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The Oregon Ducks are not finding answers to reckon with their Pac-12 season swoon. Offensive woes continue, and the Ducks are simply not putting up points as they score 57 or less for the fifth time this season - all within the past month.
In each quarter, the Ducks had to come from behind when the Washington State started with unanswered runs. Oregon was only able to catch up in the first period, and was ahead 13-9 at the end of the first. WSU’s run in the second period ended that brief lead and the Ducks were never in the game after that, even though they were able to close in only being four down at the half, 26-30.
WSU took full advantage of the struggling Ducks, and built a double digit lead for most of the second half. In the first half, Oregon shot closely enough to the Cougars that they were able to stay close, but completely fell apart in the second half. In the fourth period, the Ducks shot 38.9% to 68.8% for WSU.
Te-Hina Paopao was held scoreless for the entire game. Grave VanSlooten fell on one side of the court and appeared to tweak her left wrist, then on the other side of the court landed with her left foot on an opposing player and had to be helped off the court.
Kelly Graves postgame radio: "Grace we hope is OK. I think the ankle is pretty bad."
— James Crepea (@JamesCrepea) February 18, 2023
Chance Gray lead the Oregon scorers with 18, followed by Endyia Rogers with 17, but they are getting no help elsewhere - and opponents seem to know it. The Ducks continue to play hard on defense, in spite of unfortunate lapses in the fourth period that gave the Cougars way-too-easy looks.
James Crepea succinctly breaks down the numbers on this current Oregon lull:
Final: Washington State 64 Oregon 57 | Ducks drop 6th straight for first time since 2014-15, Kelly Graves' 1st season at UO, with 5 under 40% FG. Fifth time this season Oregon shot under 40% FG, under 30% from three, all of them losses. pic.twitter.com/QbOfe6T9HM
— James Crepea (@JamesCrepea) February 18, 2023
The Ducks play Washington on Sunday at 1:00 pm PT in Seattle. This Huskies team beat Stanford a couple of weeks ago in Seattle. At this point it’s difficult to imagine these Oregon Ducks coming out of the weekend with a split.
Final pic.twitter.com/tkL7OZDtBw
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB) February 18, 2023
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