Mere days after head coach Kelly Graves admitted that his team had not played well enough to merit a NCAA or NIT tournament berth, his team played poorly enough to warrant an argument that they should have been excluded from the Pac-12 tournament altogether.
Coming off a program-worst 13-game losing streak, Oregon’s (11-21, 2-17 Pac-12) loss was predictable. The historically poor 79-30 fashion in which it ensued, however, was not.
No. 13 Colorado (22-8, 12-8 Pac-12) went on scoring runs of 13-0, 12-0 and 14-0 in the midst of a 49-point blowout of epic proportions.
In the Ducks’ 32nd game of the season, they mustered only 30 points.
Oregon’s Pac-12 tournament trip to Sin City did not unearth any surprises. The Ducks team that showed up in Las Vegas was the same one fans had seen all season. Another subpar effort did little to change the fact that the Ducks — for now, the 14th-straight time — lost.
Given the final score, Oregon predictably went down 13-2 early with Quay Miller scoring eight of the Buffaloes early points.
A Graves timeout followed by five straight Grace VanSlooten points put the Ducks behind by only six. But Oregon’s offense went ice-cold finishing the quarter shooting just 2-13 from the field as Colorado scored the quarter’s next 13 points, putting the Ducks in a huge 26-7 hole at the end of the first frame of action.
It only got worse for the Ducks, who finished the game shooting 18.9% from the field.
What’s more, Graves’ squad was unable to take advantage of the Buffs’ slow start that saw Colorado start the second period shooting 0-9. Oregon made just one shot from the field during that stretch, and finished the quarter with four points – a new Pac-12 Tournament record-low. Then — following a much-needed timeout — Colorado settled in.
Jaylin Sherrod hit a 3-pointer off a Kyei turnover and added a mid-range jumper to extend the lead to 22 with 3:18 left in the half. Frida Formann added five points, pushing the Buffs’ run to 12-0 and making their lead 27 at the break.
“We’ve got nothing to lose at this point,” Graves said last week of his team’s mentality going into the tournament. “We can go down and play free and easy.”
If “free and easy” results in shooting 1-13 from 3-point range and being out-rebounded 54-28, maybe the Ducks should have played a more conserved game.
A pair of Formann (17 points) 3’s only ballooned the Buffs’ lead while Oregon played more and more like it wanted the season to mercifully end.
Colorado struggled for significant portions of the game and did not look like a team ranked No. 13 in the nation, but in contrast, Oregon looked mightily outclassed.
If there were any remaining doubts of the work ahead for Graves and his staff, Wednesday’s contest only affirmed them. The Ducks did not have a player reach double-figures while Colorado finished shooting 50% from long-range.
Halfway through the fourth-quarter Colorado began to empty its bench, making the final score seem respectable.
Now, all eyes turn to an ever-trying offseason for Graves and the Ducks. The addition of incoming freshman Katie Fiso, alongside the returns of injured guards Sofia Bell and Peyton Scott will certainly help. But the main need for the Ducks is addition — not subtraction as has been the theme in recent years — through the transfer portal.
