Hess: Supreme Cook is the extra piece Oregon needs to go far this season

Authored By
Aiden Hess

Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. Supreme Cook has spent the majority of his life on the East Coast of the United States. After having spent his first three seasons at Fairfield University in Connecticut and his fourth at Georgetown, Cook decided to take his talents way out west to Oregon ahead of his fifth year of eligibility

When the news of Cook’s decision to transfer was announced, it was viewed as a big recruiting pickup for a Ducks team that was looking to fill a major absence at the forward position following the departure of star center N’Faly Dante last season. Standing at a tall six-foot-nine and averaging a consistent 10 points and 7.6 rebounds over his four-year career, Cook is expected to be a key contributor in Oregon’s 2024-25 campaign.

However, Cook began the season unable to play due to a knee injury which saw him miss the first three games. It wasn’t until this past Sunday afternoon in a game against the Troy Trojans (2-2) that Cook was ready to hit the hardwood. At the 13:03 mark of the first half, Cook was subbed in off the bench, stepping onto the floor at Matthew Knight Arena and thus marking his Ducks debut.

Cook’s first game in Eugene, Oregon began with a bang when he recorded his first basket off an inbound pass on the baseline from TJ Bamba that Cook threw down with two hands for the alley-oop dunk. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Oregon earning the victory over Troy 82-61 to improve to 4-0 on the young season, but it was Cook who garnered the most attention from media members and Duck fans alike. Cook finished the afternoon scoring 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line in just 13 minutes of action.

“It felt pretty good just being out for so long, I kind of forgot the feeling of being in the game, but it felt really good being out there with my team and getting the win,” Cook said after Oregon’s 21-point victory

Having played for four seasons and now on the third different team of his collegiate career, Cook is no stranger to adjusting to the different schemes and teammates that accompany his life on the basketball court.

“I feel like I have a little bit of chemistry with everyone,” Cook said when asked about playing with his new teammates.

The praise spurred all the way from the man at the helm of the team, head coach Dana Altman, who was impressed with Cook’s off-the-bench performance.

“Supreme did his job. He knows and he takes pride in what he is, posting up hard,” Altman said. “He opened up things for everybody.”

“He gave us a big lift,” Altman said.  “I don’t know if he made any mistakes. Really good to have him out there.”

It is going to be interesting to see how many minutes Cook will continue to receive as a part of this frontcourt rotation alongside Nate Bittle and Kwame Evans Jr. who had gotten the majority of the playing time during Cook’s absence.

Cook is a proven player who has factored in greatly to the success of both Fairfield and Georgetown in the past four years. Cook was named All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the 2022-23 season for Fairfield as he averaged his career-high 13 points in that season. Cook had also started his last 95 out of 96 games played before his debut at Oregon with both the Stags and the Hoyas. I anticipate coach Altman to have Cook take up a bench role as he eases back into play following his injury, but if he continues to have final totals as he did in his first game, a place in the starting lineup could be well on the horizon.