Women’s Basketball Diary: At the Giomi Jamboree

Oregon bounced back by getting physical with the Cougs and Huskies, but now the Mountains are calling and their offensive struggles are the next big challenge.

Happy Friday Duck fans. This is just a quick note to remind you that the only active nationally-ranked Oregon athletics program* tips off today at 2 pm PST against Utah in Salt Lake.

Sweeping the Warshington schools last week was a great way to bounce back. Sedona found her stankface, and watching Lydia “The Walking Double-Double” Giomi stepped up big in Nyara’s absence. The Ducks are slowly re-figuring out how to be the physical team that Kelly Graves has set them up to be.

Last week in the comments, our good friend Pilk said the Ducks needed to, “leave it all on the floor.” We then saw Sabally jump back on the court against Wazzu after an ankle injury—right before the swelling came on, I’m sure—and Sedona dive for loose balls while also getting red hot from mid-range. 

And we also got a peek at the Giomi Revolution.

With an 11 & 10 double-double over the Huskies, Lydia clearly sees a chance for her to finally carve a role out on this squad while Sabally and Watson recover from injury, and while Dugalic cools off from her hot start. 

Not only was she a perfect 5 for 5 from the field on Sunday, but she also excelled in transition offensively in ways that the “one-true-five” on the team isn’t supposed to.

I think it’s safe to say that all the Ducks answered the challenge of getting more scrappy and intense in the face of adversity.

PaoPao, Chavez, Shelley, and Mikesell all found their moments—especially defensively, where the whole team has been stellar—but they’ll need to meld better on the offensive end as we step back into the tougher ends of the Pac schedule.

Having the 24th-ranked scoring defense in the country is a HUGE progression for the Oregon program, but we simply won’t survive if we force Sedona to be our pure scorer night after night.

Getting Boley back healthy will be a nice piece to that, too.

Utah is 4-9 on the year, so I expect this afternoon to go over without a hitch, but mostly I’d just like to see the physicality hold steady, with an uptick in offensive production and efficiency. That would be nice.

Go Ducks.

*Indoor Track & Field is in Fayetteville for the Razorback Invitational this weekend too, and the UO Men’s Distance Medley Relay squad currently holds the collegiate record. Cooper Teare anchors that title defense this evening and it can be live streamed on SEC Network+ starting around 2:30 pm PST.

Run Ducks, run.