Ducks Come Home to Host Portland
EUGENE, Ore. — Following its third-place finish at the Phil Knight Invitational, the 19th-ranked Oregon Ducks return to Matthew Knight Arena to host Portland Saturday, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Oregon.
Junior guard Te-Hina Paopao earned all-tournament team honors at the PKI, averaging 16.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds against then-eighth-ranked North Carolina and Michigan State. Paopao currently leads the Pac-12 and ranks second in the country with a 7.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Pilots enter Saturday's contest on a three-game winning streak after an 87-35 win over Evergreen State College Wednesday. UO owns a 30-5 edge in the all-time series and has won the last six meetings with a 19-0 record at home.
GAME #7
No. 19 Oregon (5-1) vs. Portland (5-3)
Saturday, Dec. 3 | 2 a.m. PT | Matthew Knight Arena (Eugene, Ore.)
TV: Pac-12 Oregon
Radio: Oregon Sports Network (KUGN 98.1 FM/590 AM)
Play-by-play: Terry Jonz
Listen Online | Live Stats
SCOUTING PORTLAND
Portland (5-3) has won its last three games after an 87-35 trouncing of Evergreen State College Wednesday. Against the Geoducks, the Pilots saw four players score in double figures, led by 16 from Alex Fowler on 6-of-6 shooting. Maisie Burnham added 14, going 6-for-7 from the field, and Kelsey Lenzie dropped a dozen off the bench.
UP's defense limited ESC to 1-for-11 (9.1 percent) from beyond the 3-point line and 15-for-45 (33.3 percent) overall from the field. The Pilots also owned a 40-2 edge in bench points.
Prior to its win Wednesday, Portland won both its games at the St. Pete Showcase in St. Petersburg, Fla., taking down Houston 66-60 and Northeastern 67-41.
For the season, Fowler paces the Pilots with her 15.1 points per game and 62.1 percent shooting while adding 4.6 rebounds a contest. Burnham is the only other Portland player to average double digits in scoring at 11.5 points per game. Lucy Cochrane, who played her freshman season at Oregon in 2019-20, averages a team-leading 5.9 boards a game while putting in 6.1 points a game.
INSIDE THE SERIES
In a series that dates back to 1984, Oregon holds a 30-5 lead in the all-time series. The Ducks have won each of the last six games between the teams, going back to 2013, and 10 of the last 11 overall. Oregon is 19-0 at home against the Pilots while head coach Kelly Graves is 5-0 in her UO career against UP.
Oregon came away with a three-point victory, 62-59, in a matchup at Chiles Center a season ago. The only Ducks currently on the roster to have played in that game are Ahlise Hurt (2 points, 5 rebounds) and Phillipina Kyei (0 points, 3 rebounds). Sydney Parrish (26 points) and Sedona Prince (22 points) combined for 48 of UO's 62 points in the contest. Fowler led Portland with 16 points and nine rebounds.
The Ducks and Pilots have met in 27 of the last 30 seasons. Portland last defeated UO on Dec. 21, 2012 by a score of 68-49 at Chiles Center.
PROTECTING HOME COURT
Matthew Knight Arena has proved to be one of the top home-court advantages in the country during non-conference play, as the Ducks have now won 52 of their last 53 home games against non-league opponents. UO owned a 44-game home non-conference winning streak that began Dec. 29, 2014, a streak that was snapped with a 64-57 setback to UC Davis on Dec. 1, 2021. In that same span, the Ducks have won nine times against Power 5 teams and four times in the NCAA Tournament.
» Oregon is 57-3 at home in non-conference play under head coach Kelly Graves, with two of the three losses coming in his first year at the helm of the program in 2014-15.
» The Ducks have lost just 11 times against non-Pac-12 teams at MKA, owning a 79-11 record all-time.
NOVEMBER RAIN
Under head coach Kelly Graves, now in his ninth season, the Ducks are 42-9 in the month of November after going 5-1 in the opening month to kick off the 2022-23 season. Oregon has started 4-0 six times under Graves, and four times in the last five seasons, and earned its fifth 5-1 start or better in the last nine seasons. In his eight previous season, he has gone undefeated in the month of November three times: 2-0 in 2020-21, 6-0 in 2018-19 and 6-0 in 2015-16.
In the month of November under Graves, the Ducks' offense is averaging 84.1 points per game with an average margin of victory of 22.9 points per game (allowing 61.2 points a game). In November, UO has reached the 100-point mark eight times, including this season's opener (100 vs. Northwestern).
GVS
Grace VanSlooten is one of just three freshmen in the country averaging at least 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field - and one of just two players in the Pac-12 with those numbers (Raegan Beers, Oregon State).
VanSlooten turned in her first career double-double against North Carolina Thursday, hauling in a season-best 11 boards while scoring 17 points. She has twice led the Ducks in scoring and rebounding through six games while scoring in double figures five times.
VanSlooten put up 20 points on 10-of-16 shooting in her collegiate debut against Northwestern, earning her the season's first Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor. Her award marked the Ducks' 30th league freshman-of-the-week award, which extends its Pac-12 record.
PLAYMAKING PAOPAO
Junior guard Te-Hina Paopao raked in the preseason honors ahead of the 2022-23 season. She was added to the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's in addition to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's Watch List, given annually to the nation's top female collegiate player.
Earlier in the preseason, Paopao was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award watch list (nation's top point guard) while also being voted to the Pac-12's preseason team - both for the second straight season. The Oceanside, Calif., native has been an all-conference selection in each of her first two seasons in Eugene, and has career averages of 12.3 points per game, 3.8 rebounds a game and 3.8 assists per game.
Against ranked teams last season, Paopao averaged 17.6 points a game, reaching the 20-point mark in three of five contests. In total, she turned in five games with at least 20 points in 2021-22.
Through six games this season, Paopao leads the country with her 7.7 assist-to-turnover ratio (23 assists, 3 turnovers). She is also averaging a career-best 5.0 rebounds per game, hauling in at least six boards in three times this season. Paopao drained 7-of-10 field goals against Southern Utah on Nov. 21, the first 70-plus field goal percentage of any Duck this season, while going 3-for-3 beyond the arc.
Paopao is only player in the country averaging at least 13.0 points a game, shooting 50.0 percent from the field with an assist-to-turnover ratio over 6.0 - and is one of just two players with the same criteria and above 5.0 assist-to-turnover ratio (McKenna Hofschild, Colorado State).
PHILLI SPECIAL
Oregon sophomore center Phillipina Kyei, the tallest player in program history at 6-foot-8, has been a force in the frontcourt this season for the Ducks. Averaging just 8.5 minutes a game a season ago without a start, Kyei has cracked the starting five in all six games this season while averaging 23.1 minutes a game.
In Oregon's last game against Michigan State, Kyei set career highs in both points (15) and rebounds (16) in producing her second double-double of the season and fourth of her career. Her 16 rebounds are tied for third-highest among all Pac-12 players this season while her three games with 10 or more boards is tied for second-most in the conference.
Her 10-point. 10-rebound double-double at Southern on Nov. 14 marked Oregon's first of the season. Kyei has registered at least eight rebounds in all but one game this season and her season average of 9.8 rebounds a game are tied for the league's best.
Kyei, who has only played organized basketball for six years, spent the summer with the Canadian Junior National Team and helped her squad to a third-place finish at the FIBA World Cup in Australia.