Again and again Kelly Graves urged his team on from the bench.
“Put pressure on them,” the Oregon women’s basketball head coach said.
“Attack harder,” he added.
Until the fourth quarter, the Ducks couldn’t match how UCLA was playing — a hounding style, predicated on forcing mistakes. Oregon had a season-high 20 turnovers, and the Bruins scored off 18 of those. Right from the tip-off, the Bruins played with an intensity that No. 17 Oregon (10-3) couldn’t keep up with leading to an 82-74 loss on Friday.
“They deserve that win,” Graves said. “They played really, really hard and were the aggressors for the majority of the game.”
As soon as the ball was tipped to forward Grace VanSlooten, UCLA was in full-court pressure. They forced the Ducks to use all 30 seconds on the shot-clock and even caused a few shot-clock violations. The Bruins’ man-to-man defense contrived Oregon to reset its plays multiple times throughout a single drive.
With up close and tight defense comes a lot of fouls. The Ducks had to get creative if they wanted to stay in the game, and they found their window of opportunity at the free throw line.
Oregon stayed perfect from the free throw line until the third quarter, and finished the night shooting 85.7%.
While the Ducks heavily relied on their free throw shooting, guard Taylor Hosendove was reliable in the paint with six out of her seven points being near the basket. She played 17 minutes and 55 seconds in the match, one of her longest appearances so far this season.
“We made a commitment to her to get her more minutes,” Graves said. “She needs to play more.”
UCLA’s guard Kiki Rice, the top-ranked recruit in the 2022 class, had eight out of the Bruins’ first 10 points. She finished the game with 21 points, a game high. Charisma Osbourne, a guard for the Bruins, finished second on the team with 17 points, and forced most of Oregon’s turnovers.
“We didn’t do a good enough job stopping Charisma and Kiki in the first half,” Oregon guard Te-Hina Paopao, who had a career-high five turnovers tonight, said. “They were really hot and we needed to stop them.”
To keep the contest within reach, the Ducks found small breaks. In the first half, UCLA had three charging calls that turned into Oregon points on the other side. In the first four minutes of the third quarter, the Bruins committed three fouls. Oregon was able to take advantage of it, and took its first lead since the opening minutes of the game at 43- 42, but quickly lost it. Every time the Ducks went on a run, the Bruins responded with longer ones.
During the fourth quarter, there was a momentum switch.
VanSlooten, who recently won Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Week, led the Ducks on a scoring run after a big block from underneath the hoop to bring UCLA’s lead within single digits.
The Bruins called a timeout, but immediately after, VanSlooten had a steal and two free throws to close the gap with 4:49 left in the game.
As Rice was going up to shoot a three, Hosendove grabbed her arm and pulled it down. While the ball was going into the net, the whistle was blown. She made the free throw and brought UCLA’s lead back to 10 with two minutes to go.
Oregon was still fighting and looking for opportunities. Chance Gray was fouled during a layup and Paopao stole the ball at halfcourt and laid it up to bring UCLA’s lead to single digits again. With 18 seconds left to go, Hosendove tipped a pass to VanSlooten, who then passed it to Gray for a three in the right corner. She made the shot, but the referee ruled it a no-shot since she stepped out of bounds.
“That would’ve been the key shot we were looking for,” Graves said. “That would’ve cut the lead to three with a couple of possessions left. It’s what these types of games come down to.”
All three of Oregon’s losses this season have been against top 10 teams. With a limited bench after Jennah Isai left the program, Kennedy Basham out with an injury — but is expected to play this week — and now Ahlise Hurst, who was pulled out of the game with a leg injury in the second quarter, the Ducks are heading into conference play with a tight-knit group.
“The Pac-12 is a quality conference,” Graves said. “It doesn’t get any easier from here. We are one group who can’t afford any more [player] losses, but this is the group I’m rocking with.”
