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Game Day preview: Oregon vs. Arizona in a top-20 women's basketball showdown

chris hansen, register-guard
·3 min read
No. 18 Oregon will play No. 15 Arizona Sunday at 4 p.m. in Tucson.
No. 18 Oregon will play No. 15 Arizona Sunday at 4 p.m. in Tucson.

Women’s basketball

No. 18 Oregon (12-3, 3-1 Pac-12) vs. No. 15 Arizona (13-2, 4-1)

4 p.m., Sunday at McHale Center, Tucson, Ariz.

TV: ESPN2

Radio: KUGN-FM (98.1), KUGN-AM (590)

About the Ducks

  • Oregon won 10 straight against Arizona between 2017-20 before the Wildcats snapped the streak with a sweep of the season series in 2021. This will be the seventh time in the last eight games that both teams have come into the game ranked in the AP poll, with the Wildcats winning the last three. Last season the unranked Ducks beat the No. 7 Wildcats 68-66 in overtime at Matthew Knight Arena on Jan. 15. When the two teams met in Tucson in February, No. 19 Oregon lost to No. 8 Arizona, 63-48.

  • It’s the fifth game of the season against a ranked opponent for the Ducks, who are 1-3 in their previous four games. The one victory coming against then-No. 17 Arkansas, and the losses were to No. 3 Ohio State, then-No. 8 North Carolina and then-No. 10 UCLA.

  • Sophomore Phillipina Kyei continues to dominate in the paint. The 6-8 center has 38 rebounds in her last two games and leads the Pac-12 and ranks fifth in the NCAA with an average of 12.3 per game. Against the Wildcats she’ll be facing a team ranked 10th in the conference in both rebounds (38.5) and rebounds allowed (35.5) per game.

About the Wildcats

  • Arizona erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to slip past Oregon State Thursday night, winning 72-69 as it avoided what would’ve been a second straight loss. The Wildcats lost 73-57 to No. 2 Stanford on Monday, snapping a six-game winning streak. Their only other loss this season came against Kansas on Dec. 8.

  • The Wildcats like to spread the ball around on offense and create turnovers on defense. Four starters average between 12.8 and 11.4 points per game, and four players have at least 24 steals as Arizona leads the Pac-12 and is seventh in the nation with an average of 12.7 steals per game. They’ll have a battle against Oregon, which averages a conference low 12.0 turnovers per game.

Statistical comparisons

  • Scoring average: Oregon, 82.3; Arizona 79.0

  • Opp. scoring average: Oregon, 60.5; Arizona, 60.7

  • FG percentage: Oregon, 46.3%; Arizona, 46.3%

  • Opp. FG percentage: Oregon, 36.6%; Arizona, 39.5%

  • 3-point FG percentage: Oregon, 38.4%; Arizona, 36.7%

  • 3-point FG per game: Oregon, 8.5; Arizona, 5.8

  • FT percentage: Oregon, 71.1%; Arizona, 65.3%

  • Rebounds per game: Oregon, 44.5; Arizona, 38.5

  • Rebounding margin: Oregon, +10.8; Arizona, +3.0

  • Assists per game: Oregon, 18.8; Arizona, 15.5

  • Turnovers per game: Oregon, 12.0; Arizona, 13.3

  • Turnover margin: Oregon, +2.3; Arizona, +7.6

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. 

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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: No. 18 Oregon will play No. 15 Arizona Wildcats in Pac-12 women's game