Oregon came into Wednesday’s matchup after routing the University of Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 81-42 in its home opener. The Ducks (2-0) faced the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions, who were in the second leg of their Oregon road trip, after a loss at Oregon State Monday night.
The Ducks entered the game, and the rest of the season, shorthanded due to the season ending knee injury to starting point guard Peyton Scott. Because of the injury, senior Kennedi Williams got the start.
In Scott’s absence, all three of her co-stars shined. Chance Gray finished with 20 points and 5 assists playing 38 minutes, Grace VanSlooten finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, and center Phillipina Kyei tallied 16 points, 11 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks.
Pine Bluff started this game in a very active and aggressive 1-3-1 zone, which gave Oregon issues on offense initially.
“The first quarter was rough…once we got rolling, they got outta [the zone] pretty quickly, so we were getting some good looks,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “I thought we handled it better tonight than we did the other night.”
The Ducks overcame these early issues by moving the ball quickly in transition and feeding Kyei in the high post. This created chances for players like Gray and VanSlooten to score at the rim.
Defensively, they built on the foundation set against NAU, not allowing a point for the first 6:45 of the first quarter.
Pine Bluff had a very hard time finding shots inside the three-point line, and the Ducks would move the ball very quickly as soon as they got the rebound, creating their effective transition offense.
Gray got out to a hot start, hitting three of her first four 3-pointers. She was the catalyst for scoring early, finding her teammates for easy scores or creating the shots herself. She had a much larger playmaking role than she has had in a while due to the Scott injury and guard depth in the roster.
“I was recruited as a point guard and the look I have is to be able to play on and off the ball,” Gray said. “I’m confident with having the ball in my hands and making plays for everybody else.”
Due to the smaller size of a lot of the Pine Bluff players, they focused a lot defensively on trying to shut down Kyei, which opened up a lot of low post opportunities for VanSlooten and threes for Gray.
“[Kyei]’s a great passer, she’s unselfish, she goes in there and works hard… she works too hard for us not to get her the ball,” Gray said about her center.
Both teams shot the same amount of field goals as well as threes in the first half, with Oregon going 17-33 on FGs and 6-12 on threes and Pine Bluff shooting 7-33 and 0-12 on threes.
Given the absence of Scott, the playmaking duties fell more on Gray, VanSlooten and even Kyei. This team was ready to address the gaping hole in their frontcourt by experience and committee, which is very positive considering how the majority of this team is new to Oregon.
The Ducks never slowed down, even though they were up by nearly 30 before the end of the third quarter. The zone remained intact throughout and they continued to be the aggressors on Wednesday, forcing turnovers and guarding up close.
The offense remained on point as well, still finding their shots and attacking the basket. Kyei, Gray and VanSlooten all saw considerable playing time in the fourth quarter, showing Coach Graves’ mentality that a game is never really over until the horn sounds.
The Ducks have a lot of positives to look at going forward as they go to Phoenix next week to take on Grand Canyon University.
