Game Day preview: Can Oregon get back to winning ways against tough Colorado team?

Oregon is in unfamiliar territory through 10 conference games. At 5-5 and tied for seventh in the Pac-12 standings, the Ducks are off to their worst start since going 4-6 in 2016-17, which was Sabrina Ionescu’s freshman season. It’s not like they haven’t been competitive. Their last three losses — to Washington State, Oregon State and Stanford — have been by a combined 12 points.

The Ducks are the most accurate 3-point shooting team in the conference at 36.9% but they struggled from deep on their Bay Area road trip last weekend making just 8-of-36 (22.2%) against California and Stanford. Oregon will try and prove that was just an anomaly against a Colorado defense that is holding opponents to 30.2% shooting from 3-point range, second lowest in the Pac-12.

Colorado coach JR Payne, now in her eighth season in Boulder, got her coaching start at Gonzaga where she spent four seasons on Kelly Graves’ staff during his first four years with the Bulldogs (2000-01 to 2004-05).

“I love JR and always cheer for them when they’re not playing us, but we need this game,” Graves said Wednesday. “We need to just play well and see some positive success. We’re certainly capable, we just haven’t found that consistency yet, haven’t made those big plays at the right time.”

Colorado is 9-2 since mid-December including wins against then-No. 8 Utah, then No. 14 Arizona and then No. 8 UCLA, as well as victory by forfeit against Arizona State. Still, the Buffaloes’ two loss have come in their last three games — to No. 3 Stanford on Jan. 22 and last Sunday at home to USC.

Senior Quay Miller, a 6-3 center who was the 2021-22 Pac-12 sixth player of the year, is unique talent for the Buffaloes. Now an every game starter, she ranks 8th in the conference in points (14.7) and rebounds (7.95 ) per game, but she’s also a proficient 3-point threat having made 28 of her 62 attempts to rank second in the Pac-12 in 3-point accuracy at 45.2%.

Senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod leads the conference with 5.1 assists per game and is second with 2.3 steals per game.

Scoring average: Oregon, 78.7; Colorado, 70.8

Opp. scoring average: Oregon, 63.4; Colorado, 58.3

FG percentage: Oregon, 44.0%; Colorado, 44.9%

Opp. FG percentage: Oregon, 38.5%; Colorado, 37.0%

3-point FG percentage: Oregon, 36.9%; Colorado, 36.8%

3-point FG per game: Oregon, 8.3; Colorado, 6.0

FT percentage: Oregon, 71.1%; Colorado, 67.8%

Rebounds per game: Oregon, 43.3; Colorado, 37.9

Rebounding margin: Oregon, +7.7 Colorado, +5.4

Assists per game: Oregon, 17.0; Colorado, 15.5

Turnovers per game: Oregon, 11.8; Colorado, 15.7

Steals per game: Oregon, 7.5; Colorado, 10.0

Blocks per game: Oregon, 3.9; Colorado, 2.7