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Unfinished Business Can Be Addressed Sunday
03/30/19 | Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
The Oregon women will play in their third straight Elite Eight on Sunday, against Mississippi State in Portland (11 a.m., ESPN), and are looking to make their first Final Four appearance.
PORTLAND — Two programs looking to take the next step will meet Sunday in Moda Center, and only one can be successful.
For two years, Mississippi State has been pursuing "unfinished business;" the Bulldogs lost in the 2017 NCAA Tournament championship game, made it back in 2018 and lost again. They'll play for another trip to the Final Four on Saturday against an Oregon women's team similarly looking to take another step in its development.
In the Elite Eight for the third straight year, the UO women will try to make their first Final Four when they face Portland Region No. 1 seed Mississippi State on Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN).
"We want to break through that ceiling," UO head coach Kelly Graves said. "We don't want to just be an Elite Eight program. We want to be a Final Four program, and perhaps even a national championship program."
A plucky upstart before losing on the road to national powerhouse UConn in 2017, the Ducks had a halftime lead on eventual national champion Notre Dame last spring before losing in Spokane, Wash. Sunday's game is the third chance in three years to reach a Final Four — a remarkable notion when Graves was hired five years ago, but now a realistic goal for the Pac-12 champion Ducks.
After the loss to Notre Dame last year, UO junior Sabrina Ionescu said the Ducks would come back in 2018-19 "hunting the Final Four." The have a chance to bag that trophy Sunday, and earn a trip to play next week in Tampa, Fla.
"That's our ultimate goal, because that's what will ultimately set us apart," Ionescu said Saturday.
The Ducks (32-4) advanced to the regional final with a 63-53 win Friday over South Dakota State. Oregon's elite offense struggled, with post Ruthy Hebard experiencing — for her — an off night with 8-of-15 shooting in the post, and the team's three-point threats combining to go just 4-of-20. But the Ducks made up for it with defense, holding the Jackrabbits to 26.7 percent shooting.
"To know we were off our shooting game and can still win by double digits is a good sign," Graves said.
But, he added, "we can't have another night like that, or we're going to be in big trouble, there's no doubt."
If the off night rattled Oregon's confidence, the UO women didn't act like it Saturday, when they participated in a press conference before practicing at the Moda Center.
"We're moving on from that last game, forgetting about it and we're going to be confident going into the next one," said sophomore Erin Boley, a 43.8 percent three-point shooter for the season who was 0-of-5 on Friday.
Defensively, the Ducks face a dramatically different challenge Sunday than what was posed by the Jackrabbits. The goal against South Dakota State was to avoid letting SDSU's three-point shooters keep them in the game; Mississippi State is less inclined to fire up shots from behind the arc, relying on imposing 6-foot-7 center Tierra McCowan on the low blocks and athletic forward Anriel Howard in the midrange game.
McCowan averages 18.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. She has scored in double figures in all but two games this season — one of them being Oregon's 82-74 win over the Bulldogs in Eugene back on Dec. 18.
"She's a great player," said Hebard, who in a nod to superstition took out the braids she's worn in recent weeks in favor of the natural hair style she sported for the Dec. 18 game. "I'm going to have to try again to just get low, be strong and physical, and depend on my teammates a lot. Hopefully that works out tomorrow."
Those teammates of Hebard's are prepared to give her all the help she might need against arguably the nation's premier post. Especially with McCowan looking to take care of some individual unfinished business in the wake of her performance last time out against the Ducks.
"That's their key player, one of the best players in the country," Ionescu said. "We know tomorrow she's not going to let that happen again, especially with a Final Four on the line."
The Ducks have their own star looking to rebound from a subpar night the last time these two teams met. Sophomore Satou Sabally, who is averaging 18.0 points per game in this tournament, scored just four against the Bulldogs in December, one off her season low.
"I'm personally excited because I had a really bad game the last time we played them," Sabally said following Friday's game. "I'm really fired up; I wanted Mississippi State. I know that they're a really great matchup."
She added Saturday, "I just wasn't that dialed-in offensively. Couple mistakes. On the other hand, my team really stepped up and our bench really stepped up. Oti (Gildon) had a huge game. Everybody can have a bad day, and that was my bad day."
There's unfinished business that Sabally can address Sunday. McCowan, too, and also both the Bulldogs and Ducks collectively.
"We've done this now three times in a row; we want to take that next step," Graves said." I think we've worked hard enough to earn that right to do it. Now we just got to go do it. This is a great circumstance for us. We're in a great position to make that happen."
For two years, Mississippi State has been pursuing "unfinished business;" the Bulldogs lost in the 2017 NCAA Tournament championship game, made it back in 2018 and lost again. They'll play for another trip to the Final Four on Saturday against an Oregon women's team similarly looking to take another step in its development.
In the Elite Eight for the third straight year, the UO women will try to make their first Final Four when they face Portland Region No. 1 seed Mississippi State on Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN).
"We want to break through that ceiling," UO head coach Kelly Graves said. "We don't want to just be an Elite Eight program. We want to be a Final Four program, and perhaps even a national championship program."
A plucky upstart before losing on the road to national powerhouse UConn in 2017, the Ducks had a halftime lead on eventual national champion Notre Dame last spring before losing in Spokane, Wash. Sunday's game is the third chance in three years to reach a Final Four — a remarkable notion when Graves was hired five years ago, but now a realistic goal for the Pac-12 champion Ducks.
After the loss to Notre Dame last year, UO junior Sabrina Ionescu said the Ducks would come back in 2018-19 "hunting the Final Four." The have a chance to bag that trophy Sunday, and earn a trip to play next week in Tampa, Fla.
"That's our ultimate goal, because that's what will ultimately set us apart," Ionescu said Saturday.
The Ducks (32-4) advanced to the regional final with a 63-53 win Friday over South Dakota State. Oregon's elite offense struggled, with post Ruthy Hebard experiencing — for her — an off night with 8-of-15 shooting in the post, and the team's three-point threats combining to go just 4-of-20. But the Ducks made up for it with defense, holding the Jackrabbits to 26.7 percent shooting.
"To know we were off our shooting game and can still win by double digits is a good sign," Graves said.
But, he added, "we can't have another night like that, or we're going to be in big trouble, there's no doubt."
If the off night rattled Oregon's confidence, the UO women didn't act like it Saturday, when they participated in a press conference before practicing at the Moda Center.
"We're moving on from that last game, forgetting about it and we're going to be confident going into the next one," said sophomore Erin Boley, a 43.8 percent three-point shooter for the season who was 0-of-5 on Friday.
Defensively, the Ducks face a dramatically different challenge Sunday than what was posed by the Jackrabbits. The goal against South Dakota State was to avoid letting SDSU's three-point shooters keep them in the game; Mississippi State is less inclined to fire up shots from behind the arc, relying on imposing 6-foot-7 center Tierra McCowan on the low blocks and athletic forward Anriel Howard in the midrange game.
McCowan averages 18.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. She has scored in double figures in all but two games this season — one of them being Oregon's 82-74 win over the Bulldogs in Eugene back on Dec. 18.
"She's a great player," said Hebard, who in a nod to superstition took out the braids she's worn in recent weeks in favor of the natural hair style she sported for the Dec. 18 game. "I'm going to have to try again to just get low, be strong and physical, and depend on my teammates a lot. Hopefully that works out tomorrow."
Those teammates of Hebard's are prepared to give her all the help she might need against arguably the nation's premier post. Especially with McCowan looking to take care of some individual unfinished business in the wake of her performance last time out against the Ducks.
"That's their key player, one of the best players in the country," Ionescu said. "We know tomorrow she's not going to let that happen again, especially with a Final Four on the line."
The Ducks have their own star looking to rebound from a subpar night the last time these two teams met. Sophomore Satou Sabally, who is averaging 18.0 points per game in this tournament, scored just four against the Bulldogs in December, one off her season low.
"I'm personally excited because I had a really bad game the last time we played them," Sabally said following Friday's game. "I'm really fired up; I wanted Mississippi State. I know that they're a really great matchup."
She added Saturday, "I just wasn't that dialed-in offensively. Couple mistakes. On the other hand, my team really stepped up and our bench really stepped up. Oti (Gildon) had a huge game. Everybody can have a bad day, and that was my bad day."
There's unfinished business that Sabally can address Sunday. McCowan, too, and also both the Bulldogs and Ducks collectively.
"We've done this now three times in a row; we want to take that next step," Graves said." I think we've worked hard enough to earn that right to do it. Now we just got to go do it. This is a great circumstance for us. We're in a great position to make that happen."
Players Mentioned
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