Ducks unable to rally back against No. 3 Colorado, drop fourth straight

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon Ducks dropped their fourth straight game to No. 3 Colorado on Sunday afternoon. The Ducks were outmatched once again, falling 61-48 to the Buffaloes.

After blowing a first-half lead against Utah on Friday night, Oregon (11-11, 2-7) played a much better second half on Sunday, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the hole they had dug in the first.

The Ducks were able to keep things close in the first quarter, holding the Buffaloes to only 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field, but still trailed as their offense could only muster eight points.

Colorado (17-3, 7-2) didn’t let that slow start last long though, absolutely dominating the second quarter 18-3 to take a 20-point lead into halftime. During that second quarter, Oregon shot 0-of-10 from the field, with their only points coming at the free throw line, while turning the ball over 10 times and giving up eight offensive boards.

Oregon finished the first half shooting 17 percent from the floor while going 0-for-7 from long distance. Grace VanSlooten hit a tough lefty layup with 3:59 to go in the first, but Oregon’s next points wouldn’t come until Phillipina Kyei hit a pair of free throws with 4:54 left in the half, an over nine-minute gap between points that helped the Buffs go on a 13-0 run.

Oregon came out of halftime hungry, with Kennedy Basham and VanSlooten scoring on their first two possessions before Chance Gray drove hard to the rim to earn herself free throws.

“The second half we just competed better,” said head coach Kelly Graves. “We were just better in every phase a little bit. We got more aggressive, that was the talk at halftime.”

The Ducks outscored Colorado 17-14 in the third quarter behind an impressive effort from Chance Gray, who got to the line eight times, part of her new career-high 12 free throw attempts.

“I just needed to play a little more aggressive than I was in the first half and not settle for shots,” Gray said.

“She was aggressive, and that’s what smart players do if the shot’s not going down,” Graves said of Gray’s second half. “You find another way to score. Usually though, when you get to the line like that, you start to get a rhythm because you see the ball go through the net, it just never really happened.”

Oregon kept their momentum going into the fourth, slowly chipping away at the Colorado lead. With just over six minutes to play, Ula Chamberlin hit a big corner three to cut the lead to nine, the first time it had been under 10 since midway through the second quarter.

VanSlooten followed up by hitting back-to-back mid-range jumpers, getting the deficit all the way down to seven with just under five minutes left, but unfortunately, that was as close as the Ducks would get, as Colorado outscored them 9-5 over the final four minutes, holding on to the lead to secure the win.

“We felt that little bit of run, that little bit of energy, and knew that we got it within seven,” VanSlooten said. “I think that gave us energy, we just needed to get some crucial stops and we didn’t, and they went on a run back.”

Once again, the problem for the Ducks was offensive rebounding and turnovers. Colorado snagged 20 offensive boards and forced the Ducks into 15 turnovers. This helped them generate 11 second-chance points and 22 points off of turnovers, accounting for more than half of their total scoring output. 

“They got 20 offensive rebounds,” Graves said. “If we cut that in half, and cut their second-chance points in half, then we have a chance.”

Although it wasn’t the outcome the Ducks were hoping for, there were still some positives to come out of Sunday’s game. Other than the second quarter where Oregon didn’t hit a single shot, they outscored Colorado 45-43, playing tough defense throughout. This was the second straight game that they held a top-ranked opponent well below their season-scoring average and were able to force Colorado to take inefficient shots all game.

“We’re defending well enough,” said Graves. “To hold two, really top-10 teams, in the low 60s the last two nights… that’s good enough, you just can’t beat teams scoring 48.”

Oregon was without freshman guard, Sofia Bell, who left the Utah game early with a lower leg injury and was seen in a walking boot on Sunday. Graves wasn’t able to give an update on Bell’s injury, but her absence was felt, as she had started every game for the Ducks this season.

“We just have to make adjustments,” Gray said about the injuries the Ducks have faced. “We have to keep playing our game and hopefully it keeps doing the job.”

“I ask a lot of those players, they play a lot of minutes,” Graves said of VanSlooten, Gray, and Kyei, all of whom played over 35 minutes on Sunday.

“Obviously I don’t like to lose, ever, but I feel better about this game after the way we played in the second half. We played with some character, so I’m proud of them in that regard.”

Oregon’s next game won’t come until next Sunday when they host their biggest rival, the No. 25 Oregon State Beavers, who handed Utah a 25-point loss on Sunday after upsetting Colorado on Friday.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” said Graves. “We’re gonna see nothing but ranked teams here for the rest of the season.”