Oregon Women’s Basketball: Shooting Woes Underline A Loss To Colorado, 53-63

Oregon’s girls’s staff continued no matter it’s that ails them in a poor offensive exhibiting at MKA on Friday night time. They dropped a recreation that, like Stanford, they may have gained, had they solely been capable of finding the basket.

Oregon scored the primary three factors and that may show to be their solely lead of the sport. Regardless of trailing all recreation, the Geese confirmed some life within the third quarter and have been solely down by two at its finish, 37-39. Their offense couldn’t be resuscitated by any means within the 4th, nonetheless, and Oregon ended to a disappointing end.

This Oregon offense continues to under-perform, identical because the Stanford recreation, regardless of exhibiting general superb defensive chops. In each of those video games, the Geese’ protection stored them within the recreation, and for an absence of discovering the basket, they’d a great probability of popping out with a win.

I believed that, in the course of the recreation, Oregon was in hassle after turning the ball over six instances within the first quarter. As alarming as that was, the turnovers evened out over the course of the match and the sport ended evenly, with 15 turnovers to Colorado’s 14.

The board play was not likely an element. Each staff tied with 36 rebounds.

With each this recreation and the Stanford match, Oregon’s incapability to search out the basket is dumbfounding. We’re not speaking simply the three shot – the Geese went 0-16 on threes tonight – however simply an incapability to complete open seems and simple layups. Within the Stanford recreation, Oregon was 20-80. Tonight, they have been 20-55. Oregon went to the road way more than the Buffaloes, and their 13 factors from the charity stripe accounted for 20% of their level complete. That type of badness (however actually good FT capturing) is thoughts boggling.

I used to be requested, in the course of the recreation, is that this Oregon staff simply unhealthy? I don’t have a definitive reply to that. Throughout warmups, and the practices that I’ve seen, gamers like Probability Grey and Te-Hina Paopao knock down lengthy pictures like nobody’s enterprise. Actually, I used to be watching precisely that earlier than the sport and marvelling on the pictures and precision, and I consciously thought to myself “These are nice pictures…Can they try this within the recreation?” Alas, no. It might seem that these shooters can’t put it collectively within the recreation. Once I see good discipline pictures in follow and warmups, that tells me that there’s some form of psychological block within the recreation. That may occur, game-to-game, on a person degree, The issue right here is that it’s occurring team-wide.

The staff is annoyed. Coach Kelly Graves is flabbergasted. I believe that, in his post-game remarks, he took one for the staff in taking blame upon himself, as you will note within the remarks beneath. I believe that he’s as puzzled as I’m that nice follow efficiency is translating into substandard recreation play. I don’t get it; I don’t assume that he will get it.

I want to say that the ladies’s staff reveals the identical inconsistency as the lads’s staff, identical as final yr, however that’s not true. This yr’s girls’s incarnation has proven that it’s not able to beating top-25 groups. By no means thoughts the ethical victories; that doesn’t flip into wins. I don’t wish to say that this can be a unhealthy staff…however repeated patterns trump any perception system. That’s simply the best way it’s.

It’s not going to get any simpler for Oregon after they host an excellent #7 Utah staff at MKA on Sunday. That match is at 2:00 pm PT and can be on the Pac-12 Community.