Friday at 2:30 p.m. PDT the Ducks' women's basketball team faces Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham N.C. The Commodores, 22-10 this season and 8-8 in the SEC are a 5.5-point favorite.
The challenge for Kelly Graves and Oregon will be to match Vandy's blistering pace. They're a high-scoring team that outraced Missouri 100-59 and Texas A&M 91-58 in recent games. They're led by 5-8 guard Mikayla Blakes, who averages 23.2 points a game, and 6-2 forward Khamil Pierre, 20.5 PPG. The Commies feature six different players who connect on 34 percent or better from three-point range and three of their starters convert 83 percent or better from the line.
They're well-coached by Shea Ralph, a former national champion as a coach and player at UConn. During her time as a Huskies' assistant the team won 111 straight games from 2014 to 2017, four consecutive national titles from 2013 to 2016.
She's brought that tenacity to Nashville, where the Commies started the season with seven straight wins and won 14 of their first 15, slumping a bit in the second half of the campaign.
Oregon head coach Kelly Graves are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2022. Last season they endured a 14-game losing streak to end the season. Graves said, “We’re having a new rebirth of our program, and we’re doing it in the same city with the same seed.”
On the court that rebirth is led by senior guard Deja Kelly, 5-8 from Duncanville, Texas. Kelly paced the Ducks on the scoreboard this year with 11.6 points per game, including games of 22, 22, 19 and 20 in the closing weeks of the regular season against Washington, Rutgers, Nebraska and Minnesota. Kelly transferred from North Carolina where she was a four-year starter for the Tarheels, averaging 14 points a game over her UNC career, leading the ACC in free throw percentage as a sophomore as she converted 86% from the charity stripe.
Guard Peyton Scott fills the role as Oregon's second-leading scorer, 10.1 points per contest. She's 5-8 from Lynchburg, Ohio. The Ducks leading rebounder is center Phillipina Kyei, 6-8 from Calgary, Alberta, who pulls down 6.9 rebounds a game.
Critical in matching up with the Commies will be matching up or countering their three-point shooting. Vandy connects on 32% beyond the arc, while Oregon this year hits threes at 29%. That, and the free throw accuracy are big edges for the seventh seeds, who don't have far to travel from Nashville to Durham.
The game will be televised on ESPN News.