EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon Ducks (10-7) got their first conference win of the season on Friday night as they defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-8) 65-53.
“There are wins in our future, I know that.” said head coach Kelly Graves during Wednesday’s media availability. “We’ve just gotta play better. We have to make the most of our opportunities. Friday night presents us a great opportunity.”
When Friday night came, the Ducks seized that opportunity. It was a slow start for Oregon, with turnovers on both of their first two possessions, but they eventually settled into a rhythm offensively thanks to Grace VanSlooten.
VanSlooten led all scorers in the first half with 14 points, using her size and speed to get to the hoop for layups and fouls, hitting all four of her first-half free throws. She added value to her offensive rebounding, crashing the glass for three boards to contribute to Oregon’s nine second-chance points in the half.
After Arizona State led the Ducks 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, Oregon ripped off a 10-0 run from 8:58-6:34 to give them a lead they wouldn’t look back from. That run was led by VanSlooten, who
scored eight straight points while swatting a Sun Devil shot on the other end of the floor.
“I think that the game just came to me, and my teammates were finding me, and we were moving well,” VanSlooten said of her first-half performance. “It lucked out that I was hitting those shots tonight.
"Grace carried us in that first half,” Graves said of VanSlooten’s 14 first-half points.
While the Ducks only held a four-point lead heading into halftime, they could seize Arizona State’s momentum with their defense in the third quarter. Oregon limited the Sun Devils to only six third-quarter points on 2-of-14 shooting while forcing four turnovers. Arizona State was held scoreless for the first 4:17 of the second half, missing six straight shots as the Ducks worked their lead up to eight.
“I think our size really hurt them in that second half,” said Graves. “We weren’t letting them get shots around the rim.”
The Ducks’ size, led by 6-foot-8 center Phillipina Kyei and 6-foot-7 forward Kennedy Basham caused some problems for Arizona State’s inside attack. The duo combined for five blocks, while VanSlooten added one, and Sofia Bell added two of her own.
She’s our best defender,” Graves said of Bell. “She can defend a lot of different spots, a lot of different types of players, and just gets hands on a lot of balls. She’s just a disrupter in there.”
Three different Ducks set or tied career highs, with Kyei grabbing a career-best nine offensive boards, VanSlooten tying her career high with five offensive rebounds, and Chance Gray tying her career-best with 22 points.
As VanSlooten slowed in the second half, only adding five points, Gray took over the offensive load, dropping 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She consistently got to her spots in the mid-range and drove to the hoop with some of the most aggression she’s shown in her career.
“Kelly was just telling me, ‘We need you to be aggressive right now,’ so that’s just what I did, said Gray of her second-half scoring. “Carried a little momentum into the halftime, and then came out in the second half looking for my shots a little bit more.”
Gray capped off her career-scoring night with two threes late in the fourth quarter, including one from well beyond the arc to beat the shot clock, putting the crowd into a frenzy and effectively sealing Oregon’s win.
“I was kind of shocked it went in,” Gray said of her long three. “But it’s my game, so I just shot it with confidence and it went in. It felt really good just to get the crowd on their feet a little bit."
Oregon dominated all night on the offensive glass, gaining a 19-5 advantage in offensive rebounding that they were able to turn into an 11-point advantage on second-chance opportunities.
This effort was led by Kyei, whose nine offensive boards helped give her some offensive momentum in the second half. After only scoring five points while shooting 2-for-6 from the field and 1-for-5 from the line, she was able to turn things around in the second. She went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the second half to bring her total up to 14 points, securing her 10th double-double of the season.
“She just needs to see a couple go in,” Graves said of Kyei. “She was a real force tonight. Defensively, she was as active tonight as I’ve seen her. At times, she’s not always as active as she needs to be on the defensive end inside. I thought she did a great job protecting the rim.”
The Ducks now take the all-time series lead 38-37 in what could be the last meeting between these two teams, with Oregon heading to the Big Ten and Arizona State to the Big 12 next season.
“It’s kind of sad,” Graves said of this potentially being the last meeting between the two schools. “ASU’s my wife’s alma mater and my son got his master’s degree there, it’s kind of our family’s second school and I’m gonna miss playing them… There’s a chance we pick them up non-league, but there’s a chance that we don’t, so it is sad.”
Oregon will get their next opportunity at another win when they host the Arizona Wildcats (10-6) for a Sunday matinee, with the game set to tip at noon.
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