These Ducks do run, run — and other things we learned from women’s hoops opener

I’ve always thought basketball season has a weird start to it. We count down the days to kickoff in football. Baseball arrives with that “Opening Day” nostalgia. College basketball seemingly starts in the middle of the night. By the time most people wake up around conference play, more than a third of the season is in the books.

But the games do start now. Monday night was Kelly Graves’ 12th season-opener with the Ducks, a 100-59 blowout of West Georgia that improved Graves’ record to 12-0 in openers and set the table for a Ducks team hoping to make a deeper run in the NCAA Tournament when March comes around.

That, of course, is five long months from now. But what does Graves take away from a 41-point win in November?

“Well, you take a deep breath knowing, OK, we’ve got this thing started,” Graves said. “And I think we’ve got a pretty good basketball team. To me, the highlight is that everybody got in and most scored. Everybody had a chance, you know? They got in and did what they do, and we can build on it.

“It also gives us some videotape.”

If you don’t have time for the tape yourself, here are five things we learned from Oregon’s season-opening win.

The Ducks will run

Katie Fiso didn’t seem like she broke a sweat. Oregon’s sophomore starting point guard finished Monday night with one of the best games of her career: 10 points, 10 assists, 0 turnovers and 3 steals for her first career double-double.

Many of those assists came on the fast break. The Ducks forced 31 turnovers — including more steals (24) than buckets the Wolves scored (18) — and were often off to the races flying down the court.

Oregon cashed in? 41 points off turnovers and 32 fast-break points.

That’s just what the Ducks do, Fiso said.

“We feel great,” Fiso said. “That’s what we implement in practice. Fast-paced play, running the floor — I feel like we’re in great shape to do that. It’s just continuing to push the pace every time we get a board, steal and creating those opportunities for each other.”

The Ducks will (eventually) shoot

Oregon never trailed. Oregon never looked like it was at risk of losing. But for the first quarter, the Ducks weren’t exactly lighting up the net. While the transition game and defense were there from the start — the Ducks led 23-10 after the first quarter thanks to 14 points off turnovers — it wasn’t until Elisa Mevius hit Oregon’s first 3-pointer with 9:22 to go in the second quarter that the Ducks really began to pour it on.

Oregon was 0-for-6 from beyond the arc before Mevius connected. Then the Ducks drained their next three attempts and finished the game 10-for-36 overall.

“We weren’t at our best,” Graves said. “Certainly, if we had shot the ball from three like we’ve been doing, it would have been different. Just one of those nights where we didn’t shoot it all that well.”

Mia Jacobs will fit in nicely

There’s not much razzle-dazzle to Mia Jacobs’ game.

The Fresno State transfer is the biggest addition to Oregon’s roster — a player who averaged 18.3 points and 10.0 rebounds as a junior while earning a place on the Mountain West first team.

Jacobs is 6-foot-2. She’s from Perth, Australia. And she isn’t the type who’s going to be hitting parking-lot threes or breaking ankles with a crossover.

But what she is going to do is score buckets, get rebounds and steadily fill the stat sheet.

Jacobs finished her first game as a Duck with a team-high 16 points, shooting an efficient 7-for-12 from the field, connecting on a pair of threes and snagging six rebounds.

“She’s going to be that way,” Graves said. “She’s not a flashy player, but she’s a very productive player. I thought she would have gotten a few more rebounds tonight, but all in all, a good game.”

Said Jacobs on her first home game at Matthew Knight Arena: “It was really cool. It’s one of my dreams to be able to play in the Power Four. So being out here, it’s great. A little nervous to start, as you saw, but it was good.”

Sara Barhoum is open — anywhere

Jacobs might not bring the flash. But it seems the Ducks have plenty of that in Sara Barhoum. The freshman guard from Clackamas played just eight minutes on Monday, but in those minutes hit a pair of threes — including one from darn near the logo.

“If it’s in the half court, she can shoot it,” Graves said. “She can really shoot it.”

Fellow freshman Janiyah Williams added seven points in nine minutes of action.

“It’s good to see them both get their first real college baskets,” Graves said. “They’re both really good players, and just because you miss a few, you don’t want to tell them to quit shooting or anything like that. You just let them go and hope they get on a roll.”

Graves wanted more

If you get the sense from some of these Graves quotes that the Oregon coach wasn’t exactly thrilled with a dominant win, well, you’re right.

In particular, Graves wasn’t happy with the way the Ducks played in the second half, when the Wolves scored 46 of their 59 points.

At one point, Graves subbed out all five of his starters at the same time.

“I didn’t like how we started the second half,” Graves said. “So we went five in, five out. Typically, you don’t do that, but in games like this, it’s no harm trying to play everybody and trying to get meaningful minutes.”

It’s fascinating watching Graves coach during a game. I’ve covered Dana Altman for so long on the men’s side that I’m used to a coach micromanaging everything from the sideline — with a men’s game filled with stomps, claps and billows from Altman.

Graves is quite the opposite. He spends most of the game in his chair, arms folded or resting his face in a palm. He doesn’t celebrate much when Oregon hits a basket. The only big reaction I saw came toward the end of the first quarter when Tayah Morgan drained an open three for the Wolves, and Graves clapped his hands in frustration.

It’s still very early. The Ducks still won big. But it seems Graves’ expectations are high for this group — and so is his standard of play.

“There are some things we can get better at, and now we can show them,” Graves said. “‘We’ve got to do this better and this better. But we did this well and this well, so let’s keep doing this.’

“So that’s what it’s for, opening night.”