Amanda Johnson was a revelation for the Oregon women’s basketball team last season. The sophomore forward from Santa Rosa, Calif., averaged 7.9 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game (leading the Ducks), earning Pacific-10 Conference All-Freshman honorable mention honors. Johnson had a strong exhibition season for the Ducks, with a 19-point, seven-rebound, five-assist and nine-steal effort against Southern Oregon and 25 points, against Western Oregon.
Oregon Daily Emerald: What did you and the team try to take away from exhibition season?
 
Amanda Johnson: It’s a great way to see kind of where we’re at going into our first game. It’s hard sometimes because you know, the competition isn’t really challenging us, but we can see how we work together as a team.
 
ODE: The Ducks are playing a full-court pressure defense this season. How have you and the team adjusted to that?
 
AJ: I love the full-court pressure defense. It’s so much fun. It’s tiring, but you work through it because you get steals, you know? And that’s fun. Even though you’re tired, it builds momentum. It gets you motivated. I think it’s really important for the team to change it up in order to control the pace a little bit. You can go into a full-court man defense, or into a zone, to try and fluster of the offense a little bit.
 
ODE: You had nine steals against Southern Oregon. What do you think of that statistic?
 
AJ: It’s not so much seeing the numbers afterwards, it’s more like living in the moment. You get a steal and get a layup, and it keeps me going. I get pumped. The numbers afterwards are kind of trivial, especially in an exhibition game.
 
ODE: How do you approach a box score from a game?
 
AJ: It’s not a focus. We’ve gone back over, like … definitely the turnovers (the Ducks committed 19 in an exhibition win over Western Oregon). Coach Westhead was like, “Hey, guys, this is not our game.” I don’t look at specific numbers, just kind of the overall picture. I look at, what was my productivity? Did I do my role? Especially with rebounds. I feel like, playing the four, I should have 10 rebounds a game and I should have three offensive rebounds a game.


[email protected]