Scott Rueck on rivalry game with Oregon: ‘If it were up to me, we wouldn’t be playing this game’
EUGENE — Count Oregon State coach Scott Rueck among those not interested in continuing the rivalry series with Oregon.
“If it were up to me,” said Rueck, “we wouldn’t be playing this game. Not yet.”
Rueck’s team lost, 96-73, to Kelly Graves’ surging Ducks (10-0) on Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena. It was never particularly competitive, despite a bounce-back second half from the Beavers (5-4) which included winning the third quarter, 24-15.
The 16th-year OSU head coach’s view on the rivalry game doesn’t appear to be rooted in sour grapes. He continually gave Graves and the Ducks credit for a performance Wednesday night that included shooting 68% from the field and forcing 22 turnovers.
This is a long-held view of Rueck’s since the Pac-12 imploded, he said.
“I have too much respect for the rivalry to play it in this current condition,” Rueck said. “I’d give us a few more years to get our bearings before I would bring this back, and that’s in respect to everyone involved, actually.”
The Beavers were picked to win the West Coast Conference and own a win over a Big Ten opponent (Illinois) this season. But they’re still figuring things out. And the talent gap was evident Wednesday night as Ducks guard Katie Fiso zipped passes in and around the OSU defense for a career-high 14 assists to go along with 23 points.
Fiso, from the Seattle area, was a one-time OSU recruit. OSU staff said there are photos somewhere of Fiso in Beavers gear.
Now, she’s represented by Klutch Sports. LeBron’s agency.
Still, there was some local flair to Wednesday’s contest. OSU’s Tiara Bolden is from Eugene, and teammate Kennedie Shuler — a former preps star for Sam Barlow in Portland — made her second career appearance on the tree-lined floor in Eugene.
Washington State transfer Jenna Villa, who led the Beavers with a career-high 27 points, played against Fiso on the high school circuit in Washington.
“You’d have to ask them what it means right now,” Rueck said. “I’m sure for Tiara, it was special to come home to Eugene. Kennedie played in it as a freshman when we were all in the Pac-12 still. And so, to me, it’s just at the moment, it’s just a non-conference game. And I probably would’ve gone somewhere else with this game, were it up to me.”
OSU and Oregon made the tournament last season, but the Ducks beat a Vanderbilt team in the first round last year that just dominated Rueck’s team, 88-66, in the Paradise Jam tournament down in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
It’s not that OSU can’t compete with teams of Vanderbilt or Oregon’s caliber — the second half Wednesday was proof. It’s about preserving something meaningful while the gap is wider than it’s ever been, Rueck said.
“I think it should just be put on hold for a minute as we’re recalibrating,” Rueck said. “Obviously going from the same conference to different conferences. There’s too much unrest right now in our world that we’re trying to stabilize to enter back into something that’s been so special for so long for those of us who’ve been a part of it our entire life.
“For me, where that’s the case, I’d say, let’s pause this for a few years. Let’s get our bearings back, and then let’s talk about re-upping. That just seems to me, from day one, that seemed like the right thing to do.”
