Oregon's Kelly Graves Gives Honest Opinion on Home Games in NCAA Tournament

The Oregon Ducks saw their 2025-26 season come to a close at the hands of the Texas Longhorns by a final score of 100-58. No. 8 seed Oregon was no match for the No. 1 seeded Longhorns.

Ducks coach Kelly Graves spoke to reporters after the game following the loss alongside guard Katie Fiso and guard Ari Long. Graves was disappointed by the loss, but expressed in his opening statement how proud he was of the team. He also touched on how he believes that the whole NCAA Tournament should be played at neutral sites.

Opening Statement

Oregon Ducks NCAA Tournament Texas Longhorns Katie Fiso Kelly Graves Ari Long March Madness Second Round Loss Big Ten — Oregon women’s coach Kelly Graves gives his team last-minute instructions before their game against Nebraska Feb. 19, 2026. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Congratulations to Texas. They’re a really good basketball team. We’re just not where they’re at right now. They played well tonight. We weren’t at our best, but I always give the credit to our opponent. They made us play on our heels for most of the game and we’re disappointed that we’re not moving on. But at the same time, I’m not going to be negative and down because this was a great year for us."

“We’re kind of a home grown team in terms of, we have players that had smaller roles last year and they moved into bigger roles. We didn’t just go out and pay and plug in and play kids. I’m proud of that. They stepped up. 23 wins. Won a couple games in our Big Ten tournament. One here. And we just didn’t have what they had today. And that part is disappointing.”

“But I’m going to remember the great things. Especially with these two (Fiso and Long). I thought they played well the entire seasoning certainly during tournament play. I’m really proud of our team. I am.”

Coaching in Road Environment During A Opponent’s Scoring Run

“Certainly an advantage (for Texas), but they earned it. They earned the No. 1 seed, they earned two games at home. I think at some point, and I’ve been a two seed, we’ve been a host a couple times, so I understand it. We need to get to a point where we do this on neutral sites, but they deserved it. They earned it. They’re a heck of a team.”

“It makes it tough but at the same time, we play in the Big Ten. And pretty much everywhere we go, we get great crowds. So we’ve seen that playing at Iowa, playing at Ohio State, Maryland…They have great crowds and so I don’t think that was really a factor. I thought we played well early. Then they just started rolling….They’re a really good basketball team and we’re just not there yet."

“I don’t think the crowd really psychs our kids out too much.”

What Went Right in First Half, Wrong in Second Half

“We actually took care of the ball a little bit better in the second half. The turnovers were huge though, because they got what, we had 15 turnovers. I think they had 23-24 points off those turnovers. They made them count.”

“I thought the first half…we were hanging in there. I thought we did a great job on the boards. Booker was getting hers for sure, but I thought we had done a pretty good job on then others. We felt pretty good with where we were at at that time, because I thought we had some open looks. They just didn’t go. "

“It just started to pile on and that third quarter, they really took it to us. We didn’t respond all that well unfortunately.”