of the top seeds in next month’s NCAA Tournament. The schedule also has a path where the Ducks find themselves having to play five games in five days to win the Big Ten Tournament and lose its positioning for a top seed.

Oregon (16-5, 5-5) welcomes to Eugene the Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-8, 3-7) for a Sunday affair. A win and the Ducks will sit 1.5 games out of fourth place in the Big Ten Standings, but a loss will send the Ducks tumbling to tie for 10th in the standings and just one game ahead of 14th.

While the Ducks are still very much included in the NCAA Tournament field if the tournament started now, the Ducks’ seeding is losing ground. Once projected as a two-seed, the Ducks could continue to slide and miss out on playing close to home in Seattle if they continue to lose games. Sunday is another chance for the Ducks to claim a home win and return to the win-and-loss column’s right side. To do it, the Ducks will have to play a lot better on both ends of the floor than they have over the last month.

The Ducks lost 78-52 at UCLA on Thursday. Nebraska had lost six straight games before its 80-74 overtime win at home against No. 18 Illinois on Thursday night.

Follow the action in our live thread on DuckTerritory.com as we provide pregame, in-game, and postgame coverage of Oregon’s Sunday game against Nebraska. Tip-off is set for 4:30 PM PT, and the game will be carried on the Big Ten Network.

Oregon Projected Starters (16-5, 5-5)

G – Jackson Shelstad 6-foot SO 12.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.7 apg
G – TJ Bamba 6-foot-5 SR 10.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.6 apg
F – Jadrian Tracey 6-foot-5 SR 7.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.2 apg
F – Brandon Angel 6-foot-9 SR 9.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.1 apg
C – Nate Bittle 7-foot SR 12.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.8 apg

Nebraska Cornhuskers Projected Starers (13-8, 3-7)

G – Sam Hoiberg 6-foot JR 3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.6 apg
G – Rollie Worster 6-foot-5 SR 8.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.8 apg
G – Brice Williams 6-foot-7 SR 18.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.6 apg
F – Juwan Gray 6-foot-6 SR 12.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.2 spg
F – Andrew Morgan 6-foot-10 SR 8.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg