By Liam Baker
EUGENE, Ore. — The Ducks (3-0) will return home to take on the Santa Clara Broncos (3-0) after a narrow 64-56 win over Grand Canyon on Thursday. In their first road game of the season, the Ducks started slow, scoring just nine points in the opening quarter, and trailed GCU early in the second quarter. A Chance Gray free throw midway through the second quarter gave Oregon a lead they would not relinquish. Sophomore Grace VanSlooten led the way with 21 points and junior Phillipina Kyei added 13 of her own on a night when the Ducks struggled to shoot the ball. Despite shooting just 34.5% from the field, Oregon held GCU to a 30.8% shooting percentage. Strong defensive performances have been the norm for the Ducks this season, as an opposing team has yet to shoot above 32% against them this season and they will look to continue to flex their muscles on defense against Santa Clara.
Santa Clara Broncos
The Broncos dominated California State University Northridge 71-39 on Tuesday but will now face their toughest test of the season when they travel to Eugene. Santa Clara scored the first 17 points of the game against CSUN and led by as many as 36 down the stretch. Guard Tess Heal scored 19 points and both Marya Hudgins and Olivia Pollerd had double-doubles off the bench. Heal leads the team in points with 17.5 per game and in assists per game with three and was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team. She will be the focus of the Ducks' defense on Saturday. On offense, the Broncos don't match up well with the Ducks. Santa Clara is not a prolific three-point shooting team and normally tries to challenge opposing teams in the paint. They have a plus-6.8 rebounding differential this season, but go up against a Ducks team that has a height advantage at most positions. Santa Clara shot the ball well from three for the first time this season against CSUN, going 11-28, and will have to do that again on Saturday if they want to hang with the Ducks.
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks passed their first road test of the season against GCU but will want to tighten a few things up before hitting the road again after their game against Santa Clara. Ducks not named VanSlooten and Kyei shot under 21.8% from the field against GCU, something that has become an unfortunate trend for Oregon this season. The pair are both shooting over 50% this season, but no other Duck playing more than 12 minutes per game is converting more than 35% of their shots. A prime candidate to join the duo is sophomore guard Chance Gray, who has started all 38 games of her Oregon career and had an efficient first two games of the season before a tough 2-15 shooting night against GCU. Expect her to get back on track against a Santa Clara team that allows teams to shoot just under 40%. The Ducks brought in a lot of new faces this season, but they haven't had the impact head coach Kelly Graves has hoped for so far. Freshman Sofia Bell is the only new Duck to have scored more than 10 points this season. Liberty transfer Kennedi Williams has started the last two games for Oregon and is averaging at least two rebounds, assists and steals per game. While Santa Clara is a good rebounding team, so are the Ducks. Kyei has a double-double in every game this season and VanSlooten is averaging 9.3 rebounds to go along with 19.7 points.
Prediction
This isn't the first Pac-12 team that Santa Clara has faced this season and I expect the result to be the same as their matchup against California earlier this season. In its second game of the season, Santa Clara lost by 15 to Cal, a team predicted to finish below Oregon in the Pac-12 this season and it should be in for a similar fate against the Ducks. Double-doubles from VanSlooten and Kyei will allow the Ducks to cruise to victory.
Oregon 82, Santa Clara 64