National stardom. SLAM Magazine. The face of women’s college basketball on the West Coast.
Sound familiar, Oregon fans?
Just this time she’s wearing Cardinal and Gold.
JuJu Watkins came to town Friday night and torched the Ducks for 33 points on 12-25 shooting. The class of the country came to Eugene, and it wasn’t close.
“She’s incredible, she’s a really really good player,” Graves said of Watkins, who finished with a game-high +33. “I think it’s great that she’s in our conference and we get to play against players like that.”
Oregon did its best containing Watkins the first time the teams met, with Sofia Bell’s perimeter defense holding Watkins to 17 points. Ominously selected to guard Watkins for the majority of the night, Chance Gray had no such luck as Watkins’ 24 first-half points outscored the Ducks’ 21 at the break.
“Losing somebody like Sofia, she’s our best defender. The first time she did a really really good job on JuJu the first time we played them, I think we held her to fewer points than anybody else has,” Graves said. “She changed that narrative, for sure tonight.”
Watkins had 14 as USC led 29-7 at the end of the first quarter, Oregon went just 3-22 in the first frame, thus setting the tone for the rest of the night.
“A little of everything [went wrong], I think we were on our heels a bit offensively, didn’t get the looks we needed early,” Graves said. “They are a good team, they are a better team than we are…once they got rolling it was hard to stop.”
“She could play in the League! She’s that good, that poised, that savvy.” Graves said of Watkins.
The Trojan’s depth rivals what the Ducks used to be with Sabrina Ionescu. Watkins, McKenzie Forbes (12 Pts) and Rayah Marshall (3 blocks ) stole the show for the Trojans who seemingly have no real holes and look to be a top seed in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments.
“Rayah Marshall’s an All-American,” Graves said. “They are an experienced team, they start three fifth-year grad-transfers, and Rayah Marshall’s been there three years… and then oh yeah they have JuJu.”
Oregon’s 2020 squad had potential like that. Starring Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard, the Ducks went an astonishing 31-2 before the coronavirus derailed it all.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see them in this tournament because I think it would have been a real special run,” Graves said in 2020 following the cancellation of the tournament.
“I don’t know if there’s been a women’s basketball team outside of UConn on a couple of their special, special teams that have gotten the kind of attention that this team has nationally. Not just from women’s basketball fans and our core constituency, but men’s basketball fans, NBA players. I think it’s unprecedented quite frankly. This team will always be remembered, maybe now for a couple of reasons.”
Another team with that national recognition was in Eugene Friday night, just unfortunately for Duck fans, it wasn’t Oregon.
Now in 2024, the Ducks seem so far away from contention or relevance. Holders of the worst record in the Pac-12, Graves’ squad lacks spark, scoring or any reprieve in a grueling schedule that entails seven games in a row against top-25 opponents.
“The schedule has definitely been a challenge,” Graves said. “This just does not happen, we’re battling, but just trying to do the best we can.”
The schedule poses its challenges but Oregon has done little to spell its woes. The Ducks have struggled to adjust, defend and have often been on the brunt of many blowouts and slow starts.
“The reality is we just are not as good as these teams,” Graves said. “For a team this young and this injured, quite frankly we’re not as deep as we’d like to be, it’s a challenge.”
With the season winding down and Oregon well on its way to missing the tournament, Graves and the Ducks saw a glimpse of what their once-prominent program used to be.
