Oregon Looks to Knock off Belmont in First Round of NCAA Tournament

The Ducks’ road to the Final Four starts with a Bruins team, who are a mid-majors powerhouse.

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks (20-11, 11-6 Pac-12) will take on the No. 12 Belmont Bruins (22-7, 16-2 Ohio Valley) in the Wichita Region of the bracket. It is the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament and the game will start at 2:30 PT on ESPN2.

It is Oregon's fifth straight time in the Tournament and seventeenth appearance overall. The Ducks will have to fight hard and they'll have their hands full against a Bruins team that upset No. 5 Gonzaga last year in the opening round.

In their sixth appearance in the Tournament, Belmont has been very successful over the past seven years with six Ohio Valley Conference Titles in that span.

The Bruins have won 12 straight and will look to keep momentum going as they try to pull off the upset in the first round for the second year in a row.

What to Watch | Destinee Wells

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Sophomore Destinee Wells is the engine of this offense as a dynamic scorer and playmaker. The number speak for themselves. She's the team’s leader in six categories per game: Points (16.6), assists (4.4), field goals attempted (13.4), field goals made (6.1), free throws made (2.9) and free throws attempted (3.8).

The guard is fast and crafty, so Oregon will have to communicate on the pick-and-roll defense. Wells could absolutely punish the Ducks in a late game situation if multiple players get into foul trouble.

Look for Oregon Head Coach Kelly Graves to put different defenders on her with the hope of throwing off her rhythm by giving her different looks at the basket.

What to Watch | Oregon’s Balanced Attack

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The Ducks don’t rely on one person to run their team like Belmont does. In this game, Oregon has three of the top four players in this game. Those three are Nyra Sabally, Endyia Rogers and Te-Hina Paopao, who were named to the Pac-12 All-Conference team.

These three combine for 42.8 of Oregon’s 71.39 points per game. They provide Oregon with two strong perimeter scorers and a reliable presence in the paint.

Belmont just doesn’t have the depth to offset the talent disparity between these two teams. Hopefully, Graves can get these three fired up to try to smother the Bruins early.

Storyline to Watch | A Collision of Styles

Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest

The winner of this game will be decided by who sticks to their strengths. Oregon has an obvious size advantage with four players 6’4” or taller. Belmont has a shorter team, their tallest player is Madison Bartley at 6’3”.

Oregon can easily win the battle on the glass and get easy points in the paint with their size advantage. Looking at the Bruins’ roster, it doesn’t look like they have an answer for Sabally and Sedona Prince, her counterpart in the post.

Belmont is a smaller and quicker team than Oregon. They'll most likely use the perimeter to their advantage to try to bring Oregon’s rim protectors out of the paint through five-out sets and pick-and-rolls with Bartley as the screener.

If Belmont can force Oregon to play at their fast pace in the open court, it could make Graves deploy a smaller lineup. Oregon can play small, but they'd be giving up their best advantage.

Conclusion

March is always the best month for basketball fans because of upsets in the NCAA Tournaments. Fortunately, Oregon fans shouldn’t have much to worry about being the victim of one on Saturday. The Ducks have more weapons and a balanced attack on the perimeter and in the paint.

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