By: Ian Sutliff

Eugene, OR– For the first time in nearly three weeks, the Oregon Ducks (14-7, 5-5) will play in Matthew Knight arena where they’ll take on the Colorado Buffaloes (16-5, 6-4). Currently both teams are projected as seven seeds for the NCAA tournament, meaning a resume win here for either team could easily bump both these squads up as we head into March.

Oregon:

The Ducks have been up and down the last few weeks as they’ve gone just 2-3 since their road trip to the Arizona schools. Now with two of the best teams in the conference coming into Eugene this weekend, Oregon must at least split this upcoming series if it wants to show any signs of being a real postseason threat. After a road split in northern California, the Ducks will need to shoot a lot better than they did against Stanford after going 25% from the field on Sunday. Grace VanSlooten was one big bright spot after going for 20 points in the loss and she will once again need to be reliable for one of the best offenses in the nation. Oregon ranks as the 11th best team in the nation in terms of offensive efficiency and 16th in terms of points per game (78.7). That’s in large part because of the balanced scoring attack that this team has with four players averaging more than ten points per game (VanSlooten, Chance Gray, Te-Hina Papao, Endyia Rogers). This could be a huge advantage for the Ducks as they go up against a Colorado team that just allowed 71 points to a mediocre USC offense. 

Colorado:

In the last few weeks, Colorado has managed to knock off ranked opponents in Arizona, UCLA, and Utah. Those games all took place in Boulder though and now the Buffs will be looking to avoid their first back-to-back loss in the 2022-23 campaign. Colorado is led by its senior forward Quay Miller who averages nearly 15 points per game and eight rebounds. West Linn native Aaronette Vonleh is also someone to watch as her 58% field goal mark is second in the conference and is a force in the frontcourt with Miller. The Buffaloes could easily create some matchup problems against Oregon as it ranks second in the conference in steals per game (10) and fourth in terms of opponent points per game (58.3). In losses, the Ducks have averaged 13.8 turnovers per game, so if Colorado can force Oregon to turn the ball over at a bit of an above average rate, the Buffaloes could make life tough for a struggling Ducks squad. 

Prediction: 

Oregon has struggled recently and a lot of that is due to the fact that they aren’t a very good team on the road. Now for the first time in 19 days, the Ducks return home to face a Colorado squad that has lost four of its five games this season away from Boulder. Oregon is one of the best offensive teams in the country, while Colorado is more defensive minded, so this could definitely be about who ends up getting the ball last. The Ducks haven’t been great in close games this year and that will only get tougher tonight against Colorado who hasn’t lost in back-to-back games this season. This one will be back and forth all night, but I expect the Buffaloes to pull this one out with a couple of big shots late in the fourth.

Colorado 69 – Oregon 66