Oregon State women’s basketball’s defensive change delivers back-to-back Ws

Published 1:26 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Oregon State women’s basketball head coach Scott Rueck is figuring it out on the fly. 

It isn’t something you often hear of a head coach with 15 years of experience who earned his 300th win. But it’s the boat Rueck is in, elbows deep in working out the kinks of his 2024-25 squad. 

“I don’t know what we were before Illinois,” Rueck said with a touch of a laugh, alluding to an 85-66 loss to the Fighting Illini on Nov. 22. “We were just trying to figure it out as we went.” 

Leading up to the season and through the first handful of games, Rueck had made it clear that this was still a team building chemistry with itself. Over half the roster was new and even the holdovers from last season were being pushed into new roles.

But now, with eight games under their belts, it seems that Rueck’s team has the defensive structure worked out.

The secret sauce? A pivot to a zone-based defense. 

“It’s a good fit for us,” Rueck said Wednesday, Nov. 27 following the win over Boston College. “You kind of have to have a moment where it clicks, where the team truly understands what it takes to be effective in (zone).” 

During the 2023-24 season that saw Oregon State make a push to the Elite Eight, the Beavers were primarily a man-to-man defensive structure. With bigger bodies like Raegan Beers and Timea Gardiner on last season’s team, Oregon State could lean on man defense because of the size and athleticism in the front court and a defensive ace in Talia von Oelhoffen in the back court. 

It’s not to say that this season’s team is less athletic, but they are certainly smaller.

Where a man defense was a luxury for last season’s team, the 2-3 zone has become a necessity this season. Rueck figured out just how effective it could be when matching up with No. 2 UConn in the Bahamas. 

“It was honestly desperation against UConn that forced us into the zone,” Rueck said Nov. 27 about the pivot. “It was so effective against them and we just hit a completely different gear in the second half.” 

There are plenty of caveats to look at when evaluating the 19-point loss to UConn. Oregon State was trailing by more than 20 heading to the half and UConn emptied its bench en route to the win.

But, with the zone going, Oregon State out-scored the Huskies 33-29 in the second half. The Beavers suffocated UConn’s 3-point shooting in the second half, with the Huskies going from shooting 50% on 16 tries to 15% on 13 tries in the last 20 minutes. 

“When you zone, there is a moment where you can feel control of the game,” Rueck said Nov. 27. “That happened (against UConn)… No one really wanted the ball (and) we understood angles and played with the level of urgency and awareness and speed that it takes to be disruptive.” 

Flash forward two more games and Oregon State has strung together back-to-back wins. The Beavers took down Boston College 54-49 to close out its trip to the Bahamas and beat Grambling State 65-56 at Gill Coliseum. 

UConn had its second-worst shooting performance of the year against the Beavers. Boston College was held to its worst from both the floor and from 3-point land. Grambling State’s outing was its third-worst of the year.

Boston College’s 49 points and Grambling State’s 56 were the lowest scoring performances either team had had all year, while UConn’s 71 was its second-lowest. 

Zone is working for the Beavers.

And it’s allowing Rueck’s two bigs — seniors Sela Heide and Kelsey Rees — to feast on the inside.

While rebounding can get more difficult for post players in a zone without a single person to box out, both Heide and Rees ended the win against Grambling State with double-doubles, combining for 28 points, 23 rebounds and nine blocks. 

“I don’t think (rebounding) is necessarily harder, but you have to be more focused,” Rees said following the win over Grambling State. 

Heide, who was responsible for eight of those blocks, echoed her teammate’s thoughts. 

“We’ve worked on getting to different spots to get box-outs and get rebounds,” Heide said. “We’re just continuing to grow in that. Our zone has been so great to us in shutting down the 3-point line and shutting down the rim. So the next step we get to take is eliminating some of those (offensive rebounds).” 

While allowing fewer offensive rebounds is the next step defensively, the offense still needs work. The Beavers have scored 60 or fewer points in four of their eight games this season, something last season’s team did just seven times all year. The win over Grambling State was also the first time in at least a decade that Oregon State had won a game without making a 3-pointer. 

But with the zone defense clicking, Rueck is having a blast. 

“I’ve never had more fun coaching than when we are a zone team,” Rueck said Nov. 27. “Those have been my most enjoyable seasons. Because we were just dominant in it… The years where it’s been our primary thing have been so fun because that means the team is completely bought into it.” 

The Beavers once again head out on the road for their next action, traveling to Stockton, California, to take on Pacific University in Oregon State’s first-ever West Coast Conference game. Tipoff between the Beavers and Tigers is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5.