Since the beginning of sports history, every team has faced this.
Rebuilding.
After the departures of Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard, Satou and Nyara Sabally, Te-Hina Paopao and Endyia Rogers amongst others, Oregon women’s basketball is in a period of reconstruction. While it’s never easy to watch a team go through this, being in the Pac-12 — where four teams are ranked top 10 in the nation — makes it even harder. And what’s worse? They have faced two of them, USC and UCLA, in the opening games of conference play.
With only four players returning from last season, the court is filled with brand-new faces. The majority of transfers are coming from small schools. It’s the first time most of these athletes are on a national stage and unfortunately, the Pac-12 doesn’t give space for adjustment. However, that’s what the pre-season is designed for.
Through late October leading up to New Year’s Eve, the Ducks played 13 different teams. While they finished with a winning record, there were some shocking losses.
In November 2023, Oregon suffered a 39-point loss against Santa Clara University at home after the Broncos had 16 3-pointers and went 12-for-15 from the field in the first half alone. During the first two quarters, Santa Clara went on a 25-0 run with six different Broncos making at least one three. That type of deficit was too hard to come back from as the Ducks only produced 20 points in the second half, with six total points in the fourth quarter.
The following week, the University of Portland Pilots handed the Ducks a 31-point loss. Portland forced Oregon to have 14 first-half turnovers which created a 17% shooting. Despite Grace VanSlooten having her second double-double of the season, the game snowballed and eventually got out of control.
Even though it’s a rebuilding period, it’s important to emphasize they still have a winning record. A lot of that can be attributed to Chance Gray, Phillipina Kyei and VanSlooten. All three are currently leading the team in points, but with two sophomores tasked to lead the team, adversity will be faced — especially in the Pac-12.
It all started with in-state rival, Oregon State. While the Beavers aren’t currently ranked in the AP poll, they finished the 11-game pre-season undefeated. Defensively, the Ducks hosted a master class in the first half, holding Oregon State to 15 points total. What held them back during the game was offense. They couldn’t match Kyei’s early 10 rebounds or their defensive ability to keep the Beavers from scoring their first points of the second quarter until the six-minute mark.
The second half is when everything came to a halt.
A 26-5 run that lasted almost 10 minutes created a 46-32 lead for Oregon State with less than three minutes to go in the game. VanSlooten led the team in scoring with 15, but as a team, they struggled to find consistency as they shot just 30.4% from the field.
The Ducks flocked to Los Angeles the first week of January for one of their toughest stretches this season. They faced No. 2 UCLA and No. 9 USC –– teams with top players in the country, like the Trojans’ Juju Watkins and Bruins’ Londynn Jones, Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.
With UCLA first on the list, Kyei was the only player to score double-digit points for Oregon in the 75-49 loss. The Bruins gave themselves more opportunities to score after grabbing 46 total rebounds compared to the Ducks’ 27. Gray was forced to sit out of the game due to injury, so when the team you’re facing came into the game second in the Pac-12 in scoring with 88.9 points per game and a 49.9% field goal percentage, losing the starting point guard is going to hurt.
In the last game of the road trip against USC, the Ducks played their best conference game despite it resulting in a loss. The Trojans struggled to make shots early on and Kyei continued to score in the paint, keeping the game close. With Gray back on the court, she kept USC’s Watkins, who coming into this game was second in the nation in points per game, under 20. As the third quarter was coming to a close, VanSlooten scored six straight points to cut the deficit to one. However, to start the final quarter, Oregon went on a field goal drought and couldn’t stop turning the ball over.
Luckily, the Ducks have an opportunity to face some unranked opponents before they face Colorado and Stanford, who are also in the top 10.
While it’s always difficult watching a team you love go through this, it happens to everybody. With the tremendous growth of women’s basketball and the top tier players across the NCAA, teams like Oregon who were National Champion contenders a few years ago have to adjust to the current state of the game. It’s all part of sports — just not the fun part.
