Takeaways: Oregon women's basketball drops 9th straight in another blowout to UCLA Bruins
For the fourth time in a row, the Oregon women’s basketball team was crushed in a 74-55 loss to No. 9 UCLA Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
It was also the Ducks’ (11-16, 2-12 Pac-12) ninth straight loss, nearing a program-record 11 set back in 1983.
'All we can do is learn from this'
“I give our kids a ton of credit, I’m proud of them, this was a tough, tough, seven-game stretch,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “We’re not as good as the teams we’ve been playing. Would we have like to play them a lot closer? Well, of course. Would we have liked to play better? Of course. Are we competing to win? Of course. But we’re just not. We’re not. All we can do is learn from this, try to get better, and bounce back.”
That stretch has included seven-straight against ranked opponents, and 11 of the 14 total conference games the Ducks have played.
The Ducks shot 39.3% from the field, with Grace VanSlooten leading the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds. She and Chance Gray (15 points) were the only Ducks in double figures, as UCLA limited Phillipina Kyei down low to just eight points and five rebounds.
The Bruins shot a worse 38% from the field but scored 22 points off turnovers and 24 second-chance points to run away with it early.
Graves said the offensive production was about on par with what it has been all season, and that the defensive rotations have gotten shorter out of necessity due to injury, leading to players logging heavy minutes and not getting to loose balls as quickly as other teams.
Sunday’s loss was yet another where the Ducks were blitzed from the opening tip. Just minutes into the game Oregon fell behind by double-digits. After one quarter, Oregon had the same amount of shot attempts from the field that UCLA had from 3-point land with 12 and trailed 25-13.
Though they cut the deficit to single digits early in the second quarter, it didn’t last long. UCLA tore through Oregon’s defense for another 20-point quarter and led 45-28 at halftime. The Bruins shot 44.2% from the field and were 7-for-19 from 3, with most of the looks being wide open against the Ducks’ zone. Oregon shot 46.2% from the field, but on 17 more shot attempts.
The game didn’t get any closer by the end, mostly due to the disparity from points off turnovers and second-chance points, where the Bruins combined to outscore the Ducks, 46-11.
What's next for the Ducks?
Oregon will take on an unranked foe for the first time in over a month when they head to Seattle to take on Washington on Friday before a trip to Pullman against Washington State on Sunday.
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.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Pac-12 women's basketball: UCLA Bruins down Oregon Ducks
