EUGENE — Riding high off its stunning exhibition win over Team USA, No. 1 Oregon women’s basketball opens its season this afternoon (3 p.m.) against Northeastern without its second-best player.
Junior guard Satou Sabally, who averaged 16.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Ducks last season, will miss all three of Oregon’s games this week while playing for the German national team at the FIBA women’s Eurobasket 2021 qualifiers, leaving a significant void in the lineup for the Ducks, who also host Utah State on Wednesday and Texas Southern Saturday.
Oregon coach Kelly Graves wasn’t totally sure as of Saturday night who would start at the 3 guard spot for the Ducks against the Huskies.
“It’ll be probably Taylor Chavez,” Graves said. “It’ll be one of our returners; it could be Lydia (Giomi), we’ll see. ... I’ll just see what matches up best. We’ll miss Satou obviously but hopefully somebody else will step up and fill that role.”
Chavez, a sophomore guard, was 0 for 3 from the field but had two assists in 15 minutes off the bench against Team USA Saturday. She averaged 4.5 points, 1.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 28 games as a true freshman last season before a foot injury kept her out for the postseason.
Giomi, a junior forward, averaged 1.8 points and 2.1 rebounds last season. She had two points and four rebounds against Team USA.
Meanwhile, Sabally will play her first game against North Macedonia in Germany Thursday morning and travel to Croatia Sunday morning.
“It’s always important to play for the country you grew up in,” she said. “German basketball has made me the player I am today. Playing for them, putting a German national team jersey on, is a really big thing.”
Sabally recognizes the toll flying, playing and trying to keep up with the classes she’s missing this week will have.
Graves was aware of her international obligations when he made Oregon’s schedule and while supportive, still would’ve preferred if the European event didn’t conflict.
“I love it when they go play in the summer time for their national teams, not during our season,” Graves said. “But I thought this was important, it’s important to her, it’s important to the German federation. We felt we could afford to do it. Now we just wish her the best and we wish her good health.”