Plus/minus: WBB vs. Oregon

SAN JOSE - After jumping out to a 16-0 lead and substituting liberally in the meantime, the California Golden Bears found themselves having to hold off a fast-closing Oregon team down the stretch before emerging with a 67-60 win in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament in San Jose. Ashley Walker topped the Bears with a +20, followed by Natasha Vital's +10.

California 67, Oregon 60

Player	Min	+Pts	-Pts	Pts	Reb	Ast	Diff
Ashley Walker	30	55	35	15	4	3	+20
Natasha Vital	37	65	55	14	7	9	+10
Devanei  Hampton	34	56	47	15	7	1	+9
Lauren Greif	30	47	40	0	7	1	+7
Alexis Gray-Lawson	38	62	60	14	3	0	+2
Rama N'Diaye	13	27	25	6	4	0	+2
Shantrell Sneed	0+	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kelsey Adrian	18	23	38	3	1	0	-15

First vs. Second Half (minimum 2 minutes)

First Half Top - Ashley Walker - 28-17, +11
Second Half Top - Ashley Walker - 27-18, +9

First Half Bottom - Kelsey Adrian - 17-23, -6
Second Half Bottom - Kelsey Adrian - 6-15, -9

Starting Lineup

Vital, Greif, Gray-Lawson, Hampton, Walker in 16:16 - 24-13, +11
All other lineups in 23:44 - 43-47, -4

Difference Makers

With Ashley Walker in 30 minutes - 55-35, +20
Without Walker in 10 minutes - 12-25, -13

With Natasha Vital in 37 minutes - 65-55, +10
Without Vital in 3 minutes - 2-5, -3

With Kelsey Adrian in 18 minutes - 23-38, -15
Without Adrian in 22 minutes - 44-22, +22

Big Lineups

Although neither Hampton nor Walker had an exceptionally big scoring night, the Bears were substantially more effective with them in the game together, as the Bears were a remarkable +20 (42-22) during the 23:14 that they were oncourt together, but a -13 (25-38) during the 16:46 that they used every other combination of big players.  Put another way, while the offense dropped off slightly, the defense drop off was significant.

On offense, with Hampton and Walker, the Bears averaged 1.83 points per minute (73.2 point/40 minute pace) but without them they averaged 1.56 points per minute (62.4/40 minute pace).  However on defense, with a Hampton/Walker fronttcourt, the Bears allowed just 0.96 points per minute (38.4 point/40 minute pace) but without them intact they gave up points at a 2.37 point per minute pace (94.8 point/40 minute pace).  

The Hampton-only lineups were used primarily at the end of the game when the Bears were doing an offense/defense substitution with Walker and Adrian to chase down Oregon's three-point shooters.  There was one stretch in the first half when the Bears used Hampton alongside Greif, Vital, Gray-Lawson, and Adrian. Within 55 seconds, the Bears gave up five points, allowing Oregon to close to 18-10 with 7:01 left in the first half. At that point, head coach Joanne Boyle replaced Adrian with Walker.

Big player lineups	Time in game	Point differential
Walker and Hampton	23:14	42-22, +20
Walker and N'Diaye	7:22	10-12, -2
Hampton and N'Diaye	6:47	11-13, -2
Hampton only	2:37	4-13, -9
TOTAL	40:00	67-60, +7

Contribution Evaluation

Player	Minutes	Expected	Actual	Difference
Hampton	23	+8.05	+17	+8.95
Greif	33	+11.55	+17	+5.45
Walker	33	+11.55	+13	+1.45
Gray-Lawson	36	+12.60	+12	-0.60
Sneed	6	+2.10	+1	-1.10
Adrian	13	+4.55	+3	-1.55
Foster	6	+2.10	0	-2.10
Vital	32	+11.20	+9	-2.20
N'Diaye	18	+6.30	-2	-8.30

Looking ahead to Arizona State

Of the teams remaining in the Pac-10 tournament, Arizona State may be best-equipped to withstand the rigor of the three games in three days schedule. With both the Bears and Stanford both having thin benches, the Sun Devils, who finished third in the conference with a 14-4 record with all of its losses coming to Cal and Stanford, are comfortable going nine deep, often changing three and four players at a time.  Arizona State's a team that will benefit from a loosely officiated game as their grabbing, chopping, full-contact defense will cause a handful of turnovers and push-off fouls as teams try to create space against them.

On Saturday, in their 83-64 the Sun Devils benefited from an odd tactical decision by Washington in the first half to stick with a zone defense, as the Sun Devils broke open a tight game to take a 15-point lead late in the first half.  In 6-3 juniors Lauren Lacey and Sybil Dosty, Arizona State has two tall players who are able to score in the low-block and also run to open space underneath the basket when the opposition attempts to trap them.

Cal won the previous two matchups this season, 64-51 in Tempe and 70-60 in Berkeley.   Hampton had big games in both contests, with 28 points and 9 rebounds in the first game and 21 points and 12 rebounds in the second.

Notes...Gametime on Sunday is noon. As postseason honors are starting to be awarded, the Bears are getting their share. Four Bears were named to various All-Pac-10 teams, with first-team honors going to Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker, and second-team honors going to Alexis Gray-Lawson.   Natasha Vital earned an honorable mention. The rest of the first team consisted of Pac-10 Player of the Year Candice Wiggins (Stanford), Jayne Appel (Stanford), and Lindsey Pluimer (UCLA).  For Hampton it was the third time she was named all-Pac-10, for Walker her 2nd...Walker was also named to the Pac-10's All-Defensive Team, with Vital earning another honorable mention...Kelsey Adrian was named honorable mention all-freshman eam...Pac-10 Coach of the Year went to Stanford's Tara Vanderveer, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year went to Stanford' Kayla Pedersen, and Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year went to Arizona State's Briann January...Of the 15 players named to All-Pac-10 first, second, and third teams, only four are seniors...Walker was also named as a Sports Illustrated second-team All-American.

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