Oregon
Colorado bounces Oregon women’s basketball from Pac-12 tourney as Ducks lose 14th straight
The Oregon women’s basketball team wrapped up its worst season in recent memory and the worst in head coach Kelly Graves’ decadelong tenure after a 79-30 loss to fifth-seed Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon.
The loss is the Ducks’ 14th straight defeat, a program record. The 49-point loss is the largest in the tournament’s history.
Ducks go out with a whimper against Colorado in Pac-12 tournament
The Ducks (11-21, 2-16 Pac-12) shot 18.9% from the field, were outrebounded 54-28 and turned the ball over 18 times in the loss.
“We weren’t really good in any phase of the game today,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “It was a tough day all the way around. I have no excuses; our team can’t make any excuses either. It wasn’t a good performance. There wasn’t one area that I thought we played well today.”
It’s Oregon’s worst season since a 4-27 campaign during the 2012-13 season under coach Paul Westhead.
The Ducks had a hard time out of the gate, getting outscored 26-7 in the first quarter while shooting abysmally from the field. The poor shooting continued in the second quarter, when the Ducks scored just four points and went almost seven minutes of gametime without points.
At half, Oregon was shooting 4-for-27, getting outrebounded 29-10 and allowing Colorado to shoot 16-for-31 from the field. The score was 38-11.
The Ducks’ 11 points at half are the fewest points in a half in Pac-12 tournament history.
The rout only continued from there, with the Ducks getting outscored in the second half, 41-19.
Colorado was led by Frida Formann’s 17 points, as the Buffaloes get set to take on No. 4 seed Oregon State at noon Thursday in the Pac-12 quarterfinals, while Oregon’s season is almost without a doubt over.
Where does Oregon women’s basketball team go from here?
The Ducks graduate seniors Ula Chamberlin and Kennedi Williams, with Peyton Scott announcing she would pursue a medical hardship waiver to play for the Ducks next season. Oregon signed two players in its latest recruiting class, top-ranked state of Washington guard Katie Fiso and Luxembourg big Faith Ehi Etute.
Graves finishes his 10th year at Oregon with a career record of 221-111, which includes two conference titles, three consecutive Elite Eight appearances and Oregon’s first Final Four in 2019. The Ducks would have undoubtedly been the No. 1 overall seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament if not for the COVID-19 pandemic canceling the event.
Over the past two seasons, Graves’ Ducks are 9-27 in Pac-12 play and 31-36 overall.
Graves is earning $1,075,000 this season and has five years remaining on his contract, which has a $1.5 million buyout.
“We just have to go back to the drawing board, so to speak,” Graves said. “We’ve got to keep the players that want to win and want to compete. I think we have some good young pieces, but as coaches we have to do a better job. We haven’t done a good job this year in getting this team together and getting the team to where we need them to be. That’s on me, that’s on my staff. We’ve got to go get some players. We’re not as good as the teams we’re playing against, and it shows. It showed today.”
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.