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Oregon Ducks Women’s Basketball: Ducks Look To Make It Six Straight vs UCLA

By Justin Phillips

Matthew Knight Arena as Oregon hosts Arizona State in Eugene, OregonJustin Phillips/KPNWSports
Matthew Knight Arena as Oregon hosts Arizona State in Eugene, OregonJustin Phillips/KPNWSports /
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The Oregon Women’s Basketball team is on quite a run as the regular season is coming to a close winning nine of their last ten games. The will look to make it six straight as they host 12th ranked UCLA on Friday night.

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Kelly Graves is in just his second season with the Oregon Ducks and for what this team has been through this season they deserve a bid in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. They have learned to win games, learned to play a different style of play on both sides of the ball, learned to deal with the death of a family member while all long playing and practicing as one big family and playing together. The atmosphere for fans is completely different than it was two seasons ago.

Jillian Alleyne is in her Senior year and owns the double double and rebounding records for the University of Oregon and the Pac-12. Maite Cazorla has shown all season that he can play effectively and find her team mates when needed, or take the shot herself. Now, having won five straight, Oregon can make a big move back into the Top 25 if they can take care of business on Friday night against 11th ranked UCLA. Both teams enter the matchup at 19-6. The Oregon Ducks are 8-6 in Pac-12 Conference play, the Bruins come in at 11-3 in League play.

In the RPI right now, the Pac-12 has several teams in the Top 10 including Oregon State and UCLA. The Bruins are ranked 10th. The Oregon Ducks final home opponent of the regular season, USC, is 39th. Graves has his team on the outside looking in right now, but wins this weekend could go a long way toward NCAA dreams for this team. Oregon comes in a a upward moving 56 this week. There are two players worth watching on Friday.

The matchup will highlight two of the best Point Guards in the Pac-12 right now. The Oregon Ducks Maite Cazorla has come in and become a key player in her Freshman season and has been named Freshman of the Week the last two weeks and five times total this season. She has 146 assists this season. For UCLA, Jordin Canada has 153 assists and has the Bruins scoring less than a point more per game this season. Jillian Alleyne will have to get some points in the paint early and if Oregon can maintain a lead against the Bruins and take it a quarter at a time and land their free throws a win will likely be in the cards. Oregon is also the best three point shooting team in the country.

Next: Bracketology: CBS High On Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins tipoff from Matthew Knight Arena at 6pm Pacific Time on Pac-12 Networks.