Ducks Battle Cornhuskers Wednesday

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Oregon women's basketball team faces yet another Big Ten road test on Wednesday, as the Ducks visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a 5 p.m. PT tip.

The Ducks have won back-to-back games after their 76-70 win at Minnesota on Sunday. The win was the UO's sixth straight in games that are within five points with five minutes or less to play.

The Ducks and Cornhuskers will meet for just the second time ever and the first time in 40 seasons. Oregon claimed the only previous matchup, a 73-67 win in Albuquerque, N.M. back in 1985.

GAME #27
Oregon (18-8, 9-6) at Nebraska (17-9, 8-7)
Wednesday, Feb. 19 | 12 p.m. PT | Williams Arena (Minneapolis, Minn.)
TV/Stream: B1G+
Radio: Oregon Sports Network (KUJZ 95.3 FM)
Play-by-play: Chris Clayton
Listen Online | Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
Oregon earned its fourth Big Ten road win on Sunday when it defeated Minnesota 76-70 at Williams Arena. Deja Kelly led the Ducks with 20 points, her second straight 20-point outing, with Elisa Mevius adding a season-best 19 points.

Kelly handed out seven assists and five rebounds while committing just one turnover, scoring 15 of her points in the second half. Mevius went 7-for-8 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, while registering three steals.

Phillipina Kyei tallied her 1,000th career rebound in the first quarter to become the sixth player in program history to reach the milestone.

UO fell behind by nine points in the first half, but used an 18-5 run to close the half to take four-point lead into halftime. The Ducks committed just six turnovers while forcing the Gophers into 17, resulting in 23 UO points.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska (17-9, 8-7) comes into Wednesday's matchup coming off a 77-68 road loss at Illinois on Sunday. The loss was the fourth in the Cornhuskers' last five games and fifth over their last seven overall. Nebraska is 12-3 at Pinnacle Bank Arena this season, but all three losses have come over its last three home games.

Alexis Markowski paces the Huskers with her 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Freshman Britt Prince is second at 12.9 points a night while also adding 4.4 rebounds. Natalie Potts averaged 14.4 points over the season's first five games, but is out for the season with an injury.

As a team, Nebraska averages a conference-high 7.8 made 3-pointers a game, while ranking fourth in 3-point percentage at 35.5 percent. The Cornhuskers' 26.2 bench points per game rank third in the Big Ten, while ranking fifth in made free throws per game at 14.0.

With nine double-doubles, Markowski has the sixth-most in the conference while she is 10th in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (46.7).

INSIDE THE SERIES
Oregon and Nebraska will meet for just the second time and the first in 40 seasons on Wednesday. The Ducks claimed the only previous meeting in the series, a 73-67 neutral-site matchup in Albuquerque, N.M. on Jan. 3, 1985.

DUCK DEFENSE
Oregon has made life difficult for its opponents on the offensive end this season. The Duck defense forces 18.4 turnovers per game and has registered double-digit steals in 10 of its last 19 games, and in 12 of its last 23 games overall, Additionally, UO is allowing opponents to score just 61.3 points per game (sixth in the Big Ten) while shooting just 40.4 percent and 31.5 percent rom the 3-point line.

» The Ducks have held 16 of their last 17 opponents below its season average, and by an average of 14.1 points a game, while allowing just three teams to reach the 70-point plateau in that stretch.
» Oregon limited top-ranked UCLA to a season-low 62 points on Feb. 9, the Bruins' lowest point total since scoring 62 against Washington on Jan. 26 of last season.
» On Jan. 30, Oregon held 16th-ranked Michigan State to 59 points - more than 23 points below its season average of 82.8 points a game entering the contest. The 59 points were a season low for the Spartans, who had averaged 89.5 PPG while going 10-0 at home before Thursday.
» Oregon held Iowa to a season-low 49 points on Jan. 19, its lowest output since the 2012-13 season, and gave up just 17 second-half points.
» UO then limited Indiana to 47 points the following game below, marking the second time this season that it held consecutive opponents under 50 points (Air Force, UC Irvine) and first time in conference play since the 1993-94 season.
» With 10 or more steals in 11 of their last 214 games, the Ducks have 13 games this season with double-digit steals after turning in only two such games last season and seven times in 2022-23.
» The 13 games with 10-plus steals are tied for the third-most such games among Big Ten team, and tied for 27th nationally. It is the most such games by Oregon since producing 10-plus steals 14 times in 2019-20.
» On the season, Oregon is averaging 9.5 steals a game (fourth in the Big Ten), which would mark the most on a per-game basis since averaging 10.2 in 2013-14. UO ranks fifth in steals per game in league play at 9.1.
» The Ducks have forced opponents into 20 or more turnovers nine times this season, including in six of their last 17 games after forcing 23 against Purdue on Jan. 15. The nine such games are already the most since doing so 11 times in 2013-14.
» UO had just one game forcing 20 or more turnovers last season and did so five times in 2022-23.

CLUTCH DUCKS
The Ducks have become accustomed to close games of late. Oregon's 68-67 comeback win over Washington on Feb. 12 marked UO's fifth victory by two points or less this season, with the Ducks going unbeaten in those games. UO trailed by five at halftime and by as many as eight points in the game. Oregon has trailed at the half in three of its last four wins, trailing by 10 points at half against Iowa on Jan. 19 and by three against Indiana on Jan. 24. The Ducks trailed by multiple possessions in each of their last four wins: 15 points against the Hawkeyes, 10 against the Hoosiers, eight points against the Huskies and nine at Minnesota.

» The five games decided by two points or less are tied for the most in the nation, while the Ducks are the only team to be unbeaten in five two-point outings this season.
» The five such victories are Oregon's most since at least 2009-10.
» Additionally, the Ducks are 6-0 in games decided by four points or less, with three of those wins coming in January.
» Oregon has won its last seven games decided by two points or less dating back to the 2022-23 season, and eight of the last nine such games going back to 2021-22.
» Despite only scoring 50 points against the Hawkeyes, UO picked up its first victory when scoring 50 points or less since defeating Utah 50-44 on Nov. 25, 2006 - snapping a streak of 49 straight losses when scoring 50 or less.
» UO has played 10 "clutch games" (games within five points with 5:00 or less to play) and won eight of those, including six straight.
» In those 10 clutch games, guard Deja Kelly leads the Ducks with 13.9 points - up from her season average of 10.7.
» Four of Kelly's five 20-point outings have come in those games, including her team-high 21 points against Washington on and 20-point outing at Minnesota.
» Phillipina Kyei averages 7.7 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent from the floor in clutch games while producing four double-figure scoring performances.