EUGENE, Ore. — Hoops season is finally upon us, and with it comes a new year, a new conference, and a new team for Oregon Women's Basketball head coach Kelly Graves.
The Ducks dominated the visiting Warner Pacific Knights 110-21 in Friday night's exhibition game, as Graves took advantage of the opportunity to show off his new roster that features nine newcomers — seven transfers and two freshmen.
After the Ducks finished dead last in the Pac-12 during their final season in the conference, Graves completely overhauled the roster. Out went former five-star recruits Chance Gray and Grace VanSlooten, and in came a host of talented new players — both veterans and underclassmen — who will hope to turn around a program that had previously posted eight consecutive winning seasons before last year.
The Ducks debuted a new-look starting five featuring three transfers: Deja Kelly (North Carolina), Alexis Whitfield (UC Santa Barbara), and Amina Muhammad (Texas). Joining them to begin the game was sophomore guard Sofia Bell and graduate guard Peyton Scott — whose 2023-24 season ended with a knee injury just minutes into the Ducks' first game. She got the scoring started for Oregon, drilling a catch-and-shoot three to beat Warner Pacific's zone defense.
All 14 of the Ducks' active players got minutes as Graves worked deep into his bench early with Oregon dominating on the defensive end of the floor. The second group out for Oregon included another pair of transfers in guards Nani Falatea (BYU) and Elisa Mevius (Siena), the Ducks' two freshmen: guard Katie Fiso and forward Ehise Etute, as well as sophomore forward Sarah Rambus. Oregon's third saw the first minutes for transfer guard Ari Long (Washington), sophomore forwards Filippa Tilliander and Sammie Wagner, and senior center Phillipina Kyei — who has been dealing with a leg injury and didn't see any action in the second half.
"Philly's just working herself back in," Graves said of Kyei postgame.
The star of the show for the Ducks was Mevius, who led the way with 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field while racking up 11 steals — which would've tied the program record had this been a regular season game. Last season's MAAC Defensive Player of the Year at Siena, Mevius was able to create havoc on that end of the floor all night long, picking pockets for easy — and sometimes flashy — layups at the other end.
"She's got great feet, great anticipation, and she's got those quick-twitch fibers," Graves said of Mevius. "She's just got some giddy-up and she's been doing it in practice. We chart disruptions every day too just like we do the points, rebounds, assists, and all the other stuff, and she has 102 disruptions. Just to give you an idea of what that is, the second closest was 58, which means anytime you dive on the floor for a loose ball, you get a steal, you block a shot, you tip a ball. She just kinda wreaks havoc on people."
A native of Germany, Mevius finished second in the nation last year by averaging 4.5 steals per game at Siena.
"I think if we pressure the ball a lot and we're also all in the gaps, it's easier to get disruptions," Mevius said postgame. "I'm anticipating a lot, so I'm always like, 'Where's the ball?' So I'm trying to do that more."
Oregon's second and third leading scorers were the freshmen, Fiso and Etute, who finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
"We stat out all our practices. We've had 25 practices or scrimmages this year and we stat anytime we go four-on-four or five-on-five, so we have a lot of data. Those two finished one-two in scoring," Graves said of Fiso and Etute. "It's not like they haven't been doing it each day in practice, but it was great to see."
Fiso operated well out of the pick-and-roll en route to four assists on the night and showed strong chemistry with Muhammad, hitting her twice for easy layups.
"I love the pick-and-roll game, I love coming off ball screens," Fiso said. "Just getting a lot of reps in during practice with my post players, building that chemistry off the court like Elisa said helps a lot on the court."
Another key newcomer was Kelly, who was limited to just 10 minutes on the night after dealing with an injury during the preseason. A three-time All-ACC selection at North Carolina, Kelly totaled six points on the night, knocking down her only three while recording three steals.
"Deja's really important to us," Graves said. "She's obviously a proven player and played at a high, high level and will continue to do so after she's done here… She's just outstanding. She gives us that big-game kind of player and when the chips are down, the ball's gonna be in her hands and she's gonna deliver, I know, because she has in the past."
The Ducks shot just 6-of-24 from long distance, but Graves said that he liked the looks his team was able to generate from three.
"They were there, we just didn't knock them down."
Oregon opens its season for real on Monday, hosting California Baptist with tipoff set for 4 PM at Matthew Knight Arena.
"Tonight we learned a little something, we had some fun, but it gets real on Monday," Graves said.
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