The Next Generation: Grace VanSlooten is just getting started

Grace VanSlooten and the Oregon Ducks missed out on March Madness but she already laid the foundation for a special basketball career.

From Courtney Vandersloot to Grace VanSlooten, Oregon head coach Kelly Graves seems to have success with players named Sloot. Vandersloot, a five-time all-WNBA point guard, starred for Graves at Gonzaga from 2007-11, and VanSlooten is a freshman forward who Graves expects to follow Vandersloot into the WNBA.

Graves has even run a similar play for both of them, despite their seven-inch height difference and different positions and strengths. It’s an isolation play he simply calls “Sloot.” “It’s the same concept,” he says, “just a different spot on the floor.”

A starter since Day 1 in Eugene, VanSlooten is averaging 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks in 28.2 minutes per game. She debuted with 20 points on 10-for-16 shooting against Northwestern on Nov. 7 and has had at least that many on four other occasions, winning four Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.

VanSlooten has been so effective in large part because of her versatility, athleticism and effort. “Those are the kind of people you want to coach,” Graves says.

VanSlooten is most lethal when she gets the ball at the free-throw line and can make plays from there, whether for herself or others. She is extremely efficient at the rim, where she shoots 68.1 percent, and can also face up in the paint. On the season, 39.5 percent of VanSlooten’s shots come at the rim, and another 44.2 percent are from elsewhere in the paint.

Many of her shots at the rim come in transition, where the 6-foot-3 VanSlooten can grab the rebound and push the ball upcourt. Crucially, Graves says, she makes good decisions at that pace, getting to the rim when she can but not forcing the issue. She can also outrun opposing post players without the ball and convert feeds from her teammates.

VanSlooten credits her agility and footwork in the paint to the years she spent playing soccer from kindergarten through ninth grade. Soccer also helped her get comfortable with physicality, and her dad, a former college football player, instilled competitiveness in her. On top of all that, VanSlooten has a high enough vertical leap that her AAU team ran alley-oop plays for her. “That’s not something you see very often,” Graves says. “… She can get up around the rim.”

Fast forward to college, and VanSlooten started getting double-teamed in her third college game, at Southern on Nov. 14. “That’s quite the compliment,” Graves told her at halftime. She struggled that day, finishing with five points on just three shot attempts with five turnovers, but she scored in double figures in 10 straight games after that. The streak included her first collegiate double-double against North Carolina on Nov. 24, which prompted praise from Ducks legend and current New York Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu.

“The last three or four years I’ve coached some of the best players in the country, and four players picked in the top eight [in the WNBA Draft],” Graves told reporters postgame. “[VanSlooten] can be right up there with them. In fact, Sabrina after the game, it was the first thing she said to me … There really isn’t much [VanSlooten] can’t do.”

Grace VanSlooten just kept getting better as her season went on

But VanSlooten saved her biggest breakout for a late December tournament in San Diego. In back-to-back games against Arkansas and Ohio State, VanSlooten totaled 55 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks on 60 percent shooting from the field. Oregon split those games, and VanSlooten became just the third player in Pac-12 history to win Player and Freshman of the Week in the same week.

What’s terrifying for opponents is that VanSlooten has been so effective while operating primarily near the rim, without a 3-point shot to keep defenses honest. She has attempted a single 3-pointer all season, a miss, and has been average in the mid-range, where her field goal percentage ranks in the 45th percentile nationally. Even in the paint away from the rim, she ranks in the bottom half of Division I in field goal percentage. But Graves is bullish on her ability to develop her range and operate from all spots on the floor as her college career progresses.

Beyond her scoring, VanSlooten is a good rebounder and shot blocker, and with her length and athleticism, Graves thinks she can be a plus defender as she hones her instincts at the collegiate level. “[Defense] would be one of the areas of growth I think she has in her,” Graves says. “She would be the first to admit that. But she’s got the temperament for it. She’s tough … [and] she wants to be good.”

In addition to that toughness, VanSlooten plays with an indefatigable spirit that helps her stand out on both ends of the court. Graves says she is the type of player who can’t help but dive for every loose ball. “She plays her butt off,” he adds. “I mean, she never takes a possession off. And that’s part of the reason we’re where we’re at.”

Where Oregon is at is a team that was on the NCAA Tournament bubble and finished with a NET ranking of 19 despite having two freshmen among its top four scorers. Entering the season, Oregon’s frontcourt was expected to be daunting with 6-foot-7 senior Sedona Prince, a preseason All-Pac-12 selection, and 6-foot-8 sophomore Phillipina Kyei. But Prince suffered a season-ending elbow injury in October and left school to recover and prepare for her professional career. Kyei is still anchoring the glass for the Ducks with 10.8 rebounds per game, but VanSlooten has been asked to step up in a big way offensively.

“If we have inside production, it’s kind of, right now, got to come from Grace,” Graves says. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on a freshman … [but] she’s certainly come through.”

Graves points out that VanSlooten’s stats are similar to, but ahead of, the freshman-year stats of Satou Sabally, a do-everything wing who became a No. 2 overall WNBA Draft pick. And VanSlooten has elevated her game even further against ranked teams, which is hard to do for any player, let alone a freshman who is circled on the scouting report. She is playing more than five more minutes per game against ranked teams (31.4) than against unranked teams (26.7), and per 40 minutes, she is averaging 3.8 more points and 0.6 more blocks against ranked teams. She is also shooting 48.7 percent from the field against ranked teams, up from 45.7 percent against unranked teams, and her turnovers and fouls per 40 minutes are holding steady.

About the only thing that has stopped VanSlooten this season are injuries. She suffered foot injuries in January and a left ankle injury in February and missed Oregon’s last three games of the regular season. When she returned for the Pac-12 Tournament, she was clearly limited, averaging 17.2 minutes per game off the bench and scoring just nine total points.

Though VanSlooten missed out on March Madness this season, count on her to make an impact on the sport’s biggest stage at some point in her career. The only question, for a player as versatile as she is, is exactly what kind of pivotal play it will be.

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