Team USA Represents Ultimate Test For Top-Ranked Oregon Women

The best team in college basketball is about to take its best shot against the best team in the entire world.

Before embarking on a quest for the NCAA championship, the top-ranked Oregon women's basketball team will host the six-time Olympic gold medalists of the United States women's national team. Team USA is wrapping up a four-game schedule of exhibitions against college teams in Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday (4 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

Oregon senior Sabrina Ionescu may be the biggest name in college basketball, but her star power doesn't yet measure up to Team USA luminaries like Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

"For sure, I'm 100 percent going to be starstruck," Ionescu said. "I'm just going to be excited I can share the same floor with them."

The UO women kick off their regular season at home Monday, when they host Northeastern at 3 p.m. Then, the Ducks will formally begin their quest to measure up to preseason expectations, which have them ranked No. 1 in the polls and perhaps even favorites to win the national title.

Saturday's exhibition with Team USA, junior Satou Sabally said, "is the first game – maybe the only game this season – we don't really have a lot of pressure. Mainly it's about having fun, coming out strong. I'm super excited to play."

Team USA has played the other preseason Pac-12 Conference favorites on its exhibition tour. The tour begin with a 95-80 win over Stanford, continued Monday with an 81-58 victory at Oregon State and most recently saw Team USA beat Texas A&M on Thursday, 93-63.

The Oregon women aren't expecting a final score Saturday out of line with those results.

"If we feel like we should win the game or something, we're delusional," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "These guys are really good. …

"We just want to use it to get better, challenge ourselves. We haven't talked about winning or losing, but we're going to go out and compete."

With transfer Sedona Price still waiting on word of her possible eligibility this season, and junior Lydia Giomi nursing a broken nose, the Ducks know senior post Ruthy Hebard is in for a challenging afternoon. Team USA features the likes of Sylvia Fowles and A'ja Wilson in the post, and Pac-12 fans remember well how ferociously Nnemkadi Ogwumike used to pound the boards for Stanford.

There are Pac-12 alums in the backcourt too, Layshia Clarendon from Cal and Kelsey Plum from Washington. They and the rest of Team USA's wings will be waiting to pounce on Oregon's mistakes and overwhelm the Ducks in transition.

"We need to measure it on how we come out and play, how we represent ourselves," Sabally said. "Team USA is obviously the best team in the world, and we just need to focus on ourselves."

Players like Ionescu, Hebard and Sabally soon will be contemporaries of the women on Team USA, competing on the international level and also professionally. Ionescu is relishing the chance to get an early look at her future colleagues.

"There's going to be so much for us to learn on the offensive end and the defensive end, and just how they carry themselves as the top athletes in the world," Ionescu said.

The fact some of the Ducks figure to be future teammates and adversaries, Graves said, could be a motivating factor for Team USA as well. Saturday is a chance for the women of the U.S. national team to give some future contemporaries an eye-opening look at what the future holds.

"We're gonna get their absolute best," Graves said. "… I'm anticipating a heck of a battle."