They tried a zone defense. They tried significantly different looks at center. They double-teamed the post. They showed one defense to start a possession, only to shift into another.

Kelly Graves’ Ducks fought.

But nothing Oregon (14-3, 2-3) did in its 85-81 loss to No. 15 Michigan State (16-1, 4-1) would stick. The head coach’s defensive adjustments only worked for a few possessions at a time.

And so Graves could only watch from the sideline as his team got bludgeoned inside once again, giving up an unusually frightening number of easy baskets.

Days removed from one of the best wins in recent program history, the Ducks fought valiantly, leading the Spartans by one with under five minutes remaining. But clutch shots evaded the Ducks, who could only watch as MSU attempts fell late.

Mistakes on the interior were aplenty. Transition defense was lacking. And well, the Ducks just plain weren’t good enough for 40 minutes to beat a top-15 team with serious national championship aspirations.

“Credit to Michigan State; they were tougher down the stretch and executed a lot better,” Graves said.

Silver linings will have to do on a Sunday where the Ducks took a more talented, more seasoned team to the wire and nearly finished. But Michigan State won on all the margins late and hit the biggest shots, last-minute misses from Mia Jacobs and Katie Fiso sealing the Ducks’ fate.

“I’m just really disappointed for us,” Graves said. “That’s a game we let get away, my fault. I think we made some ‘we’re tired’ turnovers at the end. I failed to give a few players even a minute or two of rest.” 

What ended so poorly couldn’t have started any better for the Ducks.

Led by four 3-pointers from Sofia Bell, Oregon’s offense rolled off 31 first-quarter points.
The Ducks’ defense, spearheaded by early ferocious on-ball pressure and physicality on the interior, held the Spartans in check and former Duck Grace VanSlooten to just five points in a first half hampered by foul trouble.

“We could never stop them,” Graves said. “So at one point you are going to cool off and play to your average… I thought the bench in the first half did a really nice job and then it was on me, I didn’t trust them enough in that second half.” 

There seemed to be no limit to what this team might be able to accomplish, given the continued rise on display Saturday and in the weeks prior.

Every Oregon starter had a highlight. Katie Fiso got to the line and hit big shots. Ehis Etute out-battled VanSlooten, a former Duck who transferred out of the program in 2024. Ari Long, despite offensive struggles, played 22 minutes and was stout defensively. Mia Jacobs controlled the game without dominating the flow of it. Bell, who has been off and on shooting the ball, hit the four early 3-pointers.

“She was great,” Graves said of Bell. “Anything she gets offensively is a plus for us, she’s our defensive stopper, she always gets the toughest assignment.”

But defensively, Oregon wasn’t tight enough, and lapses soon gave way to slippage, Michigan State eagerly turning 19 turnovers into 18 points. In the second quarter, the Spartans went on a 17-0 run.

Still, the Ducks had hope. They trailed by just five going into the fourth quarter and led by one with under five minutes remaining.

But late shots wouldn’t fall, and MSU was just the better team. Oregon, instead, was left to deal with its second top-15 single-digit loss of the last two weeks after the Ducks dropped in overtime to No. 9 Michigan on Dec. 29, 2025.

“That’s the two Michigans we just let slip away at home,” Graves said. “It won’t get easier.”

Oregon travels to Iowa City to take on No. 14 Iowa on Thursday.