Signs of youth have been plentiful for the Oregon women’s basketball team: the traveling calls, moving screens, missed lay-ups and turnovers.
They are the little errors that can make a large difference in close games. Oregon (3-2) learned as much in the Ducks’ 65-46 loss in the finale of Albuquerque Midtown Tournament. Oregon made 19 turnovers, gave up 16 offensive rebounds and shot 25 percent from the field.
The solution lies in experience so this week coaches have been focused on fundamentals.
“You search for the magical offense and really the magic is in them with their individual skills and so that’s what we’re trying to cultivate right now just with a young team is trying to upskill them so that they can make better reads, better decisions, better shot selections in the heat of the battle,” coach Bev Smith said.
Oregon hosts Long Beach State tonight at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court in the final home before the Ducks hit the road for the entire month of December. The next time Oregon plays a game at home will be when they welcome Arizona State on Jan. 3, 2008.
Long Beach State and Oregon’s next two opponents in Portland and UC Santa Barbara are all teams the Ducks played against and beat last season. Long Beach State has changed, Smith says, but the latter two are pretty similar and with more experience.
Tonight Smith says she is looking for fewer turnovers and a better shooting percentage.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot because defensively I think we do a very good job of staying in games, keeping it close; however, we just turn the ball over and it gives the opponent more opportunities to score,” she said.
Oregon’s long-distance shooting also drew Smith’s attention after the Ducks made 13 of 45 three-pointers in the two-game tournament, including 2 of 16 in the first half against Coppin State.
“We need to knock those down and we’re not shooting with the percentage that we have been in the past,” Smith said. “Slowly, we have to fix that and slowly our inside game has to establish itself so that we’re not always having to go to the three-pointer. We need to establish that inside presence and then I think you get a little more rhythm when you go inside out.”
The tournament also gave Oregon’s freshmen a chance to travel and all that entailed: different time zone, different officials and different altitude. The New Mexico game featured a crowd of 7,835.
“I think that’s good that they’ve now had the experience so when we go on the road next time we know what to expect,” guard Micaela Cocks said.
Guard Taylor Lilley is going to try and play through a lower leg injury that Smith said is different than the shin splints she has dealt with in the past.
“Just a little soreness,” Lilley said. “I think it’s an overuse type of thing right now. I don’t think it’s anything serious. We’re just kind of taking it day by day right now.”
Smith says she intends to start Lilley “if she can, just to get her running up and down (the court).”
The starting lineup will be slightly different with center Ellyce Ironmonger set to replace forward Ellie Manou for the second straight game. Smith cited Ironmonger’s 13-point, four-rebound performance against Coppin State for the change but says the lineup will continue to change as the season progresses.
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