I agree 81. Tara's scout defense is negated by a team with multiple options. Focus on Ionescu and Hebard, their two best players, but the others are still very dangerous. But isn't Bando still out with her leg injury?
Our team usually wins by defense, but I don't know if we can totally shut down the Ducks. We need to score as well.
Can we take some solace in that we swept them in our 3 meetings last year?
We won 81-60 at Maples in our first meeting last year, where Ionescu was 4/18 and Hebard 2/6. McGwire was their best scorer that game, 16 pts on 7/15 shooting. For us, Smith was critical coming off the bench scoring 24 pts on 9/15 shooting in just 20 minutes.
It was a much closer affair the second time around in Eugene, as we won 65-59. We did a pretty good job again on Ionescu as she was 6/17 and Hebard was 5/10. Their third option was Gildon that game with 10 pts. Unfortunately for us, our two leading scorers in that game (McCall and Karlie) are now graduated. But again Smith was a key contributor with 14 pts and 10 rebounds.
In the semis of the Pac-12 conference tourney, it was a close affair until the Ducks' run, including an upset of UW in the quarters caught up to them in the last 10 minutes. Ionescu was 5/11, but we did a great job on Hebard as she was 1/9. Cazorla was 6/12 for 14 pts for them. McCall had a double-double and Bri had double digit pts, but Kaylee had a double-double as well and McPhee had 15 pts of her own.
Having said all that, Oregon has obviously improved since last year and added Sabally to the mix, though not having Bando will help us in this match (one less long range shooter to worry about).
If we are serious about not only making the NCAA tourney, but making a good run, this game against a top-5ish opponent on their home court is the best barometer we can have this late in the season. Are we going to get embarrassed like we did against Baylor, where we were helpless against Kalani Brown and couldn't muster any offense? Or are we going to use the collective experience over this season to give the Ducks all they can handle?
We need to not only have the shutdown defense like we did for most of the Oregon State game, where we denied their best 3-pt shooter any opportunities from long range and kept their post player extraordinaire in single digits for the first time all season, but we can't afford any prolonged lapses offensively either.
As good as Oregon has been, they have given up 83 pts to UW (who we held to 45 pts) and 87 pts to Weber State. We can't be 2/19 from 3-pt range and expect to leave Eugene with a win.
Our team usually wins by defense, but I don't know if we can totally shut down the Ducks. We need to score as well.
Can we take some solace in that we swept them in our 3 meetings last year?
We won 81-60 at Maples in our first meeting last year, where Ionescu was 4/18 and Hebard 2/6. McGwire was their best scorer that game, 16 pts on 7/15 shooting. For us, Smith was critical coming off the bench scoring 24 pts on 9/15 shooting in just 20 minutes.
It was a much closer affair the second time around in Eugene, as we won 65-59. We did a pretty good job again on Ionescu as she was 6/17 and Hebard was 5/10. Their third option was Gildon that game with 10 pts. Unfortunately for us, our two leading scorers in that game (McCall and Karlie) are now graduated. But again Smith was a key contributor with 14 pts and 10 rebounds.
In the semis of the Pac-12 conference tourney, it was a close affair until the Ducks' run, including an upset of UW in the quarters caught up to them in the last 10 minutes. Ionescu was 5/11, but we did a great job on Hebard as she was 1/9. Cazorla was 6/12 for 14 pts for them. McCall had a double-double and Bri had double digit pts, but Kaylee had a double-double as well and McPhee had 15 pts of her own.
Having said all that, Oregon has obviously improved since last year and added Sabally to the mix, though not having Bando will help us in this match (one less long range shooter to worry about).
If we are serious about not only making the NCAA tourney, but making a good run, this game against a top-5ish opponent on their home court is the best barometer we can have this late in the season. Are we going to get embarrassed like we did against Baylor, where we were helpless against Kalani Brown and couldn't muster any offense? Or are we going to use the collective experience over this season to give the Ducks all they can handle?
We need to not only have the shutdown defense like we did for most of the Oregon State game, where we denied their best 3-pt shooter any opportunities from long range and kept their post player extraordinaire in single digits for the first time all season, but we can't afford any prolonged lapses offensively either.
As good as Oregon has been, they have given up 83 pts to UW (who we held to 45 pts) and 87 pts to Weber State. We can't be 2/19 from 3-pt range and expect to leave Eugene with a win.