If you're gonna fall, you may as well fall together.
That was the message from coach Bev Smith to her Oregon women's basketball team at halftime Thursday. The Ducks trailed No. 6 Stanford by 34 at that point, a loss all but assured.
But more than the score, the players' body language told the story.
"They just really felt overwhelmed by Stanford's presence both offensively and defensively, and therefore internalized a lot," Smith said Friday. "You could see that it was like they were in quicksand."
The only positive stretch of the game for Oregon was the first few minutes after halftime, when the Ducks mounted a 19-8 run. The Cardinal starters were still on the floor, though perhaps with a different sense of purpose up 46-12 than they'd had at 0-0.
Fueling the brief outburst, Smith said, was better teamwork and communication. It's something she'd like to see again when the Ducks face No. 10 California today at 1 p.m. in McArthur Court.
"When you're talking, it means you're thinking about what's going to happen next, it means you're thinking about what you can do to help your team," said Smith, who along with her staff wore specially colored shirts Friday as part of this weekend's "Think Pink" effort to raise breast cancer awareness.
"You take the pressure off yourself and all of a sudden you're making plays, because you're not that hard on yourself."
The Ducks (10-13, 4-8 Pac-10) did some of that in practice Friday, Smith said, "because we were focused and connected with each other, trying to help each other, rather than trying to save the world by ourselves."
Despite Thursday's effort, which resulted in a fifth straight loss, Oregon brings some confidence into today thanks to a competitive 61-52 defeat at California last month. That came two days before an 83-49 loss at Stanford, which could explain the Ducks' trepidation in the early going of Thursday's rematch with the Cardinal.
The Golden Bears (20-3, 11-1) feature forwards Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton, who will match up with Oregon's new starting tandem of Ellie Manou and Nicole Canepa. Manou has rarely practiced full-court this season because of a foot injury, but she played through it Friday in an effort to build better cohesion with the rest of the Ducks in the open court.
Canepa's 12 points Thursday were a rare bright spot against the Cardinal. She insisted Thursday the Ducks might have won by playing in the first half as they did in the second. Friday, she was similarly positive.
"Everybody wants to win, and everybody is going to do anything to get there," Canepa said. "We have the hope and the drive to keep fighting."