Los Angeles, CA–After a 83-56 humbling loss against UCLA Friday night, Oregon coach Kelly Graves decided to conduct a grueling scrimmage in between road games.
And it worked out for the Ducks.
“The teams were completely even, and we just battled,” freshman guard Sydney Parrish said of the physical scrimmage intended to get the team out of its recent funk. “Everyone was talking, everyone was getting on loose balls. We really didn’t care if somebody dove and got hurt. We were just going after each other, and it really helped. At the end it was like tied. We battled. It was really, really good.
“We haven’t seen each other play like that for a really long time. We knew we had it in us and we brought it to the game.”
No. 13 Oregon, played with the energy and a sense of urgency in the Sunday matinee. Oregon beat USC 72-48 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.