Oregon Faces Road Test at No. 13 Baylor

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon women's basketball team faces its first ranked test of the season, as the Ducks wrap up a three-game road swing Sunday at Ferrell Center against No. 13 Baylor at 11 a.m. PT.

GAME #7
Oregon (4-2) at No. 13 Baylor (6-0)
Sunday, Dec. 3 | 11 a.m. PT | Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
TV: FS1
Radio: Oregon Sports Network (Eugene: KUGN 98.1 | Portland: KPAM 860 AM) | SXM 373
Play-by-play: Chris Clayton
Listen Online | Live Stats

AT A GLANCE
The Oregon women's basketball team concludes a three-game road trip Sunday at No. 13 Baylor, with tip-off set for 11 a.m. PT at Ferrell Center.

The Ducks and Bears will meet for the first time since they met in 2019 Final Four in Tampa, Fla., with No. 1 Baylor going on to claim the national title that season. UO is 0-4 all-time against Baylor, with an 0-1 record in Waco.

Oregon is led by sophomores Grace VanSlooten (16.3 PPG) and Chance Gray (13.0 PPG) while Phillipina Kyei (10.7 PPG) and Sofia Bell (10.7 PPG) round out four Ducks averaging double figures.

LAST TIME OUT
Oregon looks to bounce back from a 91-60 defeat at Portland Thursday night. The Pilots out-scored the Ducks 46-18 in the first half, holding UO to 17 percent shooting while forcing 14 turnovers in the first half.

Grace VanSlooten produced her second straight double-double with a team-high 15 points and 16 rebounds, matching her career high. Sofia Bell added 12 points behind a season-high four 3-pointers and Chance Gray finished with 10.

The Ducks were forced into a season-high 20 turnovers, as UP owned a 27-8 advantage in points off turnovers. Additionally, Portland's bench tallied 41 points to Oregon's 12.

SCOUTING BAYLOR
Baylor has started the season 6-0, with five wins coming at home. BU has scored at least 80 points in all six games for the first time since 1977-78. BU, who ranks sixth in the nation at 92.0 points per game, has had a different leading scorer in each contest and features five players averaging double-figure points.

Dre'una Edwards averages a team-high 13.7 points a game, followed by Sarah Andrews (12.8), Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (11.0), Aijha Blackwell (10.7) and Bella Fontleroy (10.7). Edwards also leads the Bears with 7.0 rebounds a game while shooting 56 percent from the floor.

BU ranks sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.78 and second in the country with 24.7 assists per game. The Bears' 33.2 scoring margin is fifth-best in the country.

Earlier this season, then-21st-ranked Baylor upset then-No. 4 Utah 84-77 at Ferrell Center. It marked the Bears' first win over a top-four team since 2020 (No. 1 UConn).

INSIDE THE SERIES
Oregon and Baylor have met just four times previously, with the last being at the 2019 Final Four in Tampa, Fla. The top-ranked Bears defeated No. 7 Oregon, 72-67, on their way to the national title that season. BU has won all four previous matchups, with two being in the NCAA Tournament.

Sunday's game will be the Ducks' first in Waco since 2007. Baylor, who is currently ranked No. 13, has been ranked in the nation's top 15 in each meeting. As the head coach at Oregon, Kelly Graves is 4-2 against current members of the Big 12.

OREGON vs. RANKED TEAMS
Baylor marks the first top-25 team Oregon will face this season. In 2022-23 Oregon went 2-8 against the nation's top 25, picking up wins over No. 17 Arkansas (85-78) and No. 14 Arizona (73-59). The 14-point scoring margin over the Wildcats was the largest by an unranked UO team against a ranked team since beating No. 4 Maryland 77-63 on March 25, 2017. It tied the second-largest ranked win by an unranked Duck team in the Kelly Graves era, trailing only an 88-55 win over 24th-ranked Michigan State on Nov. 22, 2016.

In Graves' tenure, the Ducks have piled up 45 ranked wins over the previous nine seasons. The Ducks are 18-89 all-time on the road against ranked teams and 76-188 in their history against top-25 teams. A win at No. 13 Baylor would be Oregon's first true road win against a top-15 team since defeating 15th-ranked Oregon State, 79-59, on Dec. 13, 2020.

PHEEL IT, PHILLI
Junior center PHILLIPINA KYEI, the tallest player in Oregon history, has turned in a double-double in four of Oregon's first six games this season. Kyei produced three straight double-doubles to open the season, the longest streak of her career. She upped her career total to 12 double-doubles with 16 points and 10 rebounds at Nevada, moving her into a tie for 18th in program history. She is just the 23rd player in UO history with at least 10 career double-doubles.

» Kyei has 12 double-doubles in just 68 career games, the second-fewest of any Duck with at least 10 double-doubles (Nyara Sabally, 47 games).
» Oregon is 11-1 when Kyei records a double-double and 13-2 when she scores at least 10 points.
» 28 career games with 10 or more rebounds, with 23 coming since the start of last season.
» Scored a career-high 16 points twice this season, coming against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and at Nevada.
» Double-digit rebounds in six of her last nine games, dating back to last season.
» Surpassed the 500-rebound mark at GCU and her 522 career rebounds ranks seventh among active players in the Pac-12.
» Since the start of last season, Kyei is averaging 10.7 rebounds and 7.6 points per game.
» Kyei is fifth among active Pac-12 players with 72 career blocks, recording a block in seven of the last 10 games, dating back to last season.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMPS
Oregon's 4-2 start has been fueled by the Ducks' top two returners in sophomores Chance Gray and GRACE VANSLOOTEN. The duo has combined to average 29.3 points per game, or about 42.2 percent of the team's total offense. VanSlooten scored 19 in each of UO's first two games and dropped a season-high 21 at Grand Canyon on Nov. 16, while also averaging 10.5 rebounds an outing. Gray opened the season with 17 points against Northern Arizona before leading the Ducks with 20 against UAPB, the third time in her career eclipsing the 20-point mark.

» Gray equaled her career high with six 3-pointers against the Golden Lions, going 5-for-6 in the first half.
» Gray played a game-high 38 minutes in back-to-back games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Grand Canyon and averages a league-high 35.5 minutes a night.
» Gray flirted with a triple-double in the Ducks' game at Nevada, grabbing a career-high eight rebounds while also tying her career high with seven assists and scoring nine points in a 76-47 win.
» In her last five games, Gray has racked up 25 assists and leads the team at 4.5 per game (seventh in Pac-12).
» VanSlooten produced her first 20-point outing of the season at Grand Canyon, and the sixth of her career, scoring 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
» VanSlooten has hauled in a career-high 16 rebounds in back-to-back games, upping her season double-double total to three and five in her career.
» The Ducks are 5-1 when VanSlooten scores at least 20 points (1-0 this season) and 2-1 when she finishes with a double-double this season.