The Hoosiers travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Ducks.
Indiana women’s basketball is somewhat in need of a bounce back win following back to back losses in Assembly Hall, something that’s been nearly unthinkable for the program in the past few seasons.
Oregon presents a prime opportunity.
The Ducks have had an interesting season up to this point. The nonconference features a loss to South Dakota State (which, they’ll get you, yeah) but the rest of the schedule looks solid. They’ve dropped the ones they probably should and won the games they should.
Which, noteworthy for the Hoosiers, means the Ducks enter this contest 12-1 at home with a resume extremely similar to that of Indiana’s.
Nonconference loss to a lower opponent? Check. Loss to USC? You bet. A win in State College? Yeah.
So this is an interesting one before you even consider any storylines. Let’s get into it.
Star Player: If anyone, Deja Kelly
Here’s the thing: Oregon doesn’t necessarily have some go-to guaranteed mid-high double digit scorer. But the Ducks have a reliable lead guard in Deja Kelly.
The former UNC transfer is having the most lackluster scoring season of her career at 11 points per game (which is enough to lead the ducks), but she’s still an all-around player to watch with 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
What she isn’t is a shooter. Kelly’s best season from deep came with the Tar Heels a few years ago at 36.1%, which was promising for a sophomore. Those numbers have since cratered, she’s converting on just 14.3% of her attempts from long range with the Ducks.
It’ll be interesting to see how Indiana elects to defend her. Most of the Hoosiers will have a size advantage over the 5’8” Kelly, so I wouldn’t be surprised if 5’11” Chloe Moore-McNeil draws that assignment.
Oregon doesn’t have a ton of shooting, but Indiana’s going to need to keep an eye on Nani Falatea, who shoots 39.7% from deep.
Style of play
Oregon, if you couldn’t tell from the above, is not some offensive juggernaut. If they run into an offense that’s just too good, as happened against USC, the Ducks just cannot keep pace.
What Oregon does well is defend. Their 59.4 opponent points per game is the fifth best mark in the conference and is just below Ohio State, whose press defense should not only be well known to Hoosier fans but has confounded multiple other teams and coaches.
You can get away with not scoring particularly well if you can defend and that’s what Oregon has been doing best this season. That’s also, largely what Indiana has been doing.
Indiana is going to need to counter Oregon’s defense on the perimeter. The Ducks are forcing opponents into making a paltry 28.8% of their attempts from deep.
If Indiana is able to generate good looks and, better, know them down, it should feel good about this matchup.
Storyline
This is something of an interesting matchup for Sydney Parrish.
Parrish, originally from Fishers, Indiana, committed to Oregon out of high school and spent the first two years of her career with the Ducks before transferring to Indiana. She’s far from the only player in the program to transfer out as Kelly Graves looks to rebuild what he once had in Eugene.
Parrish has repeatedly stated she appreciated her time with the program and has expressed warm feelings toward Oregon previously. Graves has also commented on the transfer previously to note just how good of a player Parrish is. There’s no reason to believe there’s bad blood.
Either way, it’s an interesting storyline.