EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon Ducks pulverized the visiting Utah State Aggies 70-34 on Sunday afternoon. The game was close in the first quarter, but behind the Ducks' excellent defense and timely scoring, they found the path to a dominant victory. Katie Fiso and Sophia Rambus both led the team with 13 points. The Ducks played a team game with every player except one recording a point while shutting down the Utah State offense.
Though a cloudy day outside in Eugene, inside Matthew Knight Arena, it was rocking, reminiscent of the College GameDay event held on campus the day before. Oregon (6-0) came in undefeated on the season, coming off an 86-59 vs Washington State on Wednesday. Utah State (3-3) last played against Omaha, where they won 77-69. The Ducks were trying to secure their second-straight 6-0 start to begin the season.
Oregon got big games from senior Mia Jacobs and sophomore Katie Fiso, who each scored 20 in two of their last three games. Jacobs, the transfer from Fresno State, has been on fire to start the season; she leads the team with 17.2 points per game. On the defensive side, Oregon thrives on aggressiveness and turnovers.
“We win 95 percent of our games when we get 30 or more disruptions,” head coach Kelly Graves said of his defense and their outlook. “Unofficially, we got 60 [today, 30 is our goal.”
A disruption is a turnover or anything that gets the ball back into the Ducks’ hands.
After Oregon won the tip, they got a quick bucket by guard Ari Long and then proceeded to create three turnovers on the next Utah State possessions, jumping out to an 8-0 lead. The Aggies' Aitana Rosello Lopez scored their first points to make it 8-2, and Sarah Rambus responded for the Ducks with a nice layup. From there, the game slowed, with both defenses making nice stops on each side. Utah State started to find its game, capitalizing on turnovers by Oregon and good ball movement. Aaliyah Gayles hit a big three to cut the Ducks’ lead to 14-9 going into the second.
The second quarter started defensively with neither team able to score early, but Avary Cain extended the Ducks' lead with a physical layup. The teams traded points from there, with Utah State's Rachel Wilson making two excellent buckets in the paint. Halfway through the quarter, Janiyah Williams subbed in for the Ducks and immediately hit a big 3. She was letting it fly. In her first minute in the game, she put up three shots, resulting in five points.
Utah State played a full-court press the entire first half, and that limited the offensive explosiveness of the Ducks. Oregon made Utah State pay a couple of times at the end of the half with a nice Fiso mid-range jumper and layup, the latter coming off a Mia Jacobs steal. The half ended 32-20 with a missed buzzer beater by Utah State.
The Ducks came out of the half looking like the men of Team USA with Curry-like 3-pointers from Jacobs and Sofia Bell. A 3-point play by Rambus followed. It looked like she took the post move right from the Kevin Durant playbook.
The game then had a massive lull, going the next five minutes without any scoring. Cain broke the seal for the Ducks, getting to the foul stripe and making both. Gayles got two buckets in the last minutes of the quarter for Utah State, one a layup that beat the buzzer, but Oregon's lead remained 55-26.
Oregon's bench started the fourth quarter.
“I liked that everyone played. We got four games coming up in eight days, so it's nice to get some players some rest,” Graves said after the win.
Amina Muhammad made a nice layup to start the quarter. Gayles came back with a slick mid-range jumper for Utah State. Then, a streak of giveaways and steals hit for both teams. It was like a bakery with all those turnovers. Oregon injected its offense with more life when it subbed Jacobs and Fiso back in, who both hit layups right after entering the game to make it 60-31, Ducks. From three minutes to go and on, it was the Williams show, where she scored seven of the last ten points for the Ducks as they won 70-34.
Oregon will play next in the Women's Hoopfest challenge vs Saint Mary's down in Frisco, Tex. on Tuesday. This will begin their busy stretch of four games in the next eight days.
Utah State will play again on Dec. 5 against LMU down in Los Angeles.