The second half of the Pacific-10 Conference basketball schedule brings hope of redemption for Oregon. The team has dropped its last three conference games, including a frustrating blowout to Oregon State on Saturday.
“Just looking back on it, it’s still really disappointing about how it went down and how we lost,” junior guard Taylor Lilley said. “This week is about how we get after it and how we change some things and look within ourselves and work a lot harder than we are right now.”
Lilley, who was very frank after Saturday’s game against the Beavers about the team’s struggles, said this weekend’s trip to Arizona is crucial in setting the tone for the rest of the season and finishing with a winning record.
“It’s about our work ethic, how hard we are willing to work in the games, and intensity,” Lilley said. “That to me is the difference between the games that are won or lost. If we can just outwork and out hustle teams, I think we have a very good chance of having a winning season and a winning Pac-10 second half.”
Staying positive is crucial for the Ducks (8-12, 4-5 Pac-10), head coach Bev Smith said. But she and Lilley both think the team is up to the challenge, and they will start tonight when they face the Arizona State Sun Devils (15-6, 7-2) in Tempe, Ariz.
“This team has to learn from the last time we played (Arizona State),” Smith said. “When we start off on the front foot and are aggressive we play well. The question is how we get that, whether it’s on the road or at home, and play a full game.”
ASU has won seven games in a row, dating back to Jan. 8 when the Sun Devils beat Oregon State 61-36 in Corvallis. Junior Simon Dymond, who is averaging 13.7 points per game, leads the team in scoring, and the 5-5 point guard runs Arizona State’s relentless full-court pressure defense. They have forced teams into 100 turnovers more than what the Sun Devils have this season.
The Sun Devils beat the Ducks 81-53 on Jan. 10, much in part because of the defense. The Ducks had 24 turnovers in the game, and were down 19 points at halftime. Senior Lauren Lacey had 19 points for Arizona State, as one of four players who were in double figures.
“We have to work on our aggressiveness against them,” Lilley said. “I think we really learned a lot from the first time we played them. We started off slow, and they just got right after us in the first couple of minutes and that set the tone. We have to come out strong against this type of team because they’re that type of in-your-face team with pressure defense.”
Smith said limiting errors and playing hard has been the focus this week, so as to avoid her team coming out flat like it did last time it played Arizona State. She wants to see the team play hard and not go through dry spells on the offensive end, which it tends to do.
“I think it’s the consistency of our focus and our effort,” Smith said. “Sometimes we are good offensively, but then we have a mental breakdown. If we can keep the intensity and the passion high for 40 minutes, it will make up for the few mistakes we make.”
But Oregon will no longer have to play games with a limited bench. Senior guard/forward Rita Kollo and sophomore forward/center Nicole Canepa are back from injuries. Kollo broke her foot early in the preseason, and Canepa sprained her ankle in early-January. Although Kollo won’t play this weekend, it’s a huge lift for the team to see both of them back on the sidelines.
“This week is the first week since the beginning of the year that we don’t have anyone in a boot and everyone in their basketball shoes,” Smith said. “It’s exciting, and those things help to be able and take the pressure off the team a little bit, and lift the mood.”
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