No conversation about rebounding and Oregon women’s basketball goes long without bringing up star junior forward Jillian Alleyne.
Alleyne is a double-double machine, practically recording one just by waking up on game day. She does most of her work early, fighting to get superior position against the opposition. The end result is the ball seemingly falling into her hands, deceptively masking all of the work that goes into her boards.
Alleyne’s abilities were on display Saturday afternoon as her team defeated the UCLA Bruins at Matthew Knight Arena. She finished with monster numbers — 30 points and 25 rebounds. Of those rebounds, 10 came on the offensive end.
“I don’t go into games like ‘I got to get a double-double,” Alleyne said. “I came into this game wanting to prove myself, not to UCLA or anybody else, but to coach Kelly.”
When a team has a rebounder like Alleyne, the rest of the players just need to settle into support roles when it comes to controlling the glass. The Ducks try to take as much pressure off their star by crashing the boards from all positions, sending players toward the basket on makes and misses.
This strategy has produced mixed results this season. Lexi Petersen is the second best rebounder on the team by a slim margin, averaging 3.7 per game. That average is far behind Alleyne’s 14.7.
Thus the pressure on Alleyne is still there, though the new system has at least attempted to make things easier for her. In previous years, under former coach Paul Westhead, the Ducks would sacrifice the boards in favor of the break — a strategy that rarely seemed to payoff.
This year things are different, with everyone on the team hanging back to secure loose balls. Two seniors have embraced this philosophy: Amanda Delgado and Katelyn Loper. Both are undersized — an issue across the board for Oregon — though they are able to overcome that with positioning and effort.
“I don’t jump very high, so I try to like push them out and say ‘go ahead Jillian,’” Loper said. “Basically, not trying to be funny, its just taking pride in boxing out your man and hoping Jillian gets it.”
Against UCLA, Loper had three rebounds, though efforts that don’t show up in the box score certainly contributed towards Alleyne’s success.
Another player with potential on the glass recorded the first rebound of the game for the Ducks, which proved to be strangely elusive. Thanks to fouls, made Bruin shots and turnovers, the Ducks didn’t snag one until 14:10 left in the first. That player was senior center Megan Carpenter.
Carpenter’s height alone, 6-4, allows her to have an edge on the glass. The problem, though, is with her inability to stay on the court. Foul trouble has plagued Carpenter, an issue that cropped up against the Bruins. She had three fouls early in the half, limiting her production during the game. Carpenter ended with two boards in 19 minutes.
When players get in foul trouble, Graves can turn to the bench, which features two players with potential as rebounders. Junior Katie Gruys and freshman Tatum Neubert both have shown glimpses of what they can do in limited playing time.
“The loose balls, extra work, the hard effort; that embodies everything coach Kelly is about,” Alleyne said. “When you see one player do it, or one teammate do it, then everybody jumps on board.”
As a team, the Ducks are far from perfect on the boards, but between their team effort and Alleyne, they are slowly getting there.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur