Willamette is 2-8 against South Medford since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Willamette Wolverines will be playing at home against the South Medford Panthers at 6:45 p.m. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Willamette has struggled recently with six losses in a row, while South Medford will arrive with four straight wins.
Willamette pushed their score all the way to 60 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They ended up on the wrong side of a tough 80-60 walloping at the hands of South Eugene. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Friday (55), Willamette still had to take the loss.
South Medford posted their closest win yet this season on Tuesday. They skirted past North Medford 54-52. Given South Medford's advantage in MaxPreps' Oregon basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while North Medford is ranked 135th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Willamette dropped their record down to 2-16 with that loss, which was their fourth straight at home. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.3 points per game. As for South Medford, they have been performing well recently as they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season.
Willamette came up short against South Medford in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, falling 62-52. Can Willamette avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
