Oregon proved it can compete on the road in the Big Ten Conference Saturday afternoon during its game against Illinois.Deja Kelly also scored 14 for Oregon on 5-of-15 shooting.“This was our first true road game of the season and by and large we did some good things but we’re struggling in the scoring area,” Oregon […]
Oregon proved it can compete on the road in the Big Ten Conference Saturday afternoon during its game against Illinois.Deja Kelly also scored 14 for Oregon on 5-of-15 shooting.“This was our first true road game of the season and by and large we did some good things but we’re struggling in the scoring area,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said during his postgame radio interview on KUGN.Reserve Nani Falatea scored a season-high 17 for Oregon, which was up 47-43 with 7:40 play when Illinois (11-2, 1-1) went on a 7-0 run to take the lead.
The Illini missed their final five shots as well but were 10 of 14 from the free-throw line in the final 5:09 and 30 of 38 from the line for the game. Overall, the Ducks shot 30.8% from the field to 34.9% for Illinois, which has now won 13 straight at home.
“And even still, we probably scored enough to win the game. But again, 38 free throws. We let them live at the line. There’s your game. I don’t care about any other stat.”Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG
The Ducks stay in Illinois for a noon Tuesday game against Northwestern (7-6, 0-2) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.The Ducks (9-4, 0-2 Big Ten) lost a late lead and eventually the game to the Illini in a 64-59 Big Ten women’s basketball loss at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.
Up next for the Oregon
Now it just needs to show it can finish a close game away from Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks then struggled down the stretch as they went 2 for 11 from the field in the final five minutes after taking a 51-50 lead with 6:04 to play on a put-back three-point play by Amina Muhammad.The Wildcats lost on Saturday to Washington, 90-71.
