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QuickTake:
One program has stability and familiar faces. The other is starting over. Both Oregon basketball teams gave fans reasons for optimism on opening night.
The Oregon men’s and women’s basketball teams are in different places.
The Oregon women have stability at the top and continuity on their roster. The Oregon men are in transition — with a team that replaced the majority of its players from a year ago and a sideline that doesn’t include Dana Altman for the first time since 2010.
One similarity between the programs, though?
They both opened their seasons with wins at Matthew Knight Arena on Monday.
Here are three thoughts on each.
Kelly Graves is still locked in
For all the talk of Altman’s age — he hung it up at 68 — it should be remembered that Graves is 63 himself.
Not that Monday felt like it.
In his 40th year of coaching, with a roster that’s blossomed after consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the 13th-year Ducks coach had a pep in his step during the women’s 87-54 victory over Hawaii.
The biggest difference between Year 1 and now? Well, Graves said, there are just more former players texting him on opening day.
“I really love this team,” Graves said of a Ducks team that returns seven players from last season, including its top two scorers in Katie Fiso and Ehis Etute. “I really love this energy. They’re easy to be around every day. They like each other. They work hard for each other. I think they’re selfless, and they’re great teammates. They really are, and they make coaching fun.”
Ehis Etute is still Ehis Etute
In a world where so much can change so quickly in college athletics, is there anything more reliable than an Ehis Etute double-double?
One of Oregon’s key returners after her standout sophomore campaign, Etute put up a monster performance in just 20 minutes, scoring 15 points with 14 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive glass.
The Ducks didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but Etute’s ability to create second-chance opportunities helped keep the offense going. That wasn’t always easy against Hawaii’s 6-foot-5 center Ritorya Tamilo, who blocked seven shots.
Six of those came in the first half before Oregon eventually found success drawing Tamilo away from the basket, creating room for Etute to operate inside.
“She’s a load when she gets that opportunity,” Graves said. “It’s also a challenge to Ehis. She’s got to develop more of a midrange game. She’s not going to be the last 6-5 player we play against. But I think Ehis will accept that challenge.”
The Ducks can shoot
Oregon knows what it has in Etute, and few in college basketball can attack the rim quite like junior Katie Fiso, who finished with 14 points and nine assists.
But these Ducks look threatening from range, too.
Oregon drained 11 of its 32 three-point attempts, including eight of its first 14, paced by Minnesota transfer Mallory Heyer, who led the Ducks with 16 points and hit four of her eight attempts from three. Ari Long also knocked down four threes on six attempts.
“Difference maker. No question,” Graves said of Heyer. “She’s one of the better three-point shooters…She’s able to stretch the defense, and when teams have to stay on Avary Cain and stay on Mallory, that gives Katie a lot of room to operate with the ball. It gives Ehis some freedom to make plays inside.
“So yeah, we expect that from Mallory. She’s been shooting the heck out of it pretty much all fall.”
The men
Team showed first game fight
The Montana Grizzlies aren’t a bad basketball team. They’re picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky media poll — but they came to Eugene ranked 243rd nationally in the preseason KenPom ratings and finished with just 18 wins last season.
Granted, the Oregon men’s basketball team won just 12 games last season, saw most of its roster depart and had its head coach retire this offseason.
So in that case, an 87-69 win over the team in maroon in Tony Stubblefield’s debut as interim head coach was a success — even if it got a little close midway through the second half when Montana tied the game at 57.
The way Oregon closed was impressive, though. The Ducks responded to the tie by going on a 15-2 run. They got stops. They were electric in transition. And a defense that allowed far too many open looks around the perimeter earlier in the game tightened up.
For a team playing its first real game together, that’s not a bad start.
“They can put four or five guards out there on the floor, and they can really spread the floor and penetrate and kick for three,” Stubblefield said of Montana. “So I think our guys did a better job of getting adjusted to that and stuck with it.”
The Ducks can run — and jump
Oregon’s key to this game was its size. The Ducks have a host of players 6-foot-6 or taller who can clog up the lanes and fight for boards, and they played that card often. Oregon outscored Montana 54-14 in the paint, won the rebounding battle 37-26 and put the Matthew Knight Arena rims to the test with a handful of alley-oops.
Montana made 13 three-pointers but managed just nine two-point field goals. Granted, the Griz were missing two frontcourt players in Amari Jedkins and Kenyon Aguino, but Oregon’s size and athleticism were too much to overcome.
The Ducks are still feeling out their roster, but they appear to be a team that can come at an opponent in waves.
“I keep telling our guys our strength is in numbers. I think we have a lot of depth on this team,” Stubblefield said. “I think over the course of 40 minutes, we can wear out teams.”
Riley might be that guy
OK, so who is going to be the name?
You know, the guy you want with the ball in his hands at the end of the game? The player whose jersey you might buy?
Well, unless you held on to your Wei Lin threads — the returning guard scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting Monday — the early front-runner is Tyrone Riley IV.
The San Francisco transfer’s 17 points were one thing, but he also tallied a pair of blocks and four steals, with his sense for the ball on defense helping spark Oregon’s late-game surge.
Riley scored 6 points during the Ducks’ decisive 15-2 run, including an alley-oop dunk.
It’s been a while since the Ducks have had a guard with this type of length and athleticism:
