Oregon women to close out abysmal season: How to watch Ducks basketball vs. Cal

The Oregon Ducks’ record is sitting well below .500 and they are dead last in the Pac-12 standings. At 11-18 overall, Oregon has just two conference wins, losing in its 14 other conference matchups.

Projected to miss both the NCAA Tournament and NIT as of now, the Ducks are having one of their worst seasons in recent memory.

Luckily for the Ducks, they have a winning record at home and their final two games of the season will be held at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

Head coach Kelly Graves and sophomore Kennedy Basham sat down with the media ahead of the game to talk about their season and the upcoming games.

"I'm gonna go out and be more aggressive," Basham said. "I've always had more of my confidence on defense... but now I've gotta be more aggressive and score more for my team."

The Pac-12 strikes back

This is Graves’ tenth season with Oregon and this year is running the risk of being the worst one yet. In his first year with the Ducks, they went 13-17 overall and 6-12 in conference play.

"I give my team credit, they're really trying to stay up," Graves said. "It's difficult. We're all shellshocked to some degree... it's not easy for any of us."

Since then, Oregon has been a dominant force in the Pac-12. With stars like the Sabally sisters, Sabrina Ionescu, and more coming through Eugene, Graves’ team has made deep runs in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments.

Under Graves, Oregon has been to the Final Four once and the Elite Eight twice. While not winning a national title, the team had become a powerhouse.

However, the rest of the Pac-12 has caught up, and clearly surpassed, the prowess of the Ducks. The Stanford Cardinal, USC Trojans, Oregon State Beavers, Colorado Buffaloes, and other teams are just as good if not better than Oregon.

"It'd be nice to have a win in February," Graves said. "We certainly don't want a winless month."

Oregon Ducks: The Last Hope

The good news for Oregon is that the team is extremely young. Most of the star players are freshmen or sophomores and have a lot of room to grow.

Forward Grace VanSlooten, a sophomore, is the team’s scoring leader and has the highest steals-per-game average.

Guard Chance Gray, a freshman, leads the team in assists and is averaging nearly 14 points per game. Fellow guard and freshman Sofia Bell is putting up 7 points, 3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.

Phillipina Kyei, a junior and the most veteran starter, is averaging 12.3 rebounds along with 13.1 points.

Basham leads the Ducks in blocks, she averages 4.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.

Without any seniors in the starting five, Graves has a chance to lead his team through a ton of improvement. However, as a young squad, heading to the dominant Big Ten conference will not make winning any easier in the years to come.

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