SAN ANTONIO — After Oregon’s upset win against No. 3 seed Georgia on Wednesday, the Ducks are set to play Louisville, another top-10 team, in the Sweet 16 at the Alamodome on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT. Sunday’s matchup presents a new challenge for the Ducks — an All-American guard in Louisville’s Dana Evans.
Oregon freshman guard Maddie Scherr averaged 6.6 minutes in the last five regular-season games for the Ducks before starter Te-Hina Paopao suffered a lower leg injury.
She’s now started the last three games for head coach Kelly Graves.
A defensive specialist, Scherr has seen her minutes balloon — 25 minutes against both Oregon State in the Pac-12 Tournament and South Dakota and 38 minutes against Georgia. The freshman has had the tall task of guarding each team’s elite point guard — Oregon State’s Aleah Goodman, South Dakota’s sharpshooter Liv Korngable and Georgia’s Que Morrison — who nearly reached a triple-double the game prior.
“Maddie’s a tremendous on-ball defender, and we have others who are capable of trying to slow her down,” Graves said. “But the reality is, great players like that, you have to do it as a team. She’s a unique challenge for sure.”
Sunday’s matchup will be the biggest challenge of her young career.
Louisville is led by senior All-American Evans, who leads her team in points (19.6), steals (1.3), assists (4.0), free throw percentage (90.4%), three-point field goals made (62) and minutes played (32.5). She led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring this season. The second consecutive ACC Player of the Year winner is one of the nation’s top point guards.
Evans is a solid finisher at the rim, can hit a pull up mid-range jumper and is a lethal 38% shooter from the outside. Her ability to get her shot both off the catch and the dribble makes her a weapon wherever she is on the court. The Wooden Award finalist is also menace in transition with her speed and quickness. Nearly a quarter of her offensive possessions this year came in transition where she scored 1.118 points per possession, per Synergy Sports.
Scherr will likely match up with Evans, but it will take all five Oregon starters to keep the First Team All-American from out-scoring and out-playing the Ducks.
“It’s going to have to be a team effort against her,” senior guard Erin Boley said. “She’s an elite scorer, so we’re going to have all people on the floor work as a team. It’s going to be a team effort to stop her and not let her go off and have a good night.”
Oregon has yet to face an All-American player this year. In Oregon’s most recent matchup against the Cardinals last year, Evans scored 17 points to go along with six assists as she handed Oregon its first loss of the 2019 season.
On the flipside, Oregon’s size up front could present Louisville with problems of its own.
The size of Oregon’s twin towers in 6-foot-5 Nyara Sabally and 6-foot-7 Sedona Prince could make life hard for Evans as she penetrates the lane and attempts to finish in traffic. Standing at 5-foot-6, Evans’s size, or lack thereof, could give Oregon the upper hand defensively down low.
“They have a post presence,” Evans said. “They have two post players that are over 6’4,” we got to make sure we put bodies on them and find the shooters in transition.”
Behind Evans is redshirt junior Kianna Smith, who scored 16 points against Northwestern to help the Cardinals rally from an 18-point deficit. A junior transfer from Cal, Smith is Louisville’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11.4 points per game.
Rounding out the starting back court for the Cardinals is Hailey Van Lith, a freshman who has solidified her spot on this team as a key contributor. Van Lith leads the team in three-point percentage (39.7) and was named the ACC All-Tournament Team and the ACC All-Freshman Team. In the NCAA Tournament alone she’s shooting an impressive 73% from the field.
“I feel like I can get other people involved and we have enough scorers that I don’t have to score 20 points every game for us to win, that’s been proven,” Evans said.
The Ducks’ are still without guard Jaz Shelley, who is listed as day-to-day, and Te-Hina Paopao, who Graves confirmed is out for the rest of the tournament.
Oregon’s front court will attempt to keep stride with Louisville’s back court brilliance as the Ducks search for their fourth consecutive trip to the Elite Eight.
Follow Carly on Twitter @carlyebisuya as she continues coverage of Oregon throughout the NCAA Tournament.
