Oregon begins a quick two-game home stand against two of the favorites in the Big West Conference. First up is UC Irvine on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

THE STARTING FIVE

1 - UC Irvine will be the fourth 2015 NCAA Tournament team the Ducks will play during the non-conference season. The others are Baylor (W), Valparaiso (W) and Boise State (L). This is the third straight season that Oregon and UC Irvine will play each other.

2 - RPI SOS. Oregon is currently No. 23 in the ESPN RPI and 36th in the CBSSports index. Beginning with UC Irvine (72) and Long Beach State (82) this week, 21 of Oregon's remaining 23 games are against teams currently in ESPN's top 100 RPI. The only two teams not in the top 100 are lower division Western Oregon and No. 241 Washington State.

3 - Oregon's 130 victories over the last six seasons, all under coach Dana Altman, are the third-most in UO history. The only two better six-year spans are 139 from 2009-15 (five under Altman, one under Ernie Kent ) and Howard Hobson's Tall Firs (131, 1935-41).

4 - A quarter of the way into the 2015-16 season, Chris Boucher is nearly a third of the way to the school record for season blocks. He's got 31 through nine games; Jordan Bell blocked 94 shots in 35 games a year ago. Boucher set a single-game record with nine blocks Nov. 25 versus Arkansas State and currently ranks third nationally at 3.9 blocks per game. Bell himself returned to action Saturday against Boise State and blocked two shots.

5 - The Ducks are among the Pac-12 and national leaders in several “hustle board” stats. Oregon is 16th nationally and fourth in the Pac-12 in blocks per game (6.1), third in the league in steals per game (8.4), first in the Pac-12 in turnover margin (plus 2.6), and first in the conference and 44th nationally in fewest fouls per game (17.2).

DUCKS AT MKA

The Ducks are 81-13 (.862) all-time at Matthew Knight Arena since the building opened in 2011.

HOME ON THE HORIZON

Following an extended road trip to Las Vegas, Honolulu and Boise, Oregon returns home to host two of the top teams from the Big West Conference in UC Irvine on Tuesday and Long Beach State on Friday. This will be the third straight season the Ducks and Anteaters have squared off. Long Beach is coached by Dan Monson, whose father Don Monson coached at Oregon from 1984-92. Oregon wraps up the calendar year with Alabama Dec. 21 in Birmingham before closing out the non-conference slate against Western Oregon Dec. 29 in Eugene.

INJURED RESERVE

Hoping to return to a full roster soon, Oregon has already seen a total of 19 games missed due to injury. Compare that to last season's grand total of three games missed due to injury. The 2015-16 IR list includes Dylan Ennis (9 games and counting), Jordan Bell (8) and Tyler Dorsey (2). Bell played for the first time this season Saturday at Boise, while Ennis is still recovering from a preseason left foot injury and Dorsey has missed the last two games with a mild left knee strain sustained in the UNLV game. in addition, Casey Benson hit the floor hard late in the Boise game and had to have four stitches on his chin.

BENJAMIN OFF THE BENCH

Senior Dwayne Benjamin has come through with a couple of big games off the bench in recent weeks. Nov. 25 against Arkansas State, he scored a career-best 25 points with six rebounds. Dec. 4 at UNLV, Benjamin fueled a UO rally with 21 points, as the Ducks closed to within four in the second half before falling. Making his first start of the season (in place of an injured Tyler Dorsey), Benjamin scored 16 points with three steals Dec. 7 against Navy.

PEARL HARBOR DAY

Oregon played the U.S. Naval Academy on Pearl Harbor Day – Dec. 7 – at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam as part of a weekend of ceremonies in the Hawaiian Islands marking the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The game was played in historic Bloch Arena, which withstood the 1941 Japanese bombing. This was the second time in three seasons that Oregon has participated in a game to honor the nation's military. The Ducks defeated Georgetown 82-75 in the Armed Forces Challenge at Camp Humphreys in South Korea to open the 2013-14 campaign.

BOUCHER SETS BLOCKS MARK, NEARS TRIPLE-DOUBLE

Senior Chris Boucher broke one of Oregon's longest standing records Nov. 25 when he blocked nine shots versus Arkansas State. That was one better than the eight blocked by Blair Rasmussen Dec. 27, 1984, versus Davidson, and matched last season by Jordan Bell against Arizona State. Boucher helped Oregon break the school single-game record for blocked shots with 13, which was one better than the 12 against Portland State last year. Both marks were also Matthew Knight Arena records. With 31 blocks in just nine games, Boucher is already threatening to enter the UO single-season top 10 (33). In that Arkansas State game, Boucher was one rebound and one block shy of a triple-double. He had 17 points and nine rebounds to go with the nine blocks. Boucher was also solid Dec. 4 against UNLV, claiming his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Boucher has not been intimidated against bigger competition. He scored 15 points with a team-best eight rebounds and two blocks in the win over No. 20 Baylor.

BROOKS STEPS UP

Sophomore Dillon Brooks has already matched last season's output of double-doubles with two. Nov. 22 versus Valparaiso, he recorded his third career double-double with 26 points - a personal best - and 13 rebounds. He scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half to lead the come-from-behind win. Two games later against Fresno State, Brooks poured in 21 points with 10 rebounds. He nearly led Oregon to another come-from-behind win Dec. 12 at Boise State, matching his career high with 26 points.

EARLY RETURNS

Newcomer Tyler Dorsey is already polling well in early returns. Not only is he second on the team in scoring (14.4 ppg), he had his second 20-point game of the season Nov. 22 against Valparaiso, chipping in 21 on 7-of-9 shooting. Dorsey scored 20 points - 18 in the first half - in the season opener against Jackson State on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting from the floor (4-of-5 on threes).

HEY MAN, NICE SHOT

Oregon has made at least one three-point field goal in 609 consecutive games. The Ducks' last game with out a three-pointer was Feb. 6, 1997, versus Washington.