7 things to know as Oregon women take a swing at No. 3 Stanford
Women’s basketball
Oregon (14-6, 5-4 Pac-12) vs. No. 3 Stanford (20-2, 8-1)
1 p.m., Sunday at Maples Pavilion, Stanford, Calif.
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: KUGN-FM (98.1), KUGN-AM (590)
About the Ducks
Oregon got the win it needed Friday night when it survived a back-and-forth game against California to snap a two-game losing streak. Now it gets a chance to earn its best win of the season. The Ducks haven’t beaten Stanford since 2020 — a stretch of four straight losses — though they’ve always put up a fight, losing by an average of 6.2 points.
Coach Kelly Graves said after the win against the Golden Bears that Oregon should play loose and free against the Cardinal: “I told the team, we can beat Stanford in Palo Alto. It’s obviously going to take a great effort from everybody, but we’ve got nothing to lose. The pressure’s all on them. We’ve gotten a win on this road trip and if we can go down there and get that then it’s icing on the cake.”
The deep balls weren’t falling Friday against Cal as the Ducks made 3-of-19 from 3-point range. It was a season-low for both made 3-pointers and 3-point shooting percentage (15.8%). Oregon will need to be better against Stanford, which is strong in the post. The Cardinal rank fourth in the nation in opponent’s field-goal percentage (33.5%), fifth in rebounding (46.6 per game), third in rebounding margin (+16.2) and third in blocks (6.6). In other words, it’s a struggle to score inside against Stanford, which also doesn’t give opponents many second-chance opportunities.
This will be the sixth game of the season against a ranked opponent for the Ducks, who are 1-4 in those games. They have a win against then-No. 17 Arkansas (85-78) and losses to then-No. 3 Ohio State (84-67), then-No. 8 North Carolina (85-79), then-No. 10 UCLA (82-74) and then-No. 15 Arizona (79-71). All but the game against the Bruins came on the road or at a neutral site.
About the Cardinal
Stanford is unquestionably the best team in the Pac-12 and has been for a couple of years. The Cardinal have won two straight Pac-12 titles and three of the last four Pac-12 Tournaments. They made it to the Final Four last season after winning the national title in 2021. Their two losses this season came at home against No. 1 South Carolina — 76-71 in overtime, on Nov. 20 — and on Jan. 15 at Southern California in a game between the top two defenses in the conference that ended in a 55-46 victory for the Trojans.
The Cardinal have looked vulnerable at times. They had to grind out a 63-60 win against Oregon State Friday night, and also had a just a four-point win against California earlier this month. On average, however, they're winning by 21.7 points per game.
Stanford is led by one of the strongest combos in the country. Junior Cameron Brink, a 6-4 forward from Beaverton, averages 14.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and is shooting 50.7% from the field. Senior Haley Jones, a 6-1 guard, averages 13.7 points and 8.9 rebounds.
Statistical comparisons
Scoring average: Oregon, 79.9; Stanford, 78.6
Opp. scoring average: Oregon, 63.5; Stanford, 56.9
FG percentage: Oregon, 45.2%; Stanford, 46.3%
Opp. FG percentage: Oregon, 38.6%; Stanford, 33.5%
3-point FG percentage: Oregon, 37.2%; Stanford, 33.8%
3-point FG per game: Oregon, 8.5; Stanford, 7.4
FT percentage: Oregon, 71.2%; Stanford, 73.5%
Rebounds per game: Oregon, 42.8; Stanford, 46.6
Rebounding margin: Oregon, +8.0 Stanford, +16.2
Assists per game: Oregon, 17.4; Stanford, 16.0
Turnovers per game: Oregon, 12.2; Stanford, 13.0
Steals per game: Oregon, 7.7; Stanford, 5.9
Blocks per game: Oregon, 4.0; Stanford, 6.6
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Do the Oregon Ducks have what it takes to knock off No. 3 Stanford?
