Basketball Teams Make Impressions During Saturday Morning Scrimmages

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

Basketball Teams Make Impressions During Saturday Morning Scrimmages

10/28/17 | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley

Box Score: Oregon 88, Portland State 60 Box Score: Oregon 81, Idaho 57

The UO basketball programs hosted scrimmages Saturday that shed more light on the teams that will officially hit the court next week.

By: Rob Moseley

If Saturday morning was any indication, it's about to be a fun few months at Matthew Knight Arena — and potentially for several weeks next March.

The Oregon basketball programs hosted scrimmages Saturday, to benefit victims of the wildfires around the state this summer. The UO women beat Portland State, 88-60, the men put away Idaho, 81-57, and the fans in attendance contributed $17,465 at the doors to benefit the relief fund.

Coming into Saturday, we knew the women returned nearly everybody from last year's Elite Eight team, and added some talented newcomers. The men were rebuilding after the loss of three NBA draft picks from their Final Four team. After the exhibitions, we know quite a bit more.

1. The kids are going to play — a lot

The Oregon men started returners Payton Pritchard, Keith Smith and Roman Sorkin with transfers Paul White and Elijah Brown. But the first quarter wasn't even over — the men played quarters rather than halves — when all five players on the floor were newcomers: Troy Brown, Kenny Wooten, Elijah Brown, Victor Bailey Jr. and transfer Mikyle McIntosh. Bailey (below) ended up as the Ducks' leading scorer with 20 points, and Elijah Brown added 17. Wooten blocked three shots, doing justice to Jordan Bell's old uniform No. 1, while Troy Brown and Abu Kigab proved tenacious defenders.

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"You can see we've got some guys that are explosive," UO coach Dana Altman said. "The one thing I've appreciated about all the new guys, they've really worked with us. I think we have a chance to get better because of their willingness to play as a team and work with our staff." There were more minutes to be had Saturday owing to the absence of redshirt freshman M.J. Cage, who is away from the team evaluating his future, Altman said.

The women's team started the same group that occupied those positions by the second half of last season — Sabrina Ionescu, Maite Cazorla, Lexi Bando, Ruthy Hebard and Mallory McGwire. But the first two players off the bench were athletic freshman forwards Anneli Maley (below) and Satou Sabally. "Satou took a little bit of time to get her feet wet," head coach Kelly Graves said. "But once she did, I think people could see how special she can be. And then, Anneli just worked her butt off. They've earned those spots in the rotation."

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2. From all-conference to all-American?

Last year, Ionescu was Pac-12 freshman of the year, and Hebard joined her on the all-conference team as a freshmen. Even bigger things could be in store this season, based on Saturday's preview.

Ionescu led the UO women with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Hebard had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ionescu's court vision remains the most impressive of her many attributes; in the third quarter, she threaded a bounce pass between two defenders to Cazorla for a transition layup.

Hebard scored on the break twice in two possessions in the fourth quarter, getting behind the defense for layups assisted by Ionescu. Hebard established herself as a tireless post presence last season, but her ability to run the floor and explosiveness going after rebounds looked improved Saturday. "She's getting stronger in the weight room, and I think that's definitely helping her get off the ground and get big-time rebounds," Ionescu said. "And she runs the court really well. All of our bigs and guards have to run the floor well, and I think we'll end up wearing teams down."

3. Graduate transfers should pay off again

Altman has a long record of success with graduate transfers, and it looks like that will continue this season. Yes, the UO men boast a talented freshmen class that represent the future — and even the present, in some respects. But the addition of Elijah Brown (below) and Mikyle McIntosh for their senior seasons has provided the team with needed maturity, both physically and as leaders.

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Brown is a vocal presence already — at one point he called out a defensive switch he wasn't even personally involved in. And McIntosh's wide shoulders provide some of the physicality lost in the post with the departure of Bell, who was on hand to watch Saturday's exhibition. Altman constantly hounds his teams about defense and rebounding, and it was the veterans Pritchard, Brown and McIntosh who led the Ducks with five boards apiece in the scrimmage.

Pritchard may not be a senior, but the sophomore — Oregon's only returning starter — showed veteran poise in the second half. On the last possession of the third quarter, he drove and kicked to White for a three-pointer. Then, early in the fourth after Idaho rallied within 10 points, Pritchard led a 3-on-2 break and coolly finished at the rim himself to stabilize things for the Ducks.

4. Nothing is being taken for granted

Though the women return all the key pieces from their Elite Eight run, and the men added an elite recruiting class, both coaches worked their tails off Saturday. And the efforts were apparent — both teams looked markedly more cohesive late in the scrimmages than in the first quarter.

"I think the first half was more a feeling out process," Elijah Brown said. "We got warmed up the second half and started playing basketball."

The women's game was just minutes old when Graves hollered, "Let's go, dig in! I don't hear anybody talking!" Likewise, early in the men's scrimmage Altman turned to the bench and asked rhetorically, "Are we gonna guard anybody?" Both messages were received as the scrimmages wore on — but no doubt they'll continue to be reiterated when the men host Northwest Christian for an exhibition Monday night, and the women return to action Sunday against Westmont.

Players, too, didn't treat Saturday as a meaningless endeavor. Freshman guard Aina Ayuso scored the final points in the women's scrimmage, after both Sabally and Maley dove to the floor fighting for possession of a loose ball — in a scrimmage the Ducks led by 26 points at the time. In the men's game, it was Elijah Brown and Pritchard risking floor burns, just minutes into the game when Oregon led but 11-9.

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5. This was a worthy endeavor, on multiple fronts

Not to be overlooked was the money raised for the Red Cross. Thousands of Oregon fans showed up early, on a football gameday, to support the basketball teams and also the fundraising effort for the wildfire victims.

The coaches also got an early look at points of emphasis they'll need to stress in the preseason. "I learned we've got a lot of work to do defensively," Graves said. "We've got a lot of work to do communication-wise still. We're trying to switch up our defense a lot, and there were three or four occasions out of timeouts where we didn't know what we were in."

Altman took advantage of Bell's presence to reinforce in the postgame locker room how much his defense-first mentality benefitted last season's team. Bell is making a splash as an NBA rookie with spectacular dunks, but his pride in defense and rebounding at Oregon — as evidenced by his heartbreak at losing out for a key rebound in the Final Four loss — is something Altman wants to see from this year's team. "Keeping the ball out of the net (matters) just as much as putting it in," Altman said. "We've got to get that different mentality in the new group."