New year, same explosive Oregon offense.
That much is clear in the aftermath of the Ducks’ season-opening 121-41 exhibition win over Willamette University.
But many questions remain.
Before the season, Oregon coach Paul Westhead vowed to expand his playing rotation from seven to a more reasonable number to keep pace in his up-tempo offense. Tonight’s starting five of Amanda Johnson, Nia Jackson, Jasmin Holliday, Victoria Kenyon and Ashley Buis seem certain to play big minutes in the regular season. In an exhibition setting, Westhead was able to get all 14 players on the roster playing time.
“I lived up to my promise and played a lot of people,” Westhead said. “Nobody played 20 minutes or more. At least I did one thing that worked.”
The starters were solid, combining to score 62 of Oregon’s points, but some of the younger reserves had uneven performances.
“Typical freshman running into each other and that kind of stuff, collisions that weren’t meant to be collisions,” Westhead said.
Oregon’s four true freshman did combine to score 24 points, however.
But it was a junior college transfer that had the best night of Oregon’s newcomers. Buis, a transfer from Vincennes University in Indiana, led the team in scoring with 18 points on 7-15 shooting and 4-10 from three-point range. It was a strong debut performance from a player poised to earn the starting job at the shooting guard position.
“I think she did a reasonably good job,” Westhead said. “She showed that kind of poise from a shooter that I like to see. She wasn’t fazed by anything and that’s a good sign.”
Kenyon and Johnson chipped in 14 points each for Oregon, and guard Candace Flynn added 10.
There was no doubt, however, that the Ducks struggled in their first live action.
“We press and run the whole practice but we didn’t seem to have that pop tonight,” Westhead said. “That’s just indicative that there’s a major difference between practice and games. (There) always is and it will never change.”
While they played sloppy throughout (37.6 percent shooting, several missed layups and bad turnovers), the Ducks looked particularly off-kilter in the first half. Oregon committed 10 turnovers and failed to capitalize on several Willamette giveaways.
“We got better in the second half but in the first half we weren’t able to capitalize on the break a lot,” Johnson said. “We didn’t really get out fast enough. I felt that we couldn’t turn steals or defensive rebounds into baskets.”
That said, Oregon’s swarming pressure defense was clearly too much for Division III Willamette to handle. The Ducks forced the Bearcats into a staggering 55 turnovers, and limited Willamette to 25.4 percent shooting.
The Ducks’ size advantage also gave the Bearcats trouble. Oregon out-rebounded Willamette 68-48, and blocked eight shots. The Ducks’ 36 offensive rebounds helped offset a relatively poor shooting night for Oregon. The Ducks also struggled shooting threes, only making 8-35 from beyond the arc. Oregon did shoot 79.5 percent from the free throw line.
“I told our players that I thought we were okay,” Westhead said. “As exhibitions go you’re not sharp, your timing’s off. But I thought the effort was decent.”
Then again, there’s a reason teams play exhibition games — to identify areas for improvement and make the appropriate adjustments.
“I’m glad we played this exhibition game to get us a feel for what we need to look forward to and what we need to work on,” Buis said.
Westhead hopes for a crisper performance from his team when the Ducks host Westmont College at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
“There are a lot of things that need to happen,” Westhead said. “And they didn’t happen in the first night.”
[email protected]