Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com
2017 First-Round Game Was A Tipping Point For UO Women
03/15/18 | Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
Ruthy Hebard's finger-tip blocked shot to preserve Oregon's first-round NCAA Tournament win over Temple last season set the stage for an Elite Eight run, and so much more.
Ruthy Hebard thought she'd cost the Ducks the game. Then Mallory McGwire thought she had.
And if they'd cost the Ducks that game, in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, what else might have been lost?
When the Ducks open this year's tournament against Seattle U in Matthew Knight Arena on Friday (4:30 p.m., ESPN2), it will be two days shy of one year since they beat Temple in 2017's first round. It took a last-second block by Hebard to save that one-point victory, which set the stage for Oregon's run to the Elite Eight last spring, and its preseason top-10 ranking last fall, and the Pac-12 regular-season title this winter, and the conference tournament title and … well, everything that's come since.
"Coach always says the little things matter," Hebard said this week, after the second-seeded Ducks learned they would host 15th seed Seattle U on Friday. "Blocking out, rebounding, blocking shots — those matter."
How much did that single blocked shot matter to the Oregon women's basketball program? It's a question worth considering.
If Hebard doesn't block that shot — the last of several clutch plays by the Ducks against Temple, to be sure — then the UO women don't advance to face Duke in a second-round game, where they upset the Blue Devils on their home court. They don't move on to upset another East Coast power, Maryland, and become just the third double-digit seed ever to reach the Elite Eight, where their improbable, freshman-fueled run ended against UConn.
Without that unforgettable postseason run, are the Ducks a preseason top-10 team in 2017-18? Do they take the court with the same swagger and self-confidence, enough to go a school-record 16-2 in the Pac-12's regular season, then knock off perennial conference power Stanford in the conference tournament final?
No doubt, the postseason run changed the nation's perception of Oregon women's basketball. It may have changed the Ducks' perception of themselves, too. And it doesn't happen without the dramatic finish against Temple.
"We came into this year with so much confidence," senior guard Lexi Bando said. "We were a team that went to the Elite Eight. We knew that, if we continued to work hard, more good things would happen."
It took several good things happening late in that game against Temple for the stage to be set. And some frantic moments of doubt, as well.
The first-round matchup in Durham, N.C., went back-and-forth from the opening tip. The Ducks led by as much as eight in the second quarter, but Temple trimmed its deficit to one at halftime, 35-34. Then the Owls took control, leading 58-52 entering the fourth quarter, before the UO women fought back to a 62-62 tie.
Temple had a 68-65 lead when the Ducks went to McGwire twice in the high post, where she passed to Sabrina Ionescu for jumpers in the lane. Oregon led 69-68, with less than 30 seconds to play.
Then, for Hebard, disaster: She went out to the perimeter to hedge on defense, and strayed too far toward midcourt. Temple's Feyonda Fitzgerald cut inside Hebard at the top of the arc, raced toward the hoop and pulled up in the lane for a go-ahead jumper.
"I was so scared I'd lost the game," Hebard said.
Fortunately, she had time to redeem herself. Their season on the line, the Ducks again worked the ball to McGwire in the high post. Beaten twice by Ionescu, the Owls doubled her as she cut across the baseline, which freed up Hebard in the lane. McGwire found her open, and Hebard scored to put Oregon up 71-70 with seven seconds left.
Chaos ensued.
Inexplicably, Ionescu stayed at the baseline to deny the inbounds pass, something the Ducks never had in their game plan.
"Instinctively, I just tried to get a tip or a steal, so they wouldn't get the opportunity to shoot it," she said. "But I probably should have just gotten back."
The two bigs at least had the wherewithal to do so. Temple quickly advanced the ball past midcourt.
"I remember them being a super-fast team," Hebard said. "The whole game on defense was, get back, clog the middle."
True to plan, Hebard and McGwire both sprinted back, deep into the post at Temple's end. McGwire was in position to deny Fitzgerald another attempt at a go-ahead basket, when she ran into a brick wall. A backscreen stopped McGwire in her tracks, and opened up the right side of the lane for Fitzgerald.
"It would have been my fault, if Ruthy didn't block it," McGwire said. "Because she got right around me."
But lurking outside Fitzgerald's field of vision, shielded behind the war for position between McGwire and the Temple screener, was Hebard. With the momentum of her fullcourt sprint still carrying her, Hebard flew at Fitzgerald from the middle of the lane, and got just enough on the shot to send it bouncing harmlessly off the backboard.
The Ducks had won. Hebard had been redeemed.
"It was probably one of the most exciting, scary moments ever," Hebard said.
For the program, it proved transformative. Hebard said last year's postseason run helped her realize, "I'm not just some girl from Alaska." Entering Friday's NCAA Tournament game, she's third in the nation in field-goal percentage. The girl from Alaska is a dominant force.
For the remainder of last year's tournament run, the Ducks played free and easy. "We won our first game," McGwire said. "Why not keep them coming? We had nothing to lose."
They carried that attitude into this season, and rode it all the way to the Pac-12 title, and a No. 2 seed into this year's NCAA Tournament. Without those final, fraught moments against Temple a year ago, who can say what may have been?
"That game was important for us, just like this game on Friday is going to be," Ionescu said. "If we start off the tournament well, like we did in the Temple game, that set the stage for the rest of the tournament. We had some momentum, and we had some energy, and we had some confidence.
"Having that under our belt, it definitely feels different than last year, when we had no idea what it was like."
And if they'd cost the Ducks that game, in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, what else might have been lost?
When the Ducks open this year's tournament against Seattle U in Matthew Knight Arena on Friday (4:30 p.m., ESPN2), it will be two days shy of one year since they beat Temple in 2017's first round. It took a last-second block by Hebard to save that one-point victory, which set the stage for Oregon's run to the Elite Eight last spring, and its preseason top-10 ranking last fall, and the Pac-12 regular-season title this winter, and the conference tournament title and … well, everything that's come since.
"Coach always says the little things matter," Hebard said this week, after the second-seeded Ducks learned they would host 15th seed Seattle U on Friday. "Blocking out, rebounding, blocking shots — those matter."
How much did that single blocked shot matter to the Oregon women's basketball program? It's a question worth considering.
If Hebard doesn't block that shot — the last of several clutch plays by the Ducks against Temple, to be sure — then the UO women don't advance to face Duke in a second-round game, where they upset the Blue Devils on their home court. They don't move on to upset another East Coast power, Maryland, and become just the third double-digit seed ever to reach the Elite Eight, where their improbable, freshman-fueled run ended against UConn.
Without that unforgettable postseason run, are the Ducks a preseason top-10 team in 2017-18? Do they take the court with the same swagger and self-confidence, enough to go a school-record 16-2 in the Pac-12's regular season, then knock off perennial conference power Stanford in the conference tournament final?
No doubt, the postseason run changed the nation's perception of Oregon women's basketball. It may have changed the Ducks' perception of themselves, too. And it doesn't happen without the dramatic finish against Temple.
"We came into this year with so much confidence," senior guard Lexi Bando said. "We were a team that went to the Elite Eight. We knew that, if we continued to work hard, more good things would happen."
It took several good things happening late in that game against Temple for the stage to be set. And some frantic moments of doubt, as well.
The first-round matchup in Durham, N.C., went back-and-forth from the opening tip. The Ducks led by as much as eight in the second quarter, but Temple trimmed its deficit to one at halftime, 35-34. Then the Owls took control, leading 58-52 entering the fourth quarter, before the UO women fought back to a 62-62 tie.
Temple had a 68-65 lead when the Ducks went to McGwire twice in the high post, where she passed to Sabrina Ionescu for jumpers in the lane. Oregon led 69-68, with less than 30 seconds to play.
Then, for Hebard, disaster: She went out to the perimeter to hedge on defense, and strayed too far toward midcourt. Temple's Feyonda Fitzgerald cut inside Hebard at the top of the arc, raced toward the hoop and pulled up in the lane for a go-ahead jumper.
"I was so scared I'd lost the game," Hebard said.
Fortunately, she had time to redeem herself. Their season on the line, the Ducks again worked the ball to McGwire in the high post. Beaten twice by Ionescu, the Owls doubled her as she cut across the baseline, which freed up Hebard in the lane. McGwire found her open, and Hebard scored to put Oregon up 71-70 with seven seconds left.
Chaos ensued.
Inexplicably, Ionescu stayed at the baseline to deny the inbounds pass, something the Ducks never had in their game plan.
"Instinctively, I just tried to get a tip or a steal, so they wouldn't get the opportunity to shoot it," she said. "But I probably should have just gotten back."
The two bigs at least had the wherewithal to do so. Temple quickly advanced the ball past midcourt.
"I remember them being a super-fast team," Hebard said. "The whole game on defense was, get back, clog the middle."
True to plan, Hebard and McGwire both sprinted back, deep into the post at Temple's end. McGwire was in position to deny Fitzgerald another attempt at a go-ahead basket, when she ran into a brick wall. A backscreen stopped McGwire in her tracks, and opened up the right side of the lane for Fitzgerald.
"It would have been my fault, if Ruthy didn't block it," McGwire said. "Because she got right around me."
But lurking outside Fitzgerald's field of vision, shielded behind the war for position between McGwire and the Temple screener, was Hebard. With the momentum of her fullcourt sprint still carrying her, Hebard flew at Fitzgerald from the middle of the lane, and got just enough on the shot to send it bouncing harmlessly off the backboard.
The Ducks had won. Hebard had been redeemed.
"It was probably one of the most exciting, scary moments ever," Hebard said.
For the program, it proved transformative. Hebard said last year's postseason run helped her realize, "I'm not just some girl from Alaska." Entering Friday's NCAA Tournament game, she's third in the nation in field-goal percentage. The girl from Alaska is a dominant force.
For the remainder of last year's tournament run, the Ducks played free and easy. "We won our first game," McGwire said. "Why not keep them coming? We had nothing to lose."
They carried that attitude into this season, and rode it all the way to the Pac-12 title, and a No. 2 seed into this year's NCAA Tournament. Without those final, fraught moments against Temple a year ago, who can say what may have been?
"That game was important for us, just like this game on Friday is going to be," Ionescu said. "If we start off the tournament well, like we did in the Temple game, that set the stage for the rest of the tournament. We had some momentum, and we had some energy, and we had some confidence.
"Having that under our belt, it definitely feels different than last year, when we had no idea what it was like."
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