When Kelly Graves was hired in April of last year, he knew that it was not going to be easy teaching the team a new style of play.

The Ducks finished last in the NCAA last year, allowing 89.1 points per game to their opponents.  

Oregon lost 91-69 to Washington on Friday night, giving up a season-high for points allowed. 

“Defensively, I thought we had been making strides, great strides, even last week in a couple of tough losses,” Graves said. “And then tonight, I thought we took a real step back and I’m not exactly sure why, but it was evident out on the court.”

The Ducks allowed the Huskies to shoot 51.5 percent from the field, including 58.8 percent in the second half. Washington stretched its lead by out-gunning Oregon by 13 points after halftime.

“Tonight was just an aberration,” Graves said. “I don’t know why we had difficulty keeping people in front of us.”

The Ducks are still going through growing pains of adapting to a new style of play, one that Graves perfected while he was at Gonzaga.

Washington’s Kelsey Plum tallied 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the floor against the Ducks. Washington’s Talia Walton added 16 points while Jazmine Davis finished with 13 points.

Jillian Alleyne and Amanda Delgado said they were pleased with the team’s defensive efforts against UCLA, Navy and Santa Clara. 

“We’re getting better and we’re going to keep working,” Amanda Delgado said, who finished with 11 points and a career-high six assists. “We just gotta keep our heads up.” 

Alleyne said the team needs to improve its communication when setting up defensive sets.

“Sometimes I think we’re still in that learning phase and it shows on the court,” Alleyne said.

The Ducks have shown signs of improvement, but have struggled to strike a consistent chord with their defensive showings. Oregon has held its opponents to 44.6 percent, 37.3 percent and 25 percent in their last three games before tonight. 

“You have to now make reads and rotate and know what defense you’re in,” Alleyne said. “We’re running so many defenses, it’s kind of like back to basics for us. Once we get it down, we’re going to be OK.”

Delgado said that the team needs to collectively keep moving forward and continue to buy in to what Graves offers the Ducks defensively. 

“We just need to build and feed off more of each other,” Delgado said. “We know what we have to do every day.”

Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne