Preview:
Oregon is now the No. 3 team, having just the one inexplicable loss to Michigan State earlier in the year. They have defeated Mississippi State and are undefeated in Pac 12 play. They scored 102 against Colorado and 105 against Cal. Every one of their five starters is well known and dangerous. They are not a deep team, but their 5 starters have been uninjured this year, all five starting all 23 games and all averaging 25-35 minutes. 6'4" Ruthy Hebard is their junior big who is making 71% of her shots, dominating inside and averaging 17 ppg. After sitting out a year Notre Dame transfer Erin Boley, a 6'2" forward, is averaging 13 ppg. Satou Sabally is a 6'4" forward who is hitting 45% of her treys--out Smithing Smith. And of course the gifted Sabrina Ionescu who averaged 19 points and does virtually everything. Point guard Maite Cazorla has dished 115 assists to 33 turnovers, and also is hitting 43% of her treys. They do get significant minutes from their 4 bench players. but those five are all they really need--every one of them is a gem.
Hate to be the bearer of doom and gloom, but there are two other factors working against us. Tara's scouting report defenses have traditionally been strongest when we can focus on taking away one or two opposing players. We did that against Oregon a couple of years ago by taking away Hebard. But (until Friday) Tara has had less success against teams that are well balanced. The other factor is that we play Oregon second. I've noticed that most of our signature upsets are the first game of a weekend--since the coaches have a much longer time to prepare the team for the scouting report. Not the case tomorrow.
What will we have to do to win? Several things. We have to play defense like we did on Friday, and at least slightly disrupt Oregon's scoring machine. And someone needs to get hot, the way McPhee did in the first game last year. Lacie getting a few surprise steals would certainly help! All those things are at least possible.....
Overview:
I expected Oregon's offense to do well though I hoped for our defense to match Friday's intensity. But I did not expect Oregon's defense to be as effective as it was. Once we let Oregon get off to a sizable early lead, all the wheels fell off, the intensity evaporated, our focus waned, and we shot 32% compared with Oregon's 57%. Oregon shot 75% of its threes--many were uncontested, including 4/4 from Boley.
Character of the game:
It could have been worse. No one was hurt, that I know of. I worry about a game like this shaking our confidence and having lingering effects. Beyond that, all I can say is that once the snowball started downhill, it was not going to stop until it got to the bottom.
Performances:
Carrington deserves a shout-out. She had an off game on Friday, and she was the only player on our team who seemed to me to both be effective as well as playing with heart even when the game was way out of reach. She finished with 13 points, and no one else was in double digits.
The game was embarrassing enough that I won't go down the stat lines of the other players. As a team, the stats tell the story well.
Oregon made 36 field goals, we made 17.
Oregon was 12/16 from three point range. We were 5/22. Ugh.
Oregon had 41 rebounds. We had 26.
Oregon had 19 assists. We had 10.
Oregon had 4 players in double digits. We had 1.
Conclusion:
Oregon is good, and probably should have beaten us. However, we had a psychological melt down that turned a loss into the worse rout I can remember attending since UConn beat us 61-35 in December 2012. Actually, this was a larger deficit, so I wonder if it sets some sort of record for worst loss in Maples.
My main concern is that this team regains some self-confidence and wins some more games, and doesn't allow this loss to overshadow the fine performance they put in against Oregon State. As for the long run, my money is on Oregon for a national championship.
Oregon is now the No. 3 team, having just the one inexplicable loss to Michigan State earlier in the year. They have defeated Mississippi State and are undefeated in Pac 12 play. They scored 102 against Colorado and 105 against Cal. Every one of their five starters is well known and dangerous. They are not a deep team, but their 5 starters have been uninjured this year, all five starting all 23 games and all averaging 25-35 minutes. 6'4" Ruthy Hebard is their junior big who is making 71% of her shots, dominating inside and averaging 17 ppg. After sitting out a year Notre Dame transfer Erin Boley, a 6'2" forward, is averaging 13 ppg. Satou Sabally is a 6'4" forward who is hitting 45% of her treys--out Smithing Smith. And of course the gifted Sabrina Ionescu who averaged 19 points and does virtually everything. Point guard Maite Cazorla has dished 115 assists to 33 turnovers, and also is hitting 43% of her treys. They do get significant minutes from their 4 bench players. but those five are all they really need--every one of them is a gem.
Hate to be the bearer of doom and gloom, but there are two other factors working against us. Tara's scouting report defenses have traditionally been strongest when we can focus on taking away one or two opposing players. We did that against Oregon a couple of years ago by taking away Hebard. But (until Friday) Tara has had less success against teams that are well balanced. The other factor is that we play Oregon second. I've noticed that most of our signature upsets are the first game of a weekend--since the coaches have a much longer time to prepare the team for the scouting report. Not the case tomorrow.
What will we have to do to win? Several things. We have to play defense like we did on Friday, and at least slightly disrupt Oregon's scoring machine. And someone needs to get hot, the way McPhee did in the first game last year. Lacie getting a few surprise steals would certainly help! All those things are at least possible.....
Overview:
I expected Oregon's offense to do well though I hoped for our defense to match Friday's intensity. But I did not expect Oregon's defense to be as effective as it was. Once we let Oregon get off to a sizable early lead, all the wheels fell off, the intensity evaporated, our focus waned, and we shot 32% compared with Oregon's 57%. Oregon shot 75% of its threes--many were uncontested, including 4/4 from Boley.
Character of the game:
It could have been worse. No one was hurt, that I know of. I worry about a game like this shaking our confidence and having lingering effects. Beyond that, all I can say is that once the snowball started downhill, it was not going to stop until it got to the bottom.
Performances:
Carrington deserves a shout-out. She had an off game on Friday, and she was the only player on our team who seemed to me to both be effective as well as playing with heart even when the game was way out of reach. She finished with 13 points, and no one else was in double digits.
The game was embarrassing enough that I won't go down the stat lines of the other players. As a team, the stats tell the story well.
Oregon made 36 field goals, we made 17.
Oregon was 12/16 from three point range. We were 5/22. Ugh.
Oregon had 41 rebounds. We had 26.
Oregon had 19 assists. We had 10.
Oregon had 4 players in double digits. We had 1.
Conclusion:
Oregon is good, and probably should have beaten us. However, we had a psychological melt down that turned a loss into the worse rout I can remember attending since UConn beat us 61-35 in December 2012. Actually, this was a larger deficit, so I wonder if it sets some sort of record for worst loss in Maples.
My main concern is that this team regains some self-confidence and wins some more games, and doesn't allow this loss to overshadow the fine performance they put in against Oregon State. As for the long run, my money is on Oregon for a national championship.
