All season, they had been playing hard, even in defeat.
That wasn't always the case for the Oregon women's basketball team in losses to No. 6 Stanford and No. 9 California last week. So Monday's practice was about one thing: consistent effort.
"We went through the whole sequence playing hard and being competitive," UO senior Kaela Chapdelaine said afterward. "It's good to feel like that after you've had a tough weekend."
The Ducks are 10-14 overall and 4-9 in the Pac-10 entering Friday's game at Washington. The Huskies are a half-game ahead of Oregon for sixth place, that coveted final team not asked to play on the opening night of the conference tournament while the bottom four weed each other out.
Oregon has lost six in a row overall, and six straight on the road. A loss Friday, or Sunday in Pullman, would give the Ducks a school-record 10 road defeats.
Not numbers UO coach Bev Smith wants her team dwelling on, to be sure.
"By the end of this week, hopefully we're back to being confident, hopefully we're back having a little bit of fun playing the game," Smith said. "Rather than being so sullen about not getting the end results."
Diving on the floor for rebounds and doing lung-burning conditioning drills didn't look like a whole lot of fun Monday. But most of the Ducks were smiling by the time they left the court.
"It's tough, but when it's competitive and you're playing to win, it's fun," forward Ellie Manou said. "The team got into each other today, but in a good way. It's the most fun I've had in practice in a while."
Scoring a few more points would be satisfying, too. The Ducks enter this week ninth in the Pac-10 in scoring offense (57.2 points per game) and ninth in field-goal percentage (38.5), ahead of only 0-12 Washington State in both.
They're playing typically strong defense, allowing 60.2 points per game, slightly better than last season's average of 60.7. But Oregon averaged 62.8 points on offense last season, and shot 42.2 percent. The team's three-point shooting percentage has fallen from a league-leading 37.8 last season to 30.9 this year.
"We talked at the beginning of the year about making the extra commitment," Chapdelaine said. "At this level, if you want to be a standout player then you've got to put the extra work in. We had the commitment early on, and I think we lost our way a little bit throughout the year. I think we're back on that page today."
Chapdelaine said many of the Ducks showed up early for practice to do extra shooting.
The Ducks miss the low-block scoring Eleanor Haring provided last season. And while they had five players attempt at least 40 three-pointers and make better than 33.3 percent in 2006-07, only Taylor Lilley is on pace to do so this season.
Smith is exhorting her team to stay within the offense even when shots aren't falling.
"Whatever it takes, you need to do," she said. "If you're not scoring, set a screen. If you're not scoring, get a board."
The Ducks are focused on those details this week.
"Nobody on this team likes to lose," Chapdelaine said. "Whatever we have to do to start winning again, it's never too late to start doing that."