Oregon's Home Stand Continues as California Comes to Eugene

The Pac-12's leading scorer Jayda Curry and the Golden Bears come to Matthew Knight Arena where the Ducks seek to finish the season strong.

Author:
Billy Spotz
Publish date:
Feb 18, 2022 11:00 AM EST

Kelly Graves' squad faces the California Golden Bears Friday night, looking to extend their six-game winning streak over the Pac-12 foe over the last five years.

Entering Friday's game, the Ducks have gone 3-2 over their last five games, and 7-3 over their last 10, dropping games to No. 8 Arizona, Arizona State, and in-state rival Oregon State.

Since the Ducks' win over the Golden Bears on Jan. 9, it’s been an up and down season full of postponements, a forfeit, and rough losses. Cal has only played six games since then, losing to Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, and Utah, while beating USC, and getting a forfeit win over Arizona State.

Charmin Smith’s tenure as the Golden Bears' head coach has been less than stellar, but three seasons now marred by COVID-19 and all that it comes with hasn’t given her a proper opportunity to build out her program. The Golden Bears finished last season 1-16 but have taken strides toward rebuilding the program this season, especially with most of last year's roster returning.

Despite the Golden Bears' recent struggles, freshman Jayda Curry has been a standout for them, playing in all but one of their games this season. She’s been an incredibly effective scorer in her true freshman season, ranking first in the Pac-12 in points per game with 19.2. She’ll be a player to watch not only against the Ducks, but going forward as she is poised to be an effective scoring threat for years to come.

Curry’s success as a scorer comes from all over the floor, and she’s dynamic in her approach. Her shooting percentages don’t exactly jump off the stat sheet, but she’s a capable scorer from all areas and is averaging 6.3 free throw attempts a game, good for tops in the conference. Curry’s been quite the surprise this season, picking up two Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards and will look to add more as she heads to Matthew Knight Arena for the first time in her career.

Te-Hina Paopao

Sedona Prince

For Oregon, either Te-Hina Paopao or Endyia Rogers has led the Ducks in scoring in each of their last six games. Rogers in particular has been a standout as she’s averaged 15.5 points per game in that stretch, and 14.4 per game on the season. Sedona Prince’s role will also be something to watch, as she was moved back to the bench after Nyara Sabally returned to the starting lineup against UCLA.

The Ducks are averaging 72.3 points per game this season, but to match this they have been playing excellent defense, holding teams to under 60 points a game. Conversely, Cal’s scoring offense is fourth in the conference at 71 points a game, but its defense is lacking compared to the Ducks, as the Golden Bears let their opposition score 67 a game on average — second-worst in the conference.

On paper, this appears to be a game the Ducks are well-positioned to win, but as was made clear last Saturday in the men’s game against Cal, you can never count out any team in the Pac-12, regardless of sport. Containing Curry, and limiting the offensive efforts of others like Dalayah Daniels will be key to Oregon’s success on Friday.

The game will be played at 7:00 p.m. PT, and will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.