Oregon Ducks Look For First Pac-12 Tournament Win Under Kelly Graves
The Oregon Ducks Women’s Basketball team are looking for their first Pac-12 Tournament win under Kelly Graves vs Arizona on Thursday night.
The Conference Tournament is usually a Springboard for teams as they enter the post season, but not for the Oregon Ducks. For the last three years the first round has resulted in a loss and the chance to add to the seasons’ body of work has one by the wayside. Last season was the most painful though.
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Down the stretch, Jillian Alleyne led Oregon toward post season play, but a leg injury not only ended her season in the final week, but also ended a stellar Oregon Career. Fast forward a season and Oregon is primed for a post season run despite losing their final three games of the regular season.
Freshman Sabrina Ionescu was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Ruthy Hebard has perfected the inside shot. Lexi Bando is hitting over 50 percent from beyond the arc and the outspoken Junior said postgame after the loss to Stanford on Senior Day last Sunday that the team is ‘pissed off’ at their recent Pac-12 Tournament Performances. They have not won a Conference Tournament game in her three seasons at Oregon. That should change Thursday night.
Oregon faces 11 Seed Arizona, who lost to the Ducks in their lone meeting of the Regular Season. For the Wildcats, LaBrittney Jones is the player to watch. She scored her 1000th career point last week against Colorado and is averaging 15 points per game hitting 44 percent from the floor. The area of concern for Oregon is Defense.
Last week against California turnovers played a role, but Oregon gave up easy baskets and points inside in what should have been a win over the Golden Bears.
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The 6th Seed Oregon Ducks and 11th Seed Arizona Wildcats tipoff at 8:30pm Pacific Time to open the Pac-12 Tournament. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.