Photo by: Eric Evans Photography
Ducks Meet Minnesota on Sunday in Second Round of NCAA Tournament
03/17/18 | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 2 seed Oregon women's basketball team meet No. 10 seed Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:30 PM PT on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.
#6 OREGON DUCKS (31-4, 16-2)
PPG: 82.1 | FG%: 49.9 | 3FG%: 40.3 | FT%: 75.8
Notable: Oregon's No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament is the best in program history. UO
won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles this year and has a school record 31 wins. UO ranks ninth in the NCAA in scoring (82.1 ppg), 4th in field goal percentage (49.9%), 2nd in three-point percentage (40.3%) and 7th in assists (19.1 apg). Sabrina Ionescu, a first team All-American, is a finalist for the Wooden Award, the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Trophy, the Dawn Staley Award and the Lieberman Award.
MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (24-8, 11-5)
PPG: 85.3 | FG%: 43.3 | 3FG%: 37.1 | FT%: 75.2
Series Record: UO leads, 1-0 (never met in Eug)
Last Game: UO won, 85-74 (3/15/79 in WNIT)
Notable: No. 10 seed Minnesota defeated No. 7 seed Green Bay, 89-77, on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After being held to 32 points in the first half, the Golden Gophers scored 57 points in the second half. Guard Kenisha Bell tallied 26 points and went 14-of-17 at the free throw line. Bell leads the team, averaging 20.2 points per game. Minnesota finished in a tie for third with Iowa and Nebraska in the Big Ten.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV - ESPN2 with LaChina Robinson and Dave Pasch
Stream - WatchESPN, ESPN app with a cable login
Radio - Terry Jonz on the call at KUGN 590 (Eugene), KUIK 1360 (Portland) & TuneIn. Search for "Oregon IMG" in the TuneIn app or online at TuneIn.com.
A WIN WOULD...
- Give the Ducks 32 wins, setting a new season wins record for Kelly Graves' career.
- Send the Ducks to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Oregon had never reached the Sweet 16 prior to last year.
- Give Kelly Graves his fifth trip to the Sweet 16, all coming in the last nine years.
- Improve UO's NCAA Tournament record to 10-13.
- Give UO 11 straight wins going back to Feb. 9.
OREGON'S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
- The Ducks are making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the 14th overall in program history.
- Oregon's No. 2 seed this season is the best in program history. The Ducks' previous best was a No. 3 seed in 1984 when the tournament was just 32 teams.
- Oregon is 9-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Ducks are 3-3 in NCAA Tournament games played in Eugene, with the last, prior to this season, being an 80-79 overtime loss to UAB in 2000.
- UO made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, losing 59-53 to Missouri in Eugene.
- The Ducks' made a program-best eight straight NCAA appearances from 1994-2001. The Ducks went 12 seasons between a 2005 trip and when they qualified as a No. 10 seed last season.
- The most points scored by a UO player in a NCAA Tournament game is 24 by Alison Lang against Missouri on March 13, 1982.
- The most rebounds by a UO player in a NCAA Tournament game is 20, also by Lang vs. Missouri.
- Sabrina Ionescu set the program's single-game tournament assists record with 11 on Friday against Seattle U. She broke Lauri Tennant's record of 10 vs. San Diego State on March 16, 1984.
OREGON'S RUN LAST YEAR
- The Ducks advanced to the program's first ever Sweet 16 and Elite 8 last season. The No. 10 seed Ducks upset No. 7 seed Temple, 71-70, No. 2 seed Duke, 74-65, and No. 3 seed Maryland, 77-63, before falling to No. 1 seed UConn, 90-52.
- Ruthy Hebard averaged a team-high 17.8 points and 8.0 rebounds over four tournament games last year.
KELLY GRAVES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
- In his fourth year at UO, Graves is taking the Ducks to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
- Graves has made 10 total trips to the tournament.
- Oregon's No. 2 seed this year is the highest in program history and the best in Graves' career.
- Graves was a double-digit seed seven times.
- Graves is 12-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Graves has made two trips to the Elite Eight.
- Graves is the only coach in NCAA women's basketball history to take two double-digit seeded teams to the Elite Eight (No. 10 Oregon in 2017, No. 11 Gonzaga in 2011)
- Graves has been in the Sweet 16 four times.
- Graves first went to the NCAA Tournament as the head coach of Saint Mary's as a No. 12 seed in 1999. Graves then went dancing seven more times at Gonzaga, going as a No. 12 seed three times, No. 11 seed twice, No. 7 seed once and No. 6 seed once. He took the Ducks to the dance last season as a No. 10.
- Graves took Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 in three straight seasons - 2010, 2011 and 2012.
- In 2011, Graves and Gonzaga advanced to the Elite Eight. The No. 11 seed 'Zags were the lowest seed ever to reach the Elite Eight. They beat No. 6 seed Iowa, No. 3 seed UCLA and No. 7 seed Louisville before falling to No. 1 seed Stanford in the regional final.
- Graves' teams have upset No. 2 seeds twice and No. 3 seeds three times in the NCAA Tournament.
GRAVES MAKES TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Only three times in the history of the NCAA women's basketball tournament has a double digit seed reached the Elite Eight. Kelly Graves was the coach of two of those teams. Graves and the No. 10 seed Ducks advanced to the Elite Eight last year while Graves and No. 11 seed Gonzaga accomplished the same in 2011.
IONESCU NEARS PAC-12 ASSISTS RECORD
Sabrina Ionescu goes into Sunday's NCAA Tournament second round game against Minnesota with 275 assists this year, just four away from breaking the Pac-12 single-season record. Arizona's Brenda Pantoja tallied a league record 278 assists in 1995-96. Pantoja is now a Pac-12 referee. The sophomore is 42 assists away from having 1000+ career points and 500+ career assists. The only player in NCAA history have 2000+ points and 1000+ career assists is Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot, who played under Kelly Graves.
IONESCU A FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
After being named Pac-12 player of the year and Pac-12 Tournament MVP, sophomore Sabrina Ionescu continued to collect more accolades when both USA Today and ESPNW named her a first team All-American. Ionescu is Oregon's first first team All-America selection since Bev Smith in 1982.
IONESCU EARNS PAC-12 TOURNAMENT MVP
After leading the Ducks to their first ever Pac-12 Tournament title, sophomore Sabrina Ionescu was named tournament MVP. The guard scored a Pac-12 championship game record and career-high 36 points as the No. 1 seed Ducks defeated No. 2 seed Stanford, 77-57, on March 4 at KeyArena in Seattle. The Ducks had never been to the Pac-12 tournament title game before and came away with a win in their first appearance, thanks to Ionescu's dominating performance. Ionescu tallied her 36 points on 14-of-24 shooting, including four three-pointers. Ionescu also had four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Ionescu led the Ducks, averaging 21.0 points over three games at the Pac-12 Tournament on 51.0 percent shooting. She also averaged five rebounds and 7.3 assists.
IONESCU NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
After leading the conference in both scoring and assists during the regular season, Sabrina Ionescu was named the Pac-12 player of the year. Ionescu is the third player in program history to be named Pac-12 player of the year, joining Shaquala Williams, who won in 1999-2000, and Lauri Landerholm, who won in 1986-87, the first year the Pac-12 handed out the award. After winning Pac-12 freshman of the year honors last season, Ionescu joins Washington's Kelsey Plum, Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike, and Stanford's Jayne Appel as players in the last 10 years to win both the league's freshman and player of the year honors. Williams also won both for the Ducks, taking freshman of the year honors in 1998-99 before being named player of the year the following season. Ionescu is the league's first sophomore to win player of the year since Stanford's Candice Wiggins did it in 2004-05.
SABALLY NAMED PAC-12 FROSH OF THE YEAR
After being the top scoring rookie in the Pac-12 this season, forward Satou Sabally was named the Pac-12 freshman of the year. Sabally is the second-straight conference freshman of the year for the Ducks, after Sabrina Ionescu won last season. Sabally is the third all-time at Oregon to win it, as Shaquala Williams also won in 1998-99. Sabally, a native of Berlin, Germany, is the third international player to be named Pac-12 freshman of the year, joining Washington State's Alke Dietel (Germany) and Oregon State's Tanja Kostic (Sweden). Sabally averaged 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while appearing in all 31 of the Ducks' regular season games with 22 starts. Sabally made her first career start on Dec. 2 against Weber State. Three games later, against Ole Miss on Dec. 17, Sabally was back in the starting lineup for good, starting Oregon's last 21 regular season games.
BANDO BREAKS UO THREE-POINT RECORD
With a three-pointer in the fourth quarter of a thrilling Pac-12 Tournament semifinal win over UCLA on March 3, Lexi Bando became the Ducks' all-time leader in made three-pointers. Bando hit her 271st career three-pointer, breaking Taylor Lilley's record of 270, set between 2007-2010. Bando now has 275 career made threes after the Ducks beat Seattle U on Friday to open the NCAA Tournament.
BANDO ON RECORD PACE
Senior guard Lexi Bando is close to setting multiple three-point percentage records. The guard is a career 46.1 percent three-point shooter (275-for-596), the best among active players in the NCAA.
- The NCAA career record is 47.6 percent (262-of-550), set by Notre Dame's Alicia Ratay from 2000-03.
- The Pac-12 career record is 45.2 percent (191-of-423), set by Stanford's Jennifer Azzi from 1988-90.
- The Oregon career record is 44.6 percent (66-of-148), set by Jennifer Bourn from 1987-91.
#6 OREGON DUCKS (31-4, 16-2)
PPG: 82.1 | FG%: 49.9 | 3FG%: 40.3 | FT%: 75.8
Notable: Oregon's No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament is the best in program history. UO
won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles this year and has a school record 31 wins. UO ranks ninth in the NCAA in scoring (82.1 ppg), 4th in field goal percentage (49.9%), 2nd in three-point percentage (40.3%) and 7th in assists (19.1 apg). Sabrina Ionescu, a first team All-American, is a finalist for the Wooden Award, the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Trophy, the Dawn Staley Award and the Lieberman Award.
MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (24-8, 11-5)
PPG: 85.3 | FG%: 43.3 | 3FG%: 37.1 | FT%: 75.2
Series Record: UO leads, 1-0 (never met in Eug)
Last Game: UO won, 85-74 (3/15/79 in WNIT)
Notable: No. 10 seed Minnesota defeated No. 7 seed Green Bay, 89-77, on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After being held to 32 points in the first half, the Golden Gophers scored 57 points in the second half. Guard Kenisha Bell tallied 26 points and went 14-of-17 at the free throw line. Bell leads the team, averaging 20.2 points per game. Minnesota finished in a tie for third with Iowa and Nebraska in the Big Ten.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV - ESPN2 with LaChina Robinson and Dave Pasch
Stream - WatchESPN, ESPN app with a cable login
Radio - Terry Jonz on the call at KUGN 590 (Eugene), KUIK 1360 (Portland) & TuneIn. Search for "Oregon IMG" in the TuneIn app or online at TuneIn.com.
A WIN WOULD...
- Give the Ducks 32 wins, setting a new season wins record for Kelly Graves' career.
- Send the Ducks to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Oregon had never reached the Sweet 16 prior to last year.
- Give Kelly Graves his fifth trip to the Sweet 16, all coming in the last nine years.
- Improve UO's NCAA Tournament record to 10-13.
- Give UO 11 straight wins going back to Feb. 9.
OREGON'S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
- The Ducks are making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the 14th overall in program history.
- Oregon's No. 2 seed this season is the best in program history. The Ducks' previous best was a No. 3 seed in 1984 when the tournament was just 32 teams.
- Oregon is 9-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Ducks are 3-3 in NCAA Tournament games played in Eugene, with the last, prior to this season, being an 80-79 overtime loss to UAB in 2000.
- UO made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, losing 59-53 to Missouri in Eugene.
- The Ducks' made a program-best eight straight NCAA appearances from 1994-2001. The Ducks went 12 seasons between a 2005 trip and when they qualified as a No. 10 seed last season.
- The most points scored by a UO player in a NCAA Tournament game is 24 by Alison Lang against Missouri on March 13, 1982.
- The most rebounds by a UO player in a NCAA Tournament game is 20, also by Lang vs. Missouri.
- Sabrina Ionescu set the program's single-game tournament assists record with 11 on Friday against Seattle U. She broke Lauri Tennant's record of 10 vs. San Diego State on March 16, 1984.
OREGON'S RUN LAST YEAR
- The Ducks advanced to the program's first ever Sweet 16 and Elite 8 last season. The No. 10 seed Ducks upset No. 7 seed Temple, 71-70, No. 2 seed Duke, 74-65, and No. 3 seed Maryland, 77-63, before falling to No. 1 seed UConn, 90-52.
- Ruthy Hebard averaged a team-high 17.8 points and 8.0 rebounds over four tournament games last year.
KELLY GRAVES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
- In his fourth year at UO, Graves is taking the Ducks to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
- Graves has made 10 total trips to the tournament.
- Oregon's No. 2 seed this year is the highest in program history and the best in Graves' career.
- Graves was a double-digit seed seven times.
- Graves is 12-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Graves has made two trips to the Elite Eight.
- Graves is the only coach in NCAA women's basketball history to take two double-digit seeded teams to the Elite Eight (No. 10 Oregon in 2017, No. 11 Gonzaga in 2011)
- Graves has been in the Sweet 16 four times.
- Graves first went to the NCAA Tournament as the head coach of Saint Mary's as a No. 12 seed in 1999. Graves then went dancing seven more times at Gonzaga, going as a No. 12 seed three times, No. 11 seed twice, No. 7 seed once and No. 6 seed once. He took the Ducks to the dance last season as a No. 10.
- Graves took Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 in three straight seasons - 2010, 2011 and 2012.
- In 2011, Graves and Gonzaga advanced to the Elite Eight. The No. 11 seed 'Zags were the lowest seed ever to reach the Elite Eight. They beat No. 6 seed Iowa, No. 3 seed UCLA and No. 7 seed Louisville before falling to No. 1 seed Stanford in the regional final.
- Graves' teams have upset No. 2 seeds twice and No. 3 seeds three times in the NCAA Tournament.
GRAVES MAKES TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Only three times in the history of the NCAA women's basketball tournament has a double digit seed reached the Elite Eight. Kelly Graves was the coach of two of those teams. Graves and the No. 10 seed Ducks advanced to the Elite Eight last year while Graves and No. 11 seed Gonzaga accomplished the same in 2011.
IONESCU NEARS PAC-12 ASSISTS RECORD
Sabrina Ionescu goes into Sunday's NCAA Tournament second round game against Minnesota with 275 assists this year, just four away from breaking the Pac-12 single-season record. Arizona's Brenda Pantoja tallied a league record 278 assists in 1995-96. Pantoja is now a Pac-12 referee. The sophomore is 42 assists away from having 1000+ career points and 500+ career assists. The only player in NCAA history have 2000+ points and 1000+ career assists is Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot, who played under Kelly Graves.
IONESCU A FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
After being named Pac-12 player of the year and Pac-12 Tournament MVP, sophomore Sabrina Ionescu continued to collect more accolades when both USA Today and ESPNW named her a first team All-American. Ionescu is Oregon's first first team All-America selection since Bev Smith in 1982.
IONESCU EARNS PAC-12 TOURNAMENT MVP
After leading the Ducks to their first ever Pac-12 Tournament title, sophomore Sabrina Ionescu was named tournament MVP. The guard scored a Pac-12 championship game record and career-high 36 points as the No. 1 seed Ducks defeated No. 2 seed Stanford, 77-57, on March 4 at KeyArena in Seattle. The Ducks had never been to the Pac-12 tournament title game before and came away with a win in their first appearance, thanks to Ionescu's dominating performance. Ionescu tallied her 36 points on 14-of-24 shooting, including four three-pointers. Ionescu also had four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Ionescu led the Ducks, averaging 21.0 points over three games at the Pac-12 Tournament on 51.0 percent shooting. She also averaged five rebounds and 7.3 assists.
IONESCU NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
After leading the conference in both scoring and assists during the regular season, Sabrina Ionescu was named the Pac-12 player of the year. Ionescu is the third player in program history to be named Pac-12 player of the year, joining Shaquala Williams, who won in 1999-2000, and Lauri Landerholm, who won in 1986-87, the first year the Pac-12 handed out the award. After winning Pac-12 freshman of the year honors last season, Ionescu joins Washington's Kelsey Plum, Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike, and Stanford's Jayne Appel as players in the last 10 years to win both the league's freshman and player of the year honors. Williams also won both for the Ducks, taking freshman of the year honors in 1998-99 before being named player of the year the following season. Ionescu is the league's first sophomore to win player of the year since Stanford's Candice Wiggins did it in 2004-05.
SABALLY NAMED PAC-12 FROSH OF THE YEAR
After being the top scoring rookie in the Pac-12 this season, forward Satou Sabally was named the Pac-12 freshman of the year. Sabally is the second-straight conference freshman of the year for the Ducks, after Sabrina Ionescu won last season. Sabally is the third all-time at Oregon to win it, as Shaquala Williams also won in 1998-99. Sabally, a native of Berlin, Germany, is the third international player to be named Pac-12 freshman of the year, joining Washington State's Alke Dietel (Germany) and Oregon State's Tanja Kostic (Sweden). Sabally averaged 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while appearing in all 31 of the Ducks' regular season games with 22 starts. Sabally made her first career start on Dec. 2 against Weber State. Three games later, against Ole Miss on Dec. 17, Sabally was back in the starting lineup for good, starting Oregon's last 21 regular season games.
BANDO BREAKS UO THREE-POINT RECORD
With a three-pointer in the fourth quarter of a thrilling Pac-12 Tournament semifinal win over UCLA on March 3, Lexi Bando became the Ducks' all-time leader in made three-pointers. Bando hit her 271st career three-pointer, breaking Taylor Lilley's record of 270, set between 2007-2010. Bando now has 275 career made threes after the Ducks beat Seattle U on Friday to open the NCAA Tournament.
BANDO ON RECORD PACE
Senior guard Lexi Bando is close to setting multiple three-point percentage records. The guard is a career 46.1 percent three-point shooter (275-for-596), the best among active players in the NCAA.
- The NCAA career record is 47.6 percent (262-of-550), set by Notre Dame's Alicia Ratay from 2000-03.
- The Pac-12 career record is 45.2 percent (191-of-423), set by Stanford's Jennifer Azzi from 1988-90.
- The Oregon career record is 44.6 percent (66-of-148), set by Jennifer Bourn from 1987-91.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's BasketballKelly Graves | Selection Sunday
Monday, March 17
Deja Kelly, Peyton Scott & Phillipina Kyei | Selection Sunday
Monday, March 17
Peyton Scott & Ari Long: "A good, competitive basketball game."
Thursday, February 27
Kelly Graves: "We've played really well."
Thursday, February 27
