Notes - No. 3 Ducks Battle Buffalo - University of Oregon Athletics

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 3 ranked Oregon women's basketball team plays host to Buffalo, a Sweet 16 team a season ago, at 2 PM on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.

#3 OREGON DUCKS (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12)
PPG: 92.6 | FG%: 53.1 | 3FG%: 39.5 | FT%: 81.7
Notes: The Ducks are coming off the winningest season in school history, with a program-best 33-5 record. Oregon won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles last year and advanced to the Elite Eight for the second straight season. The Ducks ranked seventh in the NCAA in scoring last year (82.4 ppg), fourth in field goal percentage (50.0), third in three-point percentage (40.1) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.52-to-1).

BUFFALO BULLS (2-0, 0-0 MAC)
PPG: 78.5 | FG%: 48.7 | 3FG%: 30.8 | FT%: 70.0
Series: First Meeting | Last Meeting: N/A
Notes: Buffalo reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history last season after tallying a program-best 29-6 record. Guard Cierra Dillard, who is averaging 24.0 points per game in two wins this season, tallied 29 points in a 79-63 Sweet 16 loss to South Carolina. Dillard is on the Naismith Trophy watch list for national player of the year. The Bulls are receiving votes in this week's AP top-25 poll.

KEY STORYLINES
- Junior Sabrina Ionescu has one triple-double and two double-doubles through UO's first three games this season.
- The Ducks have gotten to the free throw line 71 times this season while opponents have shot just 17 free throws.
- Oregon was picked to win the Pac-12 this season in the league's coaches poll for the first time in program history.
- Oregon's No.3 ranking this week is the best in program history. UO was No. 6 in last year's postseason poll.
- Junior Sabrina Ionescu is one of five AP preseason All-Americans (Durr, Samuelson, Ogunbowale, Kalani Brown)
- Oregon returns four starters off last year's Elite Eight team, with all four averaging 10+ points per game last season.
- UO features both the national point guard of the year (Ionescu) and the national power forward of the year (Hebard).

DUCKS IN THE POLLS
The Ducks are ranked No. 3 in the AP poll for the second straight week. It's the highest ranking in program history. Oregon finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 5 in the USA Today's Coaches Postseason Poll.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV - None
Stream - Free at GoDucks.com/live
Radio - Terry Jonz on the call at 590 AM (Eugene), 1640 AM (Portland) & TuneIn. Search for "Oregon IMG" in the TuneIn app or online at TuneIn.com.

A WIN WOULD...
- Give the Ducks two wins over NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago (Syracuse, Buffalo).
- Make UO 4-0 to start a season for the third time in five seasons under Kelly Graves.

ONE TO WATCH
Sabrina Ionescu has posted a triple-double (Alaska) or a double-double (Syracuse, Utah State) in every game so far this season. She's averaging 19.7 points, 10.3 rebs and 7.0 assists per game.

NCAA STAT RANKINGS
- Oregon ranks No. 5 in the NCAA so far this season with a 2.07-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Last year the Ducks were fourth in the country at 1.52-to-1.
- The Ducks are fifth in the NCAA in field goal percentage at 53.1 percent. The Ducks shot 50-percent from the floor last year, good for fourth in the NCAA.

ESPNW'S PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sabrina Ionescu was chosen as ESPNW's preseason national player of the year. The junior already has an NCAA record 11 triple-doubles in her career and is coming off a season in which she claimed the Nancy Lieberman Award (national PG of the year), unanimous first team All-America honors, the Pac-12 player of the year and the Pac-12 Tournament MVP.

ESPNW"S PRESEASON TOP-25 PLAYERS
In ESPNW's preseason list of the top-25 players in the NCAA this season, both Ruthy Hebard and Sabrina Ionescu were ranked. Ionescu was picked No. 1 as ESPNW's preseason player of the year. Hebard was picked No. 10.

PRESEASON WATCH LISTS
- Of the 50 players named to the Naismith Trophy Watch List, three were Ducks. Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally were all selected to the watch list for the Atlanta Tipoff Club's national player of the year honor. Only Notre Dame (5) and UConn (4) have more players on the list. The field will be cut to 30 for the midseason watch list.
- After winning the award a season ago as a sophomore, Sabrina Ionescu has been named to the Nancy Lieberman Award watch list for her junior season. The award is annually presented to the top point guard in the country.
- A year after being named the Pac-12 freshman of the year, sophomore Satou Sabally has been named to the watch list for the Cheryl Miller Award, given annually to the nation's top small forward.
- A year after winning the inaugural Katrina McClain Award for the nation's top power forward, Ruthy Hebard is on the watch list again this season.

ATTENDANCE GAINS
The Ducks had the biggest increase in average attendance in the NCAA last season. Oregon went from averaging 2,595 fans in 2016-17 to 4,255 in 2017-18. The Ducks had 7,000+ fans at MKA four times, including both NCAA Tournament games.

TV SCHEDULE HEAVY ON DUCKS
The reigning Pac-12 champion Ducks will play 19 games on television this season, with a league-high four on ESPN2 and 15 on Pac-12 Networks. The Ducks will play Michigan State (Dec. 9), Mississippi State (Dec. 18), Stanford (Feb. 10) and Oregon State (Feb. 18) on ESPN2. Only one conference game, Feb. 3 vs. Colorado, will not be on television this year.