Coming into a season that is the beginning of a brand new era of women’s basketball, Oregon knew its No. 1 class in the country would have to play an important role sometime this season.
The only question is how quickly those five players would be able to get used to the speed and competition of Division-I play and more specifically, the Pac-12.
We might have an answer after just four games.
Te-Hina Paopao showed every weapon of her arsenal as she led the Ducks with 17 points and four assists in their 85-42 win over Utah Sunday afternoon inside Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks are now 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in conference action. But things will change quuickly next weekend as the level of play will jump up significantly with a trip to Corvallis to play the Beavers.
Erin Boley also scored 17 points, 13 of those points coming in the first quarter where Oregon led 20-4 against the Utes.
This game was a tough ask for Utah, who was making its season debut. They’ve been stuck in quarantine with a Covid outbreak.
After a tough first half that saw the Utes down 45-20, they did play better in the second half, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
With the game in hand after the first 10 minutes, Oregon was looking for some growth from some of the new players and Graves saw a lot of it.
“They weren’t looking at the score and they were playing hard,” he said of his talented freshman class. “Those are important minutes for them. You got to earn your time. It’s not just given to them and I lvoed the energy for which they played.
Sydney Parrish scored a career-high 12 points and Angela Dugalic scored nine points and grabbed nine boards in just 15 minutes of play. She also had the play of the day as she led the break, at 6-4, and managed a sweet pass to Parrish on the run for an easy lay-in.
Dugalic also made her first three of her career, a buzzer-beater just before halftime.
After dominating Colorado for 20 and 10, Nyara Sabally scored seven points and eight boards, most of that production coming in the first half. Her fellow post player, Sedona Prince, was held out of this game with a slightly sprained ankle. With bigger games coming up, there was no sense to risk further injury.
Sophomore Jaz Shelley added 12 points, including her first two three-pointers on the season. She was 0-for-9 in the previous three games. Shelley, like Boley, is expected to do more offensively than just sit out on the wing and knock down treys. Shelley showed the ability to drive the lane with authority, take contact and still score.
Oregon was 35-of-63 from the field for 56 percent and they hit 7-of-22 from long range. One stat that won’t make Graves too happy is that the Ducks made just half of their free throws (8-of-16). They also turned the ball over 16 times.
Luckily, Utah was way off their game. The Utes made just 29 percent of their shots and only 4-of-26 from long range. They also committed 19 miscues.
Next will be the Ducks’ biggest challenge so far this season as the Beavers are next and Graves says there’s a lot of improvement that needs to happen between now and next Sunday.
“Our defensive rebounding has got to get better,” he said. “We’re giving up too many second shots. And number two is turnovers. I think our turnover numbers are a little too high. We need to try to make plays that come more naturally.”
Oregon and OSU are scheduled to tip off at 4 pm Dec. 13 on the Pac-12 Network.
POST GAME: KELLY GRAVES DISCUSSES WIN OVER UTAH