Tag: oregon basketball

Former Oregon Ducks guard Jennah Isai transfers to BYU

The Oregon Ducks lost another talented player to the transfer portal, with guard Jennah Isai heading to BYU for the 2023-24 season.

Heralded point guard Jennah Isai is leaving the Oregon Ducks program and heading to BYU, where she will be enrolling in January and eligible to play starting in the 2023-24 season – BYU’s first in the Big 12 Conference.

Isai appeared in 10 games for Kelly Graves’ team this year, averaging seven points, 3.2 rebounds, and two assists per game before departing the program due to “personal reasons” before Oregon’s matchup against Ohio State on December 20.

Isai was the 36th ranked prospect in the class of 2022 by ESPN, coming to Eugene out of Valley Vista High School in Surprise, Arizona.

Isai’s departure will challenge Oregon’s depth in the backcourt, where the team is currently led by Endyia Rogers and Te-Hina Paopao who are averaging 14.4 and 12.8 points, respectively.

It also continues a disturbing trend of players leaving Graves program, following the exodus of Taylor Bigby, Maddie Scherr, Sydney Parrish, and Kylee Watson during the previous offseason.

Despite the hardships, Oregon is 10-2 heading into a big home matchup against No. 10 UCLA on December 30.

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Former Oregon guard Tyler Dorsey waived by Dallas Mavericks

Tyler Dorsey appeared in three games for Dallas this season, his first NBA action since 2018-19.

Former Oregon Ducks guard Tyler Dorsey was waived by the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, making room for new two-way signee AJ Lawson out of NBA G League College Park – according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Dorsey’s three NBA appearances this year were his first since he was with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018-19.

He spent each of the previous three years overseas, first in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 19-20 and 20-21 and then with Olympiacos in Greece for 21-22.

Dorsey had nine points on 4-4 shooting in his first game of the season back on October 22, but he didn’t get back into a game until December 14, going 0-1 in two and a half minutes. He saw the court for another 90 seconds on Christmas, failing to score before ultimately getting cut the next day.

Dorsey shouldn’t have any issue finding a job in Europe with a prominent club, should he choose, but he could also try to work his way back into the NBA via the G-League – assuming he passes through waivers and is free to sign with a new team.

Dorsey played two years at Oregon in 2015 and 2016, averaging 14.1 points in 75 games while shooting a blistering 41.6% from beyond the arc.

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Oregon MBB recap: Ducks pick up narrow win over UC-Riverside

Brennan Rigsby drops 19 points and leads the Oregon Ducks to victory over UC-Riverside on Wednesday evening.

16 turnovers and a tough shooting night from beyond the arc nearly sunk the Oregon Ducks on Wednesday evening, but they were able to hold on and secure a victory over UC-Riverside at Matthew Knight Arena.

A 17-point lead dwindled to three as the Highlanders caught fire late in the second half, but a 19-point effort from guard Brennan Rigsby helped lead the Ducks to a win.

Dana Altman’s squad moves to 6-5 on the year with the victory. They have won four of their last five, a nice response after a rough three-game losing streak in the Phil Knight Invitational.

Rigsby’s performance helped mask a rough night from Oregon’s other starting guards – Rivaldo Soares and Will Richardson – who shot a combined 1-7 from beyond the arc. N’Faly Dante stuffed the stat sheet as well, posting 14 points with five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks.

Oregon gets the Portland Pilots next, as they continue to gel together and get healthier heading into the meat of Pac-12 conference play.

Pac-12 Power Rankings: Arizona and UCLA remain conference powerhouses

The Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins are the teams to beat in the Pac-12, but Oregon, Arizona State, and upstart Utah are making noise.

The Pac-12 basketball season got underway last week, with every conference team playing two league games before a few more non-conference matchups to finish out the month.

Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats remain the top team in the conference, despite suffering a loss to upstart Utah to begin conference play. Behind Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, Arizona’s frontcourt is going to be nearly impossible to stop this season as they look to once again earn a No. 1 overall seed in March.

UCLA is on a nice winning streak after losing two straight in Portland, and Arizona State is sitting pretty with a 9-1 record and wins over Michigan and SMU.

Oregon is getting healthy, securing a win over Washington State and comfortably defeating a solid Nevada squad. If they can find some consistency early in 2023 they could easily contend for a top-5 spot in the conference and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Here is a look at the Pac-12 power rankings just over one month into the 2022-23 season:

Oregon MBB Recap: Ducks pick up convincing win over WSU to open up Pac-12 play

The Ducks got a convincing win over Washington State to open up Pac-12 play on Thursday night, led by a career-high 22 points from N’Faly Dante.

After a gritty performance at the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland last week, where the Oregon Ducks were undermanned and often over-matched, they got back into a semblance of a rhythm to start Pac-12 play on Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

It resulted in a 74-60 win over the Washington State Cougars.

What was a back-and-forth game for the first 30 minutes of game-time quickly turned into a comfortable win for the Ducks. It was N’Faly Dante who led the way for Oregon, scoring a career-high 22 points while pulling down 7rebounds. Players like Will Richardson and Quincy Guerrier were also key offensive contributors, while Rivaldo Soares dominated on the glass, and JUCO transfer Brennan Rigsby made his Oregon debut with a much-needed burst of energy that seemed to like the Ducks.

While the start of the season has been a slog for Oregon, battling numerous injuries and struggling to find any sort of consistency on the court, it feels like Thursday night was a much-needed positive start to conference play.

Here are some of the biggest things you need to know about the game:

Pac-12 Power Rankings: Arizona team to beat as conference play begins

The Arizona Wildcats are the team to beat in the Pac-12 as conference play gets set to begin, although the UCLA Bruins are on their heels.

It’s been a roller coaster of a non-conference slate for the Pac-12 men’s basketball programs – and one doesn’t need to look any further than the wins and losses for the Colorado Buffaloes to see what we mean.

Colorado has defeated two top 25 teams, pretty handily, while suffering tough losses to Grambling and UMass.

They aren’t alone in having some questionable performances. Arizona State blew the doors off a very good Michigan team, but also suffered a loss to Texas Southern.

A new era of transfers has created situations where many teams are behind in terms of learning the playbook and familiarizing themselves with new teammates, which can create a chaotic environment during the first month of the season.

Now that the dust has mostly settled, and conference play is set to get started on November 30, it is time to take a look at the Pac-12 men’s basketball power rankings. These rankings will be updated weekly as we inch closer and closer to March and the inevitable madness that ensues.

Oregon MBB recap: Ducks battle hard but fall to Michigan State in PK85

The Oregon Ducks hung tough against a strong Michigan State Spartans team, but ultimately lost their third game in a row, 74-70.

Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks suffered their third consecutive loss of the season, fighting valiantly but ultimately losing 74-70 to the Michigan State Spartans in the second round of the PK85 Invitational on Friday evening.

Will Richardson had an outstanding night for the Ducks, dropping 28 points on 10-21 shooting, while adding eight assists, five rebounds, and two steals.

N’Faly Dante left the game early while undergoing concussion protocol, pushing freshman Kel’el Ware into a bigger role. Ware finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, but he went just 2-9 from beyond the arc.

Oregon’s bench scoring was nearly non-existent, with just a Lok Wur three pointer keeping them from getting shut out as a unit.

The Ducks will take part in the seventh place contest against a banged up and underperforming Villanova squad on Sunday, giving Altman and his team a chance to pick up a nice win to close out the weekend.

Oregon MBB recap: Ducks downed by UConn Huskies in PK85 opener

The Oregon Ducks looked listless and out of sports in a demoralizing loss to the UConn Huskies in the PK85 Invitational on Thursday.

It was forgivable – understandable even – that the Oregon Ducks dropped a game to the Houston Cougars last week to move to 2-2 on the season. Houston looks like perhaps the best team in all of college basketball, and Oregon held them to 66 points and hung tough throughout.

However – Thursday’s performance against the UConn Huskies in the Phil Knight Invitational didn’t give Duck fans anything to be thankful for.

Dana Altman’s squad shot an abysmal 20-for-47 from the field, good for just 42.6%, while turning the ball over a whopping 17 times. Factor in a horrific 14-25 showing at the free throw line and you have all the makings of a world class beatdown, suffered on Nike founder Phil Knight’s birthday in Portland, just a few hours north of Matthew Knight Arena. Yikes.

Here is some more info on Thursday’s tough outing for the Ducks, and what is coming up for Altman’s team this weekend:

Oregon MBB Recap: Ducks get right in big 81-51 win over Montana State

This was much closer to the Oregon Ducks we thought we’d see this year, with a big 81-51 win over Montana State.

This is certainly closer to the Oregon Ducks team we expected to see at the start of the year.

While the first two games of the season — an underwhelming win over Florida A&M and an excruciating loss to UC Irvine — left a lot to be desired from Dana Altman’s squad, the Ducks seemingly turned a corner on Tuesday night, taking down the Montana State Bobcats in dominant fashion, winning 81-51.

The shots finally started falling for Oregon, and the energy levels were certainly improved. While there is still a lot that can get better, particularly when it comes to free throw shooting, this was the best that we’ve seen the Ducks look in a while.

Here are some important takeaways from the game:

Oregon MBB Recap: Ducks fall to UC Irvine, suffering one of Dana Altman’s worst losses in Eugene

A 69-56 final score does not paint the whole picture for Oregon. This was one of the worst Duck losses in the Dana Altman era.

That’s probably not how the Oregon Ducks thought this one was going to play out when scheduling the UC Irving Anteaters for an early-November game.

The final score read 69-56 on the scoreboard, but some late-game shot-making helped save this one from looking as bad as it should have. It was one of the worst losses that Oregon has suffered at home to start a season since their loss to Texas Southern in 2018. The number on Friday night further underlined a message that came across in the Ducks’ first game of the season last Monday — this team is far from their ceiling right now.

That’s not a rare occurrence for Dana Altman teams in November. With a handful of new additions and the unfortunate injury luck that has plagued this team over the past couple of months, it’s understandable why they are playing at this level. However, they are going to need to turn things around quickly, as No. 3 ranked Houston comes to town in just over a week.

If you didn’t make it through the entire game on Friday, I can’t say I blame you. Here’s everything you need to know about the defeat.