WBB: Plus/minus vs. Oregon

After closing the first half with a 5-0 run to take a 23-19 halftime lead, California's women's basketball team jumped all over the Oregon Ducks early in the second half enroute to a 53-34 win. The win boosts Cal's conference record to 12-1 and keeps them in first place for another week going into this week's games against Arizona State and Arizona. Lauren Greif led Cal in plus/minus with a +21

California 53, Oregon 34

For the second consecutive game, the Bears weathered early foul trouble by Ashley Walker and a sluggish offensive first half before pulling away early in the second half.   When Cal had Hampton and Walker in the game together, they were very effective, outscoring opponents 24-9 during the 13:52 they were oncourt together.  They had their biggest impact in the second half, putting up a +11 during the 9:01 they were oncourt together.

Head coach Joanne Boyle gave a halftime speech that was aired on Fox Sports where she called on the team to play with more aggressiveness and urgency, and the Bears came out with a a 10-4 run that evolved into a 17-6, and eventually a 23-7 run which stretched the Bears lead the 46-26, ending whatever hopes the Ducks had of pulling off an upset.

While Walker had a substandard scoring game, Alexis Gray-Lawson stepped up with 16 points, and the Bears also got key baskets from Lauren Greif and Kelsey Adrian.  Yet during the 24 minutes she played, the Bears averaged 1.42 ponts per minute (56.8 points/40 minute pace), compared to 1.19 points per minute (47.6 points/40 minute pace) during the 16 minutes that she sat.

Rama N'Diaye was effective as a defensive stopper although her impact was less pronounced compared to previous games. During her 14 minutes, the Bears allowed 0.86 points per minute (34.4 points/40 minute pace), compared to 0.84 points per minute (33.6 points/40 minute pace).

Although a good argument can be made that a team's biggest game of year is always the next one, the Bears' Thursday game against Arizona State will be one of the more significant in recent memory.  The Sun Devils are one of two other teams that are challenging Cal for the Pac-10 title and their only two conference losses have been to Cal and Stanford.  A Golden Bear win would put the Sun Devils down by two games with just four games left to play and would effectively eliminate them from championship contention, and would thus set the stage for an even bigger game against Stanford in a few weeks.

Player	Min	+Pts	-Pts	Pts	Reb	Ast	Diff
Lauren Greif	38	53	32	6	9	0	+21
Devanei Hampton	27	40	21	11	11	1	+19
Alexis Gray-Lawson	32	44	26	16	4	1	+18
Ashley Walker	24	34	19	4	12	2	+15
Natasha Vital	31	43	30	3	1	2	+13
Kelsey Adrian	22	25	16	6	2	0	+9
Shantrell Sneed	8	12	8	3	1	0	+4
Rama N'Diaye	14	12	12	4	7	0	0
Rachelle Federico	2	1	3	0	0	0	-2
Krista Foster	2	1	3	0	0	0	-2

First vs. Second Half (minimum 2 minutes)

First Half Top - Lauren Greif and Devanei Hampton - 23-17, +6
Second Half Top - Lauren Greif - 30-15 and Ashley Walker -27-12, +15

First Half Bottom - Kelsey Adrian - 8-10, -2
Second Half Bottom - Rama N'Diaye - 3-5, Krista Foster and Rachelle Federico - 1-3, -2

Starting Lineup

Vital, Greif, Gray-Lawson, Hampton, Walker in 9:12 - 19-7, +12
All other lineups in 30:48 - 34-27, +7

Big lineups:

Hampton and Walker lineups	13:52	24-9, +15
Hampton and N'Diaye lineups	7:49	9-5, +4
Walker lineups	6:16	10-6, +4
Hampton lineups	4:44	7-7, 0
N'Diaye lineups	3:23	3-3, 0
N'Diaye and Walker lineups	2:56	0-4, -4
TOTAL	45:00	53-34, +19

Difference Makers

With Lauren Greif in 38 minutes - 53-32, +21
Without Greif in 2 minutes - 0-2, -2

With Devanei Hampton in 27 minutes - 40-21, +19
Without Hampton in 13 minutes - 13-13, 0

With Alexis Gray-Lawson in 32 minutes - 44-26, +18
Without Gray-Lawson in 8 minutes - 9-8, +1

With Ashley Walker in 24 minutes - 34-19, +15
Without Walker in 16 minutes - 19-15, +4

With Rama N'Diaye in 14 minutes - 12-12, 0
Without N'Diaye in 26 minutes - 41-22, +19

Contribution Evaluation

Player	Minutes	Expected	Actual	Difference
Hampton	27	+12.83	+19	+6.17
Walker	24	+11.40	+15	+3.60
Greif	38	+18.05	+21	+2.95
Gray-Lawson	32	+15.20	+18	+2.80
Sneed	8	+3.80	+4	+0.20
Adrian	22	+10.45	+9	-1.45
Vital	31	+14.73	+13	-1.73
Federico	2	+0.95	-2	-2.95
Foster	2	+0.95	-2	-2.95
N'Diaye	14	+6.65	0	-6.65

Weekend combined

There are lots of healthy numbers all around for the Bears.  One thing to keep an eye on is that opposing defenses have been working on pushing Walker farther away from the basket and as she catches the ball and moves towards the basket, she's susceptible to getting called for charging fouls.

Offensively, Walker's impact is significant. The Bears' offense hums along at a 1.65 point per minute pace (66 points/40 minute pace) with her in the game, but just 0.81 points per minute (32.4 points/40 minute pace) when she was on the bench - meaning the Bears were just half as productive. Also consider that the Bears were +28 during the 52 minutes that she played, but just +2 during the 28 minutes that she didn't.

As mentioned earlier, the Bears are also substantially more effective when Hampton and Walker can stay on the floor together, as they were a +24 (53-29), during their 23:58 oncourt, but just +6 during the other 56:02. 

Player	Min	+Pts	-Pts	Pts	Reb	Ast	Diff
Alexis Gray-Lawson	69	95	66	22	5	6	+29
Ashley Walker	52	86	58	21	20	4	+28
Lauren Greif	61	90	63	8	11	1	+27
Devanei Hampton	53	73	47	23	15	1	+26
Natasha Vital	66	95	73	20	2	8	+22
Kelsey Adrian	44	51	35	6	4	1	+16
Rama N'Diaye	33	32	27	6	13	0	+5
Shantrell Sneed	12	14	10	3	1	0	+4
Rachelle Federico	2	1	3	0	0	0	-2
Krista Foster	8	8	13	0	2	0	-5
	80	109	79				+30

Starting lineups

Vital, Greif, Gray-Lawson, Hampton and Walker lineups	16:09	36-18, +18
All other lineups	63:51	73-61, +12
TOTAL	80:00	109-79, +30

Big lineups

Hampton and Walker lineups	23:58	53-29, +24
Hampton and N'Diaye lineups	16:17	13-9, +4
N'Diaye and Walker lineups	12:02	16-15, +1
Walker lineups	9:35	17-14, +3
Hampton lineups	7:25	7-9, -2
N'Diaye lineups	4:43	3-3, 0
TOTAL	80:00	109-79, +30

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