Tag: Kelly Graves

Report: Te-Hina Paopao enters transfer portal and leaves Oregon

In a stunning move, Te-Hina Paopao will reportedly enter the transfer portal and leave the Ducks, per @JamesCrepea.

A bombshell of news hit the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program on Monday night.

James Crepea of the Oregonian reported late Monday night that Oregon starting guard Te-Hina Paopao is entering the transfer portal and will finish her college career elsewhere.

Paopao was Oregon’s top recruit in the post-Sabrina Era, but injuries and roster turnover contributed to her not quite living up to her billing.

Even then, Paopao still averaged 13.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Ducks this season. For her career, the 5-foot-9 guard from Oceanside, Calif. averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game.

She has two years of eligibility remaining.

Paopao leaving is a significant blow to Kelly Graves’ team for the 2023-24 season. She was projected to be the starting point guard for a team that should have the talent to make the NCAA tournament. With Endyia Rogers declaring for the WNBA draft, there isn’t a clear point guard on the roster and the three recruits coming in are more shooting guard/forward types.

Graves will most likely search the transfer portal to replace Paopao.

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Endyia Rogers to end college career and enter WNBA draft

Oregon guard Endyia Rogers is leaving in pursuit of a professional career in the WNBA as she made her name available in the draft.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team will have a new point guard in 2023-24.

Endyia Rogers has decided to forego her one remaining year of eligibility and enter the WNBA draft. The transfer from USC played two seasons at Oregon and averaged 15 points, a little over four rebounds and 3.6 assists in her 58 games as a Duck.

This past season was her best college season as she led Oregon averaging 16 points and four assists per game. She also shot 39 percent from the three-point line.

To replace her, head coach Kelly Graves will have a few options at his disposal. He could go into the transfer portal to find a pure point guard. He could call upon Te-Hina Paopao to play more minutes at the position. Guard Chance Gray also played some minutes at the point, but she is more of a spot-up shooter from the wing.

Incoming freshman Sofia Bell, a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 5 wing player in the country, according to ESPN, could also see time at the point guard position as well.

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Photo Gallery: Ducks’ hoops season continue with decisive win over Rice

Photo Gallery: Rice was able to stay within shouting distance of the Ducks for one half before the Oregon defense took over.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team knew coming into their WNIT second-round game that Rice would be a tougher opponent than their first-round matchup with North Dakota State.

They were right … for a half.

Oregon held on to a slim 34-31 halftime lead but then turned on the press and forced the Owls into six third-quarter turnovers and outscored Rice 23-9 to blow the game wide open inside Matthew Knight Arena.

Now in the super 16, the Ducks host San Diego with the hopes of advancing into the quarterfinals where they could play a familiar foe in Washington. But a lot has to occur for that game to come to fruition.

Oregon’s NCAA Tournament future still in doubt ahead of Selection Sunday

At the moment, it looks like the Ducks might miss out on the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest bracketology.

As recently as a few days ago, it seemed like Kelly Graves and the Oregon Ducks had done enough over the final few games of the season to get themselves in a spot to be invited to the NCAA Tournament.

Though the Ducks lost seven straight games in February and dropped 9-of-10 at one point, they closed out the regular season on a strong note, upsetting No. 14 Arizona, blowing out Arizona State, and then beating Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament before falling to the No. 1 seed Stanford Cardinals. The Ducks were on the bubble before all of that took place, but there was some confidence that they could get to the ride side of the fence with those results.

It turns out that might have been a little bit too optimistic, unfortunately for Oregon fans. According to the latest edition of ESPN’s bracketology, the Ducks are still listed as the “first team out” with less than a week to go until Selection Sunday. Oregon is done playing, obviously, but there are still other dominoes to fall across the nation.

At this point, the Ducks’ fate is not in their own hands; they will need to rely on some other teams to lose in order to get into March Madness. Some of the teams ahead of Oregon — West Virginia and Princeton — still have a game left on the schedule, so if either were to lose, it might open the door up for the Ducks.

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Ducks draw brutal path to Pac-12 Championship as No. 9 seed

As the No. 9 seed, Oregon has a brutal path to the Pac-12 title game that would feature matchups with three ranked teams.

A week ago, we were looking at the Oregon Ducks’ women’s basketball team in a negative light. They were in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, and couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. It appear that for this team that once ranked inside the top 25, the only way into the NCAA Tournament was with a Pac-12 tournament championship.

Fortunately, the Ducks then turned around and got a massive win over the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats, and a blowout win over Arizona State on Saturday absolutely helped their case at an at-large bid as well.

It appears that may be crucial in the end. With the regular season coming to an end on Saturday, the seeding and schedule for the Pac-12 Tournament was released. The Ducks got a No. 9 seed, and their path to the championship is absolutely brutal. Let’s go through the teams that they would have to play on their way to the championship.

For this exercise, we are going to advance the Ducks through each round, and have them face the higher-ranked opponent in each matchup. 

WBB recap: Ducks end regular season with rout over Arizona State

The Oregon women’s basketball team ended the regular season in style with a 29-point win over ASU.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is a completely different squad when Te-Hina Paopao is on her game.

She was definitely on her game and then some as she led the Ducks to a 77-48 rout over Arizona State to end the regular season. Oregon will now head down to Las Vegas as the ninth seed of the Pac-12 tournament where Washington awaits.

Paopao finished the day with 23 points and made 7-of-10 from the three-point line. Twenty of those points came in the first half.

While the Oregon point guard was filling it up on the offensive end, the Duck defense was on point for the entire 40 minutes. ASU was held to just 25.4 percent shooting from the field and to just nine points in the third quarter.

Endyia Rogers supported her fellow guard with 17 points and seven rebounds. Taya Hanson, a former Sun Devil, set a career-high with 10 rebounds. Taylor Hosendove also added eight points and 10 rebounds.

The victory was also Kelly Graves’ 100th win in Pac-12 play.

One stat that might cause some concern for the Ducks is the turnover category. Oregon committed 18 miscues, something that needs to be cleaned up before the post-season begins.

Oregon is now 17-13 overall and is still on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. The Ducks most likely have to beat the Huskies in the first round of the conference tourney in order to make the big dance.

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Ducks get notable bump in ESPN Bracketology after upset win over No. 14 Arizona

The Ducks stopped a 7-game skid on Thursday, and moved back into the NCAA Tournament picture with an upset win over No. 14 Arizona.

When they needed it most, the Oregon Ducks got a massive win at Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday night.

Kelly Graves’ squad was on an unprecedented 7-game losing streak heading into Thursday’s game against the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats, and they had dropped 9 of their last 10 games. No longer were the Ducks thought of a team that once ranked inside the top 25 to start the season, but rather they were viewed as a team that was in serious danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament.

Fortunately, a much-needed upset over Arizona might have turned things around.

In the latest edition of ESPN’s Bracketology, Oregon moved up from the “Next 4 Out” category to where they now sit, at the top of the list of the “First 4 Out.” This means that if the tournament were to be seeded today, it’s likely that the Ducks would still be on the outside of the bubble looking in, but they’re in a better spot than they were a day ago.

Fortunately, there is still time to improve the resume as well. The Ducks host Arizona State on Saturday and then have a slate of Pac-12 Tournament games in which they can state their case to be an NCAA Tournament team.

If what we saw from them against the Wildcats on Thursday is any indication of what this team can do going forward, then there’s a good chance that Oregon can be dancing in March.

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Oregon WBB recap: Ducks fall 85-84 in overtime to WSU

Washington State survived a late rally and defeated Oregon 85-84 in overtime inside Matthew Knight Arena.

This will be a game to be remembered, but unfortunately for the Ducks, the ending didn’t turn out to be what Oregon hoped for.

Oregon erased a nine-point deficit with under three minutes to play, tied the game with 0.1 seconds left to send it into overtime only to lose 85-84 to Washington State.

Te-Hina Paopao’s jumper at the buzzer was off the mark and the Cougars defeated the Ducks for the first time in eight tries. Oregon drops to 13-5 overall and 4-3 in conference play. WSU improved to 13-4 and 3-3 in Pac-12 play.

Endyia Rogers led all scorers with 33 points and Chance Gray finished with 22 points, but in the end, it was massive defensive breakdowns way before the overtime period that was the Ducks’ downfall.

Oregon WBB recap: Turnover plague the Ducks in loss to Arizona

Oregon committed 20 turnovers and dropped a close one to Arizona, losing 79-71.

Kelly Graves is going to look at the stat sheet and see 20 turnovers and think that’s probably what cost his team a win in the desert.

He would be right because most of those turnovers were unforced, but Arizona took full advantage to defeat the Ducks women’s basketball team 79-71 in a raucous McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. Sunday night.

With the loss, Oregon falls to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in conference play and Arizona improves to 14-2 overall and 5-1 in Pac-12 action.

This was a back-and-forth game all night long with 21 lead changes and nine different ties. But Arizona scored the last six points of the game.

The Ducks had four players in double figures and held the Wildcats’ Cate Reese to just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Unfortunately for Oregon, Arizona’s role players stepped up enough in order to get the job done.

Reliving the most memorable moments for the Oregon Ducks in 2022

Before heading into 2023, let’s take a look back at the 2022 year for the Oregon Ducks. What was your most memorable moment?

We are about ready to put a bow on the year of 2022 and trudge into 2023 with full force. While that brings with it promises of new beginnings and a fresh slate, we want to take a chance to look back on the past year before embarking on the new year.

For the Oregon Ducks, it’s been a great year, not just in the football world, but across the entire sports landscape as well. While Dan Lanning and the Ducks had some great success in the first-year head coach’s inaugural season in Eugene, we also saw some fireworks from Dana Altman, Kelly Graves, and a few former Oregon Ducks on the track as well.

As the clock ticks down on 2022, let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable moments for Duck fans in the past calendar year: