Payton Pritchard (left) talks with other injured Ducks Louis King (center) and Will Richardson (right) during Oregon's exhibition game.

The No. 14 ranked Oregon Ducks will have their most experienced and perhaps most important player on the roster back in the starting lineup Tuesday night when the Ducks open the 2018-19 basketball season.

Junior point guard Payton Pritchard will start for the Ducks after missing the team's exhibition win over Western Oregon last Thursday after dealing with a rib injury.

"He practiced Saturday, he had Sunday off," head coach Dana Altman said of Pritchard's status.

"Having Payton on the floor is very important for us."

As a sophomore last season, Pritchard led the Ducks in scoring (14.5 points per game) and assists (4.8 assists per game) and was ranked among the Pac-12's Top 15 in seven different categories. He finished the season being voted to the Pac-12 All-Second Team in 2017-18.

Without Pritchard on the floor against Western Oregon, the Ducks committed 19 total turnovers, 13 coming between senior guard Ehab Amin, sophomore guard Victor Bailey Jr., and redshirt freshman guard Will Johnson. The trio handled point-guard duties with Pritchard and freshman point guard Will Richardson out of the lineup.

Altman stated the Ducks will start the basketball season without Richardson in the lineup as he continues to recover from a foot injury suffered during practice earlier this year.

"It'd be nice if WIll Richardson would be available, but he won't be available, so we are going to have to have other guys handle the ball," said Altman.

Amin will serve as the team's backup point guard when Pritchard needs to come off the floor for a chance to rest during games. Altman also said senior forward Paul White will be asked to help handle the basketball as he has shown the ability to distribute and bring up the basketball last season.

Oregon and Portland State will play Tuesday, November 6th at 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.