Oregon Ducks Edge Out Mississippi State

Head Coach Kelly Graves spoke about the Defensive battle vs Mississippi State, but the Oregon Ducks Offense came through for an 82-74 win.

The Oregon Ducks welcomed Mississippi State to Matthew Knight Arena in a matchup featuring the two top scoring teams in the NCAA. Last week Oregon lost on the road at Michigan State, falling slightly in the rankings. The Bulldogs came in ranked 3rd, the Ducks 7th. It was a National Audience and the ESPN Women’s Basketball game of the week as Matthew Knight Arena hosted the biggest non-conference game in the Kelly Graves era featuring two top ten teams with aspirations that ran deep into March.

Mississippi State would win the opening tip and commit an early turnover. Maite Cazorla went straight to the basket for two points. By the end of the first quarter, Oregon led 19-17 as Cazorla led all scorers with 8 points. Ruthy Hebard had four and Oregon had 12 points inside the paint thanks in part to Cazorla getting several runs to the basket.

More from Autzen Zoo

• Oregon football: Ducks and Coach Prime playing it cordial leading up to Saturday
• Oregon Basketball: Non-conference slate features Michigan coming to Eugene
• Oregon football: Ducks find complete game effort in win vs Hawaii
• Oregon Ducks must get run game going against Hawaii
• 8 Pac-12 teams represented in Associated Press Top 25 after Week 2

The second quarter had a similar feel as both teams went back and forth. Sabrina Ionescu hit a three-pointer with just over two minutes left to give Oregon a six point lead, their largest of the game to that point. Mississippi State answered with a basket to cut the Oregon lead to four points. Mississippi State took a one-point lead into halftime 40-39. Maite Cazorla went to the locker room with two personal fouls, the second with under a second to go in the half that was very questionable and ticky tack at best.

The Oregon Ducks battled in the third quarter as it was again shot for shot. Taylor Chavez hit her first shot of the game, a three-pointer from the top of the key sending the Matthew Knight Arena crowd into a frenzy. The Ducks key players were starting to show up. Ruthy Hebard finished off a play forcing a Mississippi State foul late in the third quarter. She would miss the foul shot down two with 4:30 left in the quarter.

Oregon had a 6-0 run as Mississippi State had three straight turnovers as the third quarter came to an end. The Ducks had a 57-55 lead. The Ducks kept MSU off the scoreboard for over three minutes to close out the quarter. Taylor Chavez had several key plays in the third including playing solid defense, along with a steal and five points.

The fourth quarter saw Oregon start to pull away. For the game Sabrina Ionescu finished with 29 points. She was just 5 for 18 from the floor but was perfect from the charity stripe hitting 17 straight shots.

Oregon returns to Matthew Knight Arena to face Air Force on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 11 am Pacific Time.