(7) Vanderbilt (22-10) vs. (10) Oregon (19-11)
Friday, March 21, 2025 • 4:30 p.m. CT
Cameron Indoor Stadium • Durham, N.C. • ESPNews
94.9 The Fan • Vanderbilt Athletics App • Live Stats • Bracket • Tournament Page • Game Notes
DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 7-seeded Vanderbilt women’s basketball team begins its March Madness run on Friday as the Commodores take on No. 10-seeded Oregon. Tipoff from Cameron Indoor Stadium is set for 4:30 p.m. CT and will air live on ESPNews.
Starting Five
>> Vanderbilt earned its second-straight selection into the NCAA Tournament after going 22-10 overall in 2024-25. The Dores have earned back-to-back March Madness bids for the first time since the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Vandy holds a NET ranking of 22, a 34-spot improvement from the Commodores’ NET ranking going into last season’s NCAA Tournament.
>> It is Vandy’s 29th overall March Madness appearance, tied with Ohio State for 12th-most in NCAA women’s basketball history. The No. 7 seed is the highest selection for Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament since 2012 when the Dores were also a No. 7 seed in the Fresno Region. It is the third time that Vandy has been a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
>> The Dores are 40-28 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt has made 14 appearances in the Sweet 16 with the last coming in 2008-09. Vandy has advanced to the Elite Eight five different times, with the last time happening in 2001-02. The Dores have also made a run to the Final Four once, having played in the 1993 NCAA Final Four against Texas Tech in Atlanta.
>> It is the first time Vanderbilt and Oregon will face off in the NCAA Tournament. It will be the third all-time meeting between the Commodores and the Ducks and the first since the 1994-95 season. Vandy is 2-0 against Oregon. The Commodores picked up a 72-68 win in Memorial Gym on Dec. 6, 1992, then posted an 82-54 victory in Eugene, Oregon, on Dec. 21, 1994.
>> The winner between No. 7 seed Vanderbilt and No. 10 seed Oregon will move on to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and face either No. 2 seed Duke or No. 15 seed Lehigh on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Game Coverage
Friday’s First Round contest of the 2025 NCAA Tournament airs live at 4:30 p.m. CT on ESPNews and the ESPN app, with Jenn Hildreth and Kelly Gramlich calling the action. Fans can listen to Jake Lyman locally on 94.9 The Fan and the Vanderbilt Commodores app outside of Nashville. Fans can also follow along with live stats.
Tar Heel State Connections
Vanderbilt heads to the home state of head coach Shea Ralph for the first weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Ralph is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and her mother, Marsha Lake, was the first women’s basketball All-American at the University of North Carolina. This past summer, Ralph was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for graduate student Jordyn Oliver this week when the Commodores head to Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oliver played for Duke from 2021-23, missing the 2021-22 campaign before playing in 33 games with seven starts in 2022-23. Oliver graduated from Duke in 2023 with a degree in sociology.
March Influence
Graduate student Jordyn Oliver will be playing in her fourth NCAA Tournament over her six-year collegiate career. The guard has helped her team collect at least one win in the NCAA Tournament each season she has made a March Madness appearance.
Oliver played for Baylor from 2019-21 and appeared in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, helping the Bears reach the Elite Eight after the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Prosper, Texas, native transferred to Duke, and after sitting out the 2021-22 campaign, she guided the Blue Devils to the Second Round in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Blakes Set The Vanderbilt Single-Season Freshman Scoring Record
Mikayla Blakes set the Vanderbilt freshman single-season scoring record in the final week of the 2024-25 regular season and she heads into the NCAA Tournament with 743 points scored.
The freshman’s 743 points scored are the third-most scored in a season by a Commodore. She is the third Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to score over 700 points in a season, joining Chantelle Anderson, who did it twice in 2000-01 (722 pts) and 2001-02 (765 pts), and Wendy Scholtens, who holds the school’s single-season record with 855 points scored in 1989-90.
Blakes Earns All-American Status 4x
Freshman Mikayla Blakes has been named second-team All-American by the USBWA, The Sporting News, The Athletic and ESPN. Blakes becomes the first Commodore to earn an All-American distinction in 14 seasons.
The freshman becomes the 19th Commodore to be named an All-American by a major women’s basketball publication. Blakes is the first Vanderbilt women’s basketball player since Jence Rhoads in 2010-11 to earn an All-American recognition, when Rhoads was named to the Associated Press All-American honorable mention squad.
Blakes is also the first Commodore to earn first- or second-team All-American honors since Chantelle Anderson’s AP Second-Team All-American selection in 2002-03. Additionally, Blakes is the third Vanderbilt freshman to earn All-American status in program history, joining Barbara Brackman and Harriet Brumfield, who were named to the Women’s Basketball News Service All-America first team in 1981-82.
Scouting the Ducks
Oregon received the No. 10 seed in the Birmingham Region 2 after going 19-11 overall and 10-8 in Big Ten play. The Ducks enter the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a NET ranking of 41. Oregon is 4-6 over its last 10 contests and has dropped three of its last four games coming into March Madness.
The Ducks are led by graduate student Deja Kelly, who averages 11.6 points per game and paces Oregon with 102 assists. The North Carolina transfer has scored 20-plus points in seven games this season. Graduate student Peyton Scott is putting up 10.1 points per contest and enters the NCAA Tournament on a four-game double-digit scoring streak. Senior Phillipina Kyei leads the Ducks in rebounding, as the 6-8 center is pulling down 6.9 rebounds per game to go along with her 7.5 points per game average.
Oregon averages 68.3 points per contest this season, as the Ducks are shooting 42.6 percent from the floor and 30.1 percent from behind the arc. Defensively, Oregon is giving up 62.9 points per game. Teams are shooting 40.6 percent from the floor and 33.7 percent on 3-point field goals against Oregon this season.
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