The Matthew Knight Arena crowd fell silent on every shot late in the fourth quarter. The crowd held its breath as junior guard Sabrina Ionescu sat one rebound shy of her 12th career triple-double.

With one minute and 22 seconds left, Ionescu grabbed an offensive rebound and the crowd erupted into a “triple-double” chant.

Ionescu’s 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists came on just 1-of-6 shooting for last year’s national point guard of the year. But with all five starters scoring double-digit points, the No. 3 Ducks (4-0) beat Buffalo 102-82.

“That was the worst triple-double I’ve ever had,” Ionescu said. “Almost shouldn’t count.”

Ionescu turned the ball over seven times, with six before halftime. It wasn’t just Ionescu’s problem as the the team had 19 total turnovers.

At halftime, Ionescu had just four points, all coming from the free throw line. The Ducks as a whole went 34-of-38 the line.

“We shoot free throws every day like every other team in the country,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “I always thought good free throw shooting teams get their best free throw shooters to the line more often. If Shaq was on our team we wouldn’t shoot free throws as well.”

With Ionescu’s shooting woes, Erin Boley stepped up. The 6-foot-2 redshirt sophomore only shot from behind the arc on Sunday, scoring five of her eight attempts to post 15 points.

Oregon had five players on the court who could all shoot 3-pointers well, and the team went 12-of-24 from deep.

Sophomore Satou Sabally was lively all game as well. Whether it was bringing down rebounds, drawing fouls or making baskets, the German international took over the game for the Ducks.

At halftime, Sabally led the Ducks with 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting accompanied by 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line and three rebounds. She finished the night with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

“We can all step up and produce when we need to,” said junior forward Ruthy Hebard, who led the team with 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting. “I think it gives us a big confidence boost knowing we have a lot of different threats we can use throughout the season.”

Oregon used all nine players, each of whom saw more than nine minutes each.

“I’m comfortable with all nine of our players,” Graves said. “People are always concerned about our numbers of players, but you know what? They can all play. I don’t have any worries.”

Buffalo scored the first basket of the game off a Ionescu turnover, but the Ducks never trailed after Hebard tied the game at 2-2.
In the postgame press conference, Ionescu joked with Graves about her performance.

“How many turnovers did I have?” Ionescu asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Graves responded.

“Quadruple double?” Ionescu said.

Graves: “Almost.”