“Our message this week was, ‘Hey socks first — we’ve got to take care of the little details first,’” Oregon head coach Trent Kersten said after the Ducks’ five-set win over No. 18 Indiana.
Kersten used the quote from legendary basketball coach John Wooden to bring his team back to basics in preparation for their fifth ranked opponent in eight Big Ten matches. The message ensured that the team understood the mission of this matchup before walking onto the court.
Oregon (15-2, 6-1 Big Ten) relied on that preparation to overcome losing the first set, long runs by Indiana (10-6, 3-4 Big Ten) in each of the first three and a surge of momentum for the Hoosiers after they won set four. The Ducks responded with a dominant fifth set to secure the ranked win (23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 21-25, 15-9)…