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Ready To Resume Dancing
03/28/19 | Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
The Oregon women practiced Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland, site of Friday's NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen matchup with South Dakota State (8:30 p.m., ESPN2).
Oregon's depth might be limited, but it was impactful during the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. And the Ducks hope they'll have even more help off the bench as the postseason continues.
The UO women have relied heavily on the starting five in 2018-19, but Oti Gildon and Taylor Chavez each average at least 16 minutes per game, and Lydia Giomi and Morgan Yaeger average about 10 each. Last weekend at Matthew Knight Arena against Portland State and Indiana, Gildon played 16 minutes in each UO victory, and Giomi provided nine points and six rebounds across the two games, well above her season averages.
Those performances came after Yaeger nailed a trio of three-pointers in Oregon's Pac-12 Tournament semifinal win over UCLA. All of those contributions have been particularly welcome in the absence of Chavez, who hasn't played since Feb. 24 due to a foot injury.
"Lydia, Oti, and Morgan have really given us a lift when we needed it," UO coach Kelly Graves said Thursday. "We've had a short bench all year, so we've had to rely on them. I think especially down the stretch, I think in the conference tournament, the last few games when we were trying to wrap up a regular-season championship in the Pac-12, just those important 12 to 15 minutes a game I think were really key."
Chavez has missed seven games with her foot injury. She has yet to return to practices, but the freshman guard has been getting up shots in practice. Graves said there's hope Chavez will be able to contribute this weekend, with the Ducks facing South Dakota State in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday in Moda Center (8:30 p.m., ESPN2).
"That's day-to-day," Graves said Thursday before the Ducks practiced on the court at Moda Center. "We haven't completely ruled it out this weekend, but we'll see. That's going to be a game-time decision tomorrow."
The Ducks are preparing to face South Dakota State for the second time this season, albeit in markedly different circumstances.
On Dec. 12, the UO women wrapped up a two-game road trip to the Midwest with an 87-79 win that required a furious second-half comeback in Brookings, S.D. On Friday, Oregon faces the Jackrabbits in its home state, with SDSU making its Sweet Sixteen debut while the Ducks try to reach their third straight Elite Eight.
"We're going to have a home atmosphere here, so this is basically going to be a home game with a lot of Duck fans cheering us on," UO sophomore Satou Sabally said. "Over there, I mean, (they had) a really tough crowd. It was a tough game. I mean, it's always good to play at home. We see it as an advantage."
South Dakota State looks to spread the floor offensively to create looks for its three-point shooters, including Madison Guebert, who is 102-of-237 this season behind the arc, and leading scorer Macy Miller, who is 51-of-113. Defensively the Jackrabbits played a physical, man-to-man style.
"They're so consistent that I think what we're going to see is what we've seen forever," Graves said. "I think that's one of the keys to them — from the day a Jackrabbit steps on campus, they're running the same things until they leave. That's why they're so good at what they do. They don't change their system and style of play each and every year. I think that's what makes them special, very similar to what we do."
Oregon is joined in the Portland Regional by Pac-12 foe Arizona State, two of the five conference teams that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
The conference advanced five teams to the second weekend for the second time in three years, and is 11-1 in the tournament, just off the NCAA record set by the SEC when it went 13-1 and sent six teams to the Sweet Sixteen in 1997. Since 2016, the Pac-12 has 52 victories and a .732 winning percentage in the tournament, the best marks in the country.
"I think that speaks volumes about the competition we face and how it prepares us for March," UO junior Sabrina Ionescu said. "They're coming in night in, night out trying to beat us. They give us their best shot. I think that only makes us better."
After completing her NCAA-record 18th triple-double in last week's win over Indiana, Ionescu, the national player of the year candidate, joked to media that she missed a shot on purpose in order to clinch the triple-double with her 10th rebound of the game.
One problem: Not everybody picked up on the fact Ionescu was joking. Which she clarified at a press conference prior to practice Thursday.
"It wasn't very important for me to get that triple-double, to be honest," she said. "I mean, I didn't really miss it on purpose. I had shot it and realized that I knew where the ball was going, so I followed it.
"But, yeah, I mean, it didn't really matter. We were winning that game, that's all that really mattered. I was just going to end up breaking my own record, so I could do that any time."
The UO women have relied heavily on the starting five in 2018-19, but Oti Gildon and Taylor Chavez each average at least 16 minutes per game, and Lydia Giomi and Morgan Yaeger average about 10 each. Last weekend at Matthew Knight Arena against Portland State and Indiana, Gildon played 16 minutes in each UO victory, and Giomi provided nine points and six rebounds across the two games, well above her season averages.
Those performances came after Yaeger nailed a trio of three-pointers in Oregon's Pac-12 Tournament semifinal win over UCLA. All of those contributions have been particularly welcome in the absence of Chavez, who hasn't played since Feb. 24 due to a foot injury.
"Lydia, Oti, and Morgan have really given us a lift when we needed it," UO coach Kelly Graves said Thursday. "We've had a short bench all year, so we've had to rely on them. I think especially down the stretch, I think in the conference tournament, the last few games when we were trying to wrap up a regular-season championship in the Pac-12, just those important 12 to 15 minutes a game I think were really key."
Chavez has missed seven games with her foot injury. She has yet to return to practices, but the freshman guard has been getting up shots in practice. Graves said there's hope Chavez will be able to contribute this weekend, with the Ducks facing South Dakota State in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday in Moda Center (8:30 p.m., ESPN2).
"That's day-to-day," Graves said Thursday before the Ducks practiced on the court at Moda Center. "We haven't completely ruled it out this weekend, but we'll see. That's going to be a game-time decision tomorrow."
The Ducks are preparing to face South Dakota State for the second time this season, albeit in markedly different circumstances.
On Dec. 12, the UO women wrapped up a two-game road trip to the Midwest with an 87-79 win that required a furious second-half comeback in Brookings, S.D. On Friday, Oregon faces the Jackrabbits in its home state, with SDSU making its Sweet Sixteen debut while the Ducks try to reach their third straight Elite Eight.
"We're going to have a home atmosphere here, so this is basically going to be a home game with a lot of Duck fans cheering us on," UO sophomore Satou Sabally said. "Over there, I mean, (they had) a really tough crowd. It was a tough game. I mean, it's always good to play at home. We see it as an advantage."
South Dakota State looks to spread the floor offensively to create looks for its three-point shooters, including Madison Guebert, who is 102-of-237 this season behind the arc, and leading scorer Macy Miller, who is 51-of-113. Defensively the Jackrabbits played a physical, man-to-man style.
"They're so consistent that I think what we're going to see is what we've seen forever," Graves said. "I think that's one of the keys to them — from the day a Jackrabbit steps on campus, they're running the same things until they leave. That's why they're so good at what they do. They don't change their system and style of play each and every year. I think that's what makes them special, very similar to what we do."
Oregon is joined in the Portland Regional by Pac-12 foe Arizona State, two of the five conference teams that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
The conference advanced five teams to the second weekend for the second time in three years, and is 11-1 in the tournament, just off the NCAA record set by the SEC when it went 13-1 and sent six teams to the Sweet Sixteen in 1997. Since 2016, the Pac-12 has 52 victories and a .732 winning percentage in the tournament, the best marks in the country.
"I think that speaks volumes about the competition we face and how it prepares us for March," UO junior Sabrina Ionescu said. "They're coming in night in, night out trying to beat us. They give us their best shot. I think that only makes us better."
After completing her NCAA-record 18th triple-double in last week's win over Indiana, Ionescu, the national player of the year candidate, joked to media that she missed a shot on purpose in order to clinch the triple-double with her 10th rebound of the game.
One problem: Not everybody picked up on the fact Ionescu was joking. Which she clarified at a press conference prior to practice Thursday.
"It wasn't very important for me to get that triple-double, to be honest," she said. "I mean, I didn't really miss it on purpose. I had shot it and realized that I knew where the ball was going, so I followed it.
"But, yeah, I mean, it didn't really matter. We were winning that game, that's all that really mattered. I was just going to end up breaking my own record, so I could do that any time."
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