BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball will have a rematch with Oregon in the second round of the 2025 Big Ten Tournament. The game will tip off at noon on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Hoosiers (18-11; 10-8 Big Ten) are the No. 9 seed and Oregon (19-10; 10-8) are the No. 8 seed. The winner advances to face No. 1 seed USC on Friday afternoon.
Here are three things to know about Oregon:
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Oregon hit the transfer portal hard after disappointing 2023-24 season
In Oregon’s final year in the Pac-12, the Ducks fell to the bottom of the conference while tying a record for most consecutive losses (14). It was the program’s first losing season under coach Kelly Graves since he took over in 2014.
It was quite the decline for a team that made four Sweet Sixteen appearances from 2017-2021 and made the 2019 Final Four.
Graves moved quickly to rebuild his roster with nine newcomers (two freshman and seven transfers). The centerpiece of Oregon’s transfer class was former North Carolina guard Deja Kelly.
Kelly, who is a fifth-year senior, has been a full-time starter since her freshman year and was first team All-ACC selection three times. She went into Sunday’s game against Washington averaging 11.4 points, 3.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
While Oregon has used 10 different starting lineups this season, the other recent transfers in prominent include former BYU guard Nani Falatea and former Texas forward Amina Muhammad.
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Oregon had one of the most disruptive defenses in the Big Ten
Going into Sunday’s game, Oregon had the Big Ten’s third best scoring defense in conference games (64.4 points allowed per game), fifth-best field goal defense (42.1%) and third best turnover margin (+5.4).
The Ducks only turned it over more than their opponents in four games this season — they are forcing 18.1 turnovers per game — and are 11-0 when holding opponents to below 60 points.
Indiana found this out when it lost 54-47 to Oregon in Eugene on Jan. 24. The Hoosiers turned it over seven times in the fourth quarter — they turned it over 17 times total — and shot just 37.5% from the field (4 of 18 from 3-point range).
“We were sloppy, we were careless; disappointing, very, very disappointing,” IU coach Teri Moren said at the time.
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Oregon women’s basketball relies on a deep bench rotation
Oregon went into its season-finale against Washington with the Big Ten’s most productive bench (26.8 points per game) that outscored opponents in all but three games. It marked a significant turnaround for the Ducks after only getting 9.6 points per game from their reserves last year.
Graves has maintained a nine-player rotation for much of the season and played 12 players in that win over Indiana earlier this season. Kelly is the only Oregon player averaging more than 30 minutes per game this season.
It’s a much different approach from Moren’s heavy reliance on her starters. She has four players averaging 30-plus minutes this season and typically doesn’t go deeper than eight players in a game.
The Hoosiers’ bench hasn’t scored more than 20 points in a single game since a 90-55 win over Oakland back on Dec. 22.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 3 things to know about Oregon, Indiana women’s first opponent in Big Ten tourney
