After losing their final regular-season game, the Ducks dropped to No. 8 in the Big Ten standings. Now, the Oregon women's basketball team will face the No. 9 seed Indiana Hoosiers in the second round of the conference tournament.
Only 15 of the 18 conference members qualified for the Big Ten Tournament this year, with Purdue, Northwestern, and Penn State falling short of the mark.
The Hoosiers, who Oregon defeated by seven points during the regular season, and the Ducks received a first-round bye and will play in the first game of the second round on Thursday, March 6.
In their first matchup of the season, the Ducks secured the win by a slim margin despite shooting over 33 percent from beyond the arc. Oregon's usual lockdown defense was on display as the team held Indiana to just 47 points and the Ducks out-rebounded the Hoosiers by five boards.
Unfortunately for Oregon, if the Ducks pull off the victory over the Hoosiers, they would then have to face the No. 1-seed (and No. 4 nationally-ranked) USC Trojans, led by sophomore star JuJu Watkins.
The good news for the Ducks is that they will have had four days to rest and recover from their loss to the Washington Huskies at the end of the regular season. In the loss, Oregon was held to just 56 points, 22 of which came from senior guard Deja Kelly.
The first game of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament (between Minnesota and Washington) is scheduled to tip off at 12:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, March 5. The Ducks and the Hoosiers will take the court at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 6. The tournament will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.