The Ducks (10-7, 1-3 Pac-12) rode a three-game losing streak into their matchup with the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-8, 0-4 Pac-12), who also carried its own three game skid heading into Friday night. 

One of the themes of the Ducks’ lackluster first half of the season has been the lack of depth offensively outside of their three stars — Chance Gray, Grace VanSlooten and Philippina Kyei. 

Oregon’s leaders are the top three on the team in average points, rebounds and three out of the top four in assists per game. 

While it is no secret that the offense flows solely through this trio, they can only do so much when it comes to winning a game. 

The Ducks often find difficulty getting more players involved offensively because Gray and VanSlooten are the only players on the court who can create shots for others. Along with Kyei, they are also the only players who have had success creating their own shots. 

Late in the first quarter of Friday’s game, coming off a field goal from Arizona State, Oregon almost faced a five second violation on the inbounds play. This was due to Gray’s substitution creating confusion on who would bring the ball up. 

None of the Ducks seemed to have the confidence to step up until VanSlooten came rushing back to the baseline to ensure the ball was safely inbounded. Oregon’s stars seemed to be the only ones with confidence to step up in plays such as this one. 

The Sun Devils led by two entering the second quarter, but VanSlooten started to control the game scoring six straight points to help the Ducks take their first lead of the quarter. 

VanSlooten finished the first half with 14 points and the Ducks leading by four points. The next two top scorers of the half were Gray with eight and Kyei with five. The Ducks needed to increase their scoring output if they wanted to pull away and ensure a win. 

This effort also needed to include more of the team, as only five players scored in the half. 

Kyei started off the second half strong, imposing her will both offensively and defensively, commanding the paint on both ends. That has been where she has excelled most this season, and in every game has given Oregon one part of the court that it dominates. 

Oregon out-rebounded ASU 48-27 largely due to Kyei’s complete control over the boards, especially on offense. The Ducks got almost half of their boards on offense, most of which coming from Kyei who finished with nine offensive rebounds and 14 total. 

“I know we did well on the offensive boards too,” said VanSlooten. “But we’ve really been focusing on the defensive boards.”

Oregon’s tallest player ever at 6’8”, she is also the anchor to the Ducks’ 2-3 zone defense. It was evident that the Sun Devils wanted to steer clear of Kyei, as they scored most of their points from midrange and even some from beyond the arc.

However, ASU couldn’t find its rhythm as the game went on, so the mere presence of Kyei was a positive impact for the Ducks defense — a defense that held the Sun Devils to just six points in the third quarter. 

The Ducks carried a 14 point lead into the fourth quarter, mostly behind the output of their star trio, but also with help from forward Sarah Rambus, who finished with eight points. 

In the fourth, it was the Chance Gray show, as she finally grew into the game, hitting some deep threes to electrify Matthew Knight Arena and help the Ducks pull away. 

“In the second quarter, Kelly was just telling me ‘We need you to be aggressive right now,’ so that’s what I did…and came out in the second half looking for my shots a little more,” Gray said. 

The trio combined for 55 of Oregon’s 65 points, so the Ducks didn’t need that much from the supporting cast. However, when they are playing better teams than Arizona State, the Ducks need to find a way to get more of the team involved if they want to continue winning ways.