Look past Cal’s early season losses to San Jose State and Boston College. Look past the fall from a No. 18 ranking earlier this season. Look past the 2-3 Pacific-10 Conference record, the eighth-best in the conference. Oregon won’t.
“Cal will give us everything we can handle,” Westhead told reporters on Tuesday. “This weekend will be a real challenge to us.”
Oregon has a date with No. 2 Stanford on Saturday in the ultimate test for first-year head coach Paul Westhead and his up-tempo attack. Still, Westhead and the Ducks (12-5, 3-2 Pac-10) face Cal (8-8, 2-3) today at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court, and the former NBA and WNBA champion head coach knows better than to look past the Golden Bears.
The Golden Bears bounced back from three losses to open Pac-10 play with a sweep of the Washington schools this weekend. Oregon is trending in the opposite direction after a sweep at the hands of Arizona and ASU. Having beaten the Bay Area schools a combined one time since the 2006-07 season, the Ducks could define the course of their season with their performances today and Saturday.
“It’s exciting,” guard Taylor Lilley said. “I think we have some upsets this weekend, hopefully … if we just do everything right, I think we can be on the good end of things.”
Guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, a 2009 first team Pac-10 player, is the engine that makes Cal go. The senior leads the Golden Bears with 15.9 points and six rebounds per game.
“She can really create on her own. It’s not like she has to rely on a lot of plays to get her shot off,” Lilley said. “She’s very efficient with the pull-up jumper. She’s a very strong girl.”
Gray-Lawson and fellow guard Lauren Greif are the only two Golden Bear starters that return from last year’s Sweet Sixteen team. Cal lost the services of 2009 All-American and three-time All-Pac-10 forward Ashley Walker and four-time all Pac-10 forward Devanei Hampton in the post, which means four freshmen have shouldered the load for the Golden Bears this season.
“It kind of eliminates some of the forces down low,” Lilley said.
The most consistent post presence for Cal has been freshman DeNesha Stallworth, who ranks second on the team with 14.1 points per game and leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game.
“DeNesha’s very talented. I saw her in high school around the area,” forward Amanda Johnson said. “They’re inexperienced at the college level, but they’ve been playing basketball for years like everybody else. We’ve just got to come in and make our presence early. Just come in with the physicality.”
The Golden Bears — and the Cardinal on Saturday — are equipped with the size and athleticism to challenge the Ducks’ offensive attack in a number of ways. After losing games to a slower-paced Arizona State team and a faster-paced Arizona team, Oregon is unsure of what to expect.
“It’s interesting. Neither of those teams are known as a fast-break team in the way that (Coach Westhead’s) philosophy is known as fast-break, but they both like to push the ball,” Johnson said. “They’re both fit, competitive teams. There could be a challenge to run with us. I don’t see either of those teams pulling an Oregon State and trying to slow us down.”
Ducks Introduce “Personal Pan Play”
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Oregon’s marketing team worked a promotional element around the Ducks’ offensive prowess.
Beginning today, the athletic department will implement “The Pizza Hut Personal Pan Play,” where each fan in attendance at McArthur Court will receive a personal pan pizza if Oregon scores 100 points.
“Every game we are trying to put a winning and exciting product on the floor,” Westhead said in a media release. “I am so thankful Pizza Hut has partnered with us for this promotion that will allow us to pay back the fans at Mac Court for their unconditional and relentless support.”
The Ducks lead the nation in scoring with 87.4 points per game and have scored 100 or more points in three of their 17 games this season.
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