Despite being unable the fact that they overcame a seven point halftime deficit, the Oregon Ducks (5-5, 0-2) walked out of Palo Alto, Calif. with a loss at the buzzer. Stanford’s (5-3, 1-1) Jaiden Delaire hit a three at the buzzer from the buzzer to hand the Ducks their second straight conference loss of the season.
To even get back in the game, Oregon had to go on a 16-7 scoring advantage that started with less than seven minutes left on the clock. And it’s not like the Ducks had consistent luck keeping Stanford away from the bucket during that stretch, it’s just that their shots finally started to fall. Despite that offensive success, both squads went cold from the floor and Oregon began to force shots down the stretch to try and get the lead back with little time left on the clock.
It’s not like the Ducks played poorly in the first half either, they shot 41.4% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc; Stanford was just on fire from beyond three point range as the Cardinal hit 41.% of their three point shots in that half to build up the seven point lead. Three point defense has been an issue for the Ducks so far this season, and while they held the Cardinal to 25% from downtown in the second half…they still couldn’t stop the game winner.
The women’s Golden Bear squad dropped 102 on McNeese
McNeese (3-6) was already the underdog when they headed to Berkley, Calif. to face Cal (7-2) but the Cowgirls still shouldn’t have lost by 42 and allowed the Golden Bears to reach 100+ points. Yet that’s exactly what happened when these two squads met on Saturday.
The Golden Bears started off the game with a 10-0 run before McNeese was able to put a point on the board and they never really looked back. It was complete and utter domination from start to finish, the closest quarter was the final one at 24-19 and that came after Cal had emptied out its bench. That final quarter also saw Cal’s worse shooting performance of the day as they shot 36.8% from the field and 11.1% from beyond the arc; meanwhile, the Cowgirls hit 61.1% of their shots from the field and 20% of their shots from beyond the arc.
While Cal is still in the early phases of its rebuild, the start to this season is extremely promising for the young squad. The only blemishes on its record is a 19 point loss to Ole Miss (No. 39 in the NET rankings) and a 17 point loss to Arkansas (No. 18). At the same time, the Bears have mostly handled the teams that are lower ranked than them with aplomb.
Power Rankings
Man, the women’s rankings had so much movement on it this past week. And unfortunately that meant a team that did not deserve to slip a bunch still ended up slipping; I’m talking about the UCLA Bruins (5-3) who went on the road to play No. 3 UConn (6-2) on Saturday and were in it until they had to start fouling. At that point, the Huskies pulled away and won 71-61 despite a Herculean effort from Charisma Osborne. Osborne scored 26 points while she shot 43.8% from beyond the arc — and 33.3% from the field.
UCLA’s slippage from fifth to seventh in the power rankings had everything to do with the performance of those around them — in particular the Beavers and Cougars impressive wins over the weekend. This is arguably one of the deepest conferences in the country for women’s basketball and you’re going to see a ton of movement throughout the season; especially in the middle of the rankings.
Women’s basketball
| Rank | School | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| 1) | Stanford Cardinal | – |
| 2) | Arizona Wildcats | – |
| 3) | Colorado Buffaloes | +1 |
| 4) | Oregon State Beavers | +2 |
| 5) | Oregon Ducks | -2 |
| 6) | Washington State Cougars | +2 |
| 7) | UCLA Bruins | -2 |
| 8) | ASU Sun Devils | -1 |
| 9) | Utah Utes | – |
| 10) | California Golden Bears | +1 |
| 11) | USC Trojans | -1 |
| 12) | Washington Huskies | – |
Men’s basketball
| Rank | School | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| 1) | UCLA Bruins | – |
| 2) | USC Trojans | – |
| 3) | Arizona Wildcats | – |
| 4) | Utah Utes | +2 |
| 5) | Colorado Buffaloes | +2 |
| 6) | WSU Cougars | -1 |
| 7) | Oregon Ducks | -3 |
| 8) | Stanford Cardinal | – |
| 9) | ASU Sun Devils | – |
| 10) | California Golden Bears | +1 |
| 11) | Washington Huskies | -1 |
| 12) | Oregon State Beavers | – |
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Photo Credit: Stanford Athletic Communications
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Categories: NCAA, NCAA Basketball, Pac-12 Power Rankings
