Sunday, March 8
Las Vegas, NV
5:00 PM
University of Oregon
31-2,17-1Pac-12
89
vs
56
Stanford
27-6,14-4Pac-12
1
2
3
4
F
Stanford
17
9
13
17
56
Oregon
14
29
23
23
89
Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto
Champs, And It's Not Close
03/08/20 | Women's Basketball
Oregon dominated Sunday's Pac-12 Tournament championship game, beating Stanford 89-56.
LAS VEGAS — One could understand the logic: Stanford decided that if any UO starter was going to beat the Cardinal, it would be Minyon Moore.
Not Oregon's "Big Three," all candidates for national player of the year. And not Erin Boley, who went for 18 the night before. No, the Cardinal would sag off of Moore to defend the others in Sunday's Pac-12 Championship game.
Gambling is big in Vegas. Stanford took that gamble Sunday at Mandalay Bay Events Center. And the Cardinal lost.
Behind a season-high 21 points from Moore, not to mention 20 by the incomparable Sabrina Ionescu and 24 from Ruthy Hebard, the UO women's basketball team won the conference tournament title for the second time in three years Sunday, 89-56 over the Cardinal.
"I took it to heart," Moore said. "I shot the shots tonight. I'm happy they went in."
The Ducks (31-2) avenged their loss to Stanford in the 2019 final, became the first Pac-12 team other than Stanford to win multiple conference tournament titles, and recorded the first three-game win streak over the Cardinal by any conference team in over 30 years.
Oregon's 89 points tied the tournament record for a title game. The Ducks shot 56.4 percent (31-of-55), becoming the first team to make more than half its shots in a Pac-12 Championship game, and the 33-point margin of victory was the biggest ever in the title game.
"We validated a very hard-fought, two-month grind — Pac-12 regular-season champions, and now we're tournament champions," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "We don't have to share it with anybody."
Trailing 17-14 after the first quarter, and having yet to make a three-pointer, the Ducks put on a fireworks show in the second. Ionescu scored eight points on the first three possessions of the quarter for a 22-20 lead; Stanford tied it; and then Oregon reminded all involved why it's one of the leading contenders for the national championship.
The Ducks' first three-pointer of the game was by Moore, who had made just 14 in Oregon's first 32 games of the season. That sparked a 21-4 run by the Ducks to close out the first half, with Boley, Moore and Ionescu making three-pointers later in the outburst. Oregon held Stanford scoreless for a stretch of 4:15 to build a 31-22 lead, and kept pouring it on before halftime.
"We're really excited to beat Stanford; they're such a good team," Hebard said. "But we have a lot more we want to accomplish."
The third period provided no quarter for the Cardinal, who had never before lost to a conference rival three times in the same season — but lost three times to the Ducks in 2019-20, by an average margin of 24.3 points. Moore made yet another three for Oregon's first 20-point lead, 48-28, and she followed two Hebard buckets with her fourth three-pointer of the night to make it 55-31.
Taylor Chavez and Ionescu hit threes on back-to-back possessions later in the quarter. After going 0-of-3 from three-point range in the first period Sunday, the Ducks went 8-of-11 over the next two quarters, for which Stanford had no answer. Oregon took a 66-39 lead into the fourth, and eventually led by as much as 38.
"We played great," Graves said. "I just thought defensively we were on point. Offensively, it was one of the most efficient games I've seen us play. And everybody contributed."
Ionescu was named the tournament's most outstanding player for the second time in three years, and will finish her career as the Pac-12 Tournament record-holder for career points (250), field goals (90) and assists (86). Hebard was named to the all-tournament team.
The Ducks will take a 19-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament, in which they're all but certain to be a No. 1 seed and a host team for the opening two rounds. The tournament field will be announced on Selection Monday, March 16, on ESPN at 4 p.m. PT.
Stanford was held to 56 or fewer points for just the third time this season — two of those coming against the Ducks.
"I think they've worked really hard on their defense," Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They're athletic and they're big, and I think they learned from their experience at the Final Four (last season) that offense wasn't going to be enough. They're big, they're strong, they rebound. You get one shot and they're going the other way pretty fast."
VanDerveer said she hoped her team could use Sunday's loss as motivation to go on its own deep NCAA Tournament run.
"I don't know that any game in the tournament would be harder (than Sunday's game)," VanDerveer said. "And that's a credit to Oregon, and the great team they have this year."
Not Oregon's "Big Three," all candidates for national player of the year. And not Erin Boley, who went for 18 the night before. No, the Cardinal would sag off of Moore to defend the others in Sunday's Pac-12 Championship game.
Gambling is big in Vegas. Stanford took that gamble Sunday at Mandalay Bay Events Center. And the Cardinal lost.
Behind a season-high 21 points from Moore, not to mention 20 by the incomparable Sabrina Ionescu and 24 from Ruthy Hebard, the UO women's basketball team won the conference tournament title for the second time in three years Sunday, 89-56 over the Cardinal.
"I took it to heart," Moore said. "I shot the shots tonight. I'm happy they went in."
The Ducks (31-2) avenged their loss to Stanford in the 2019 final, became the first Pac-12 team other than Stanford to win multiple conference tournament titles, and recorded the first three-game win streak over the Cardinal by any conference team in over 30 years.
Oregon's 89 points tied the tournament record for a title game. The Ducks shot 56.4 percent (31-of-55), becoming the first team to make more than half its shots in a Pac-12 Championship game, and the 33-point margin of victory was the biggest ever in the title game.
"We validated a very hard-fought, two-month grind — Pac-12 regular-season champions, and now we're tournament champions," UO coach Kelly Graves said. "We don't have to share it with anybody."
Trailing 17-14 after the first quarter, and having yet to make a three-pointer, the Ducks put on a fireworks show in the second. Ionescu scored eight points on the first three possessions of the quarter for a 22-20 lead; Stanford tied it; and then Oregon reminded all involved why it's one of the leading contenders for the national championship.
The Ducks' first three-pointer of the game was by Moore, who had made just 14 in Oregon's first 32 games of the season. That sparked a 21-4 run by the Ducks to close out the first half, with Boley, Moore and Ionescu making three-pointers later in the outburst. Oregon held Stanford scoreless for a stretch of 4:15 to build a 31-22 lead, and kept pouring it on before halftime.
"We're really excited to beat Stanford; they're such a good team," Hebard said. "But we have a lot more we want to accomplish."
The third period provided no quarter for the Cardinal, who had never before lost to a conference rival three times in the same season — but lost three times to the Ducks in 2019-20, by an average margin of 24.3 points. Moore made yet another three for Oregon's first 20-point lead, 48-28, and she followed two Hebard buckets with her fourth three-pointer of the night to make it 55-31.
Taylor Chavez and Ionescu hit threes on back-to-back possessions later in the quarter. After going 0-of-3 from three-point range in the first period Sunday, the Ducks went 8-of-11 over the next two quarters, for which Stanford had no answer. Oregon took a 66-39 lead into the fourth, and eventually led by as much as 38.
"We played great," Graves said. "I just thought defensively we were on point. Offensively, it was one of the most efficient games I've seen us play. And everybody contributed."
Ionescu was named the tournament's most outstanding player for the second time in three years, and will finish her career as the Pac-12 Tournament record-holder for career points (250), field goals (90) and assists (86). Hebard was named to the all-tournament team.
The Ducks will take a 19-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament, in which they're all but certain to be a No. 1 seed and a host team for the opening two rounds. The tournament field will be announced on Selection Monday, March 16, on ESPN at 4 p.m. PT.
Stanford was held to 56 or fewer points for just the third time this season — two of those coming against the Ducks.
"I think they've worked really hard on their defense," Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They're athletic and they're big, and I think they learned from their experience at the Final Four (last season) that offense wasn't going to be enough. They're big, they're strong, they rebound. You get one shot and they're going the other way pretty fast."
VanDerveer said she hoped her team could use Sunday's loss as motivation to go on its own deep NCAA Tournament run.
"I don't know that any game in the tournament would be harder (than Sunday's game)," VanDerveer said. "And that's a credit to Oregon, and the great team they have this year."
Team Stats
Stan
Oregon
FG%
.345
.564
3FG%
.231
.526
FT%
.632
.810
RB
30
30
TO
15
6
STL
2
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
5
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ 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
