Te-Hina Paopao slumped on the bench in the third quarter, her arms laid above her head, sinking back into her chair.
Her body language said it all.
Down 46-27 — Oregon’s largest deficit of the game — to the No. 11 Arizona Wildcats, the quick trip to the desert was anything but easy for Oregon.
The pressure was on for both teams. No. 10 Oregon traveled to play No. 11 Arizona for the Wildcat’s first nationally televised game on ESPN since 2005. The Ducks had won their past ten matchups against Arizona, the last loss being in the 2015-16 season in the Pac-12 tournament.
Arizona’s defensive pressure amounted and the Ducks couldn’t muster any life in Tucson on Thursday, dropping their third loss in four games, 57-41.
“We played on our heels the whole game,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We played scared, we turned the ball over. Really there was very little good that came out of the game.”
The Ducks got off to their worst start of the season. They shot 2-for-14 from the field in the first quarter, combined with six turnovers and only seven points on the board. The Wildcats controlled the momentum with stifling on-ball defense in the full-court press, preventing the Ducks from getting into their offensive flow.
By the end of the first quarter, Oregon had its largest first quarter deficit of the season, down 22-7.
They settled down into their offense in the second quarter, sparking an 11-4 run to start. Oregon’s Sedona Prince checked into the game for the first time since Dec. 21 against Washington State and was brought into the starting lineup for the second half.
The Wildcats closed the second quarter on a 9-2 run, which halted any momentum the Ducks had going into the locker room. By the time the buzzer rang at half, Oregon was down 14. They had 13 turnovers in the first half alone — two more than their average per game — and 22 points at the half for a team that averages 80 points per game.
Oregon needed a come-from-behind third quarter, but the Wildcats didn’t let the foot off the gas pedal. While the Ducks have mounted comebacks on numerous occasions, they couldn’t find the offensive footing they needed to create any type of momentum tonight in Tucson.
“That third quarter we came out and we got good shots,” Graves said. “We made some stops, back-to-back stops. Since our offense was so ugly, we just couldn’t get back in it, but we had the opportunity to.”
The Ducks scored a mere five points the entire third quarter, causing the Wildcats to take advantage on the offensive end. They forced the Ducks into 23 turnovers, Oregon’s season high.
“I’m an offensive coach and I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that looked undisciplined and scared ever,” Graves said. “Maybe since community college, and even most of my community college teams could have put up 41.”
Behind one of the nation’s best point guards in Aari McDonald, Arizona picked up one of their biggest wins of the season after an upset overtime loss to Washington State last week. McDonald extended her double-figure scoring streak to 77 games, an NCAA Division I best, and experienced her first win against Oregon in her career at Arizona.
Oregon’s loss puts them at their third loss in four games, going 1-3 against nationally ranked teams this season.
With their game against Arizona State in Scottsdale postponed, Oregon is officially halfway through their 22-game conference schedule and will need to bounce back against the Washington schools next week.
