First, Santa Clara was an ass whooping, but it was such an outlier. Santa Clara is probably not much better than the first 3 teams Oregon handled easy. Play them 10 times, Oregon wins 8 of them, but on that day their shooting was uncharacteristically fantastic. 57% on 28 threes you just say great game and burn the tape.
This Nevada game was important as the second half they found an identity that best suits their current makeup. They played big girl ball and went super big. This team is a poor to ok outside shooting team but they'll be big every night. True Freshman Sarah Rambus had what we hope will be her breakout game. 6'3" strong and athletic she was super efficient. Basham played a solid 15 minutes.
For the majority of the half Oregon played 5'8" 6'1" 6'3" 6'8" and alternated between 6'3 and 6'7" for the 5th spot. They rebounded, drew fouls and scored in the paint. Using this lineup and the physical attitude they played with will allow them to at least be competitive in most of the conference games. Without Peyton though Graves fast offensive style with solid to great 3pt shooting needs to be shelved this year and focus on pounding people.
At this point for conference games, 6 players (Sloot, Gray, Bell, Phili, Rambus and Basham) need to play 90% of the minutes. Hopefully Wagner or Hammel or (P Williams eligibility) can show they can contribute in these remaining non-con games.