Huskies Chomping At The Bit To Resume Playing
EUGENE, Ore. - The Huskies (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12) hope to get on the court for their first game in 21 days when they play No. 13 Oregon (10-3, 8-3) in Eugene at Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Washington was originally put out of action due to Covid-19 issues on Wednesday, Jan. 6 and have subsequently been forced to postpone five games.
"It's been challenging, to say the least, for everybody," Coach Jody Wynn said of her team's three-week layoff. "I think that our program has done an incredible job of following protocol and our young women haven't put themselves or each other at risk at all until we got notified a couple weeks ago that we were shutting down. We just had to look at that adversity and just take it head on and do exactly what the medical staff was asking us to do in order for us to be able to return to play. So I think everybody did a really nice job of following their guidance."
UW will look to get back into the win column as they have dropped three-straight games with their last win coming on Dec. 13 against Portland. Oregon started the season 8-0, but is 2-3 over the last five games, most recently earning a 58-50 win over Washington State on Friday.
Sunday's game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network with Ann Schatz and Elise Woodward calling the action. As usual, fans can listen locally to Gary Hill Jr. on the UW/IMG College Network on KKNW 1150 AM, on the TuneIn App, or GoHuskies.com.
Leading the Break
• Haley Van Dyke has upped her performance over the last five games. She has reached double figures four times and is averaging 12.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 1.4 steals during that span. She started off her stretch with the first double-double of her career (19 pts/11 rebs) vs. WSU on Dec. 11.
• Van Dyke reached several milestones in the Huskies past road trip. She recorded her 100th career steal at Colorado and 300th career rebounds at Utah.
• Khayla Rooks enters this weekend with 99 career games under her belt, the most among all Huskies. She leads the Huskies with 30.1 minutes per game and 3.1 assists per game. The senior has led UW in assists in 6 of 9 games.
• Either Tameiya Sadler, Quay Miller or Haley Van Dyke has led the Huskies in scoring and/or rebounds in every game, except for when Darcy Rees led UW in scoring with 20 vs. Oregon.
• Tameiya Sadler is 19-for-21 (.905) from the free throw line this season. If she can keep up her pace she will shatter the previous freshman record established by Kelsey Plum (.846) and in fact the team record of .896 (207-231), also by Kelsey Plum in 2015.
• Only six of the Huskies 12 players on the active roster have played in all nine games this season.
Scouting the Ducks
The Ducks started the year 8-0 and with a 27-game win streak, including 24 consecutive Pac-12 games. But they enter the weekend against Washington State and Washington having loss three of their last four games - all coming against teams ranked 11th or better. They have three players averaging double figures, led by Nyara Sabally with 11.9 ppg. Oregon also has six players on the roster that stand 6-foot-4 or taller (Washington has one), led by Sedona Prince at 6-7. UO is averaging 78.0 points per game on 47.1% shooting and have a plus 21.7 scoring margin.
Kelly Graves is in his seventh season at Oregon and is 165-57 (80-39 Pac-12) during his tenure. He has led the Ducks to three-straight Pac-12 regular season titles and three-straight NCAA Elite Eight appearances, including the program's first Final Four in 2019.
All-Time Series vs Oregon
The Ducks took a 52-51 advantage in the series with their 73-49 win on Dec. 19. The teams first met on the court March 1, 1974, a game which Washington won, and in fact was the start of nine-straight wins for the Huskies to open the series up until 1978. Ironically, the Ducks followed by winning the next 11, a streak that spanned from 1979-1983. The Ducks also had a win streak of 12 games from Feb. 1996 to Dec. 2001, while UW had an eight game streak from 1990 through 1993. The Ducks have won the last seven times the teams have met. Washington's last win over Oregon was Dec. 30, 1996 in Eugene, 99-77. The Huskies last win over Oregon in Seattle was 70-55 on Feb. 8, 2015.
Last Game
Haley Van Dyke put together a stat-stuffing performance, but the Huskies could not overcome a hot-shooting second-half from Utah and dropped their third-straight game, 84-63, Jan. 3 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. Van Dyke had team highs of 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, plus three assists and a steal to put together her most-balanced game of the year. Khayla Rooks added 11 points and Darcy Rees had 12 off the bench for the Huskies, who dropped their fifth-straight game in Pac-12 play. Brynna Maxwell scored all her team-high 24 points in the second half as the Utes poured in 53 second-half points to break up a three-point halftime lead.
Up Next
The Huskies will play at Oregon State on Tuesday, Jan. 26 with a 4:00 p.m. tip.
COVID Cancellations
Washington has already missed five games postponed due to COVID-19 and are schedule to miss a sixth on Jan. 29 when it was announced Cal could not travel to Seattle. The scheduled games missed: Dec. 21 vs. Oregon State, Jan. 8 vs. Arizona, Jan. 10 vs. Arizona State, Jan. 15 at USC and Jan. 17 at UCLA. The Huskies were set to play Oregon State on Jan. 22 but the game was postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 26.