Dillon Gabriel Wasn't the Only Duck Star to Have a Bad Game Friday Night: Sabrina Struggled Too

Great players bounce back and learn from their mistakes. Last night in Autzen Stadium Dillon Gabriel continued a disturbing pattern of ill-advised decisions near the goal line when he threw a pair of first-half picks inside the five in Oregon's 31-10 win over Michigan State.

A two-hour plane ride away in Las Vegas, Pro Duck Sabrina Ionescu suffered through an uncharacteristic bad game as the New York Liberty fell to the Aces 95-81 in their semi-final best of five series, which her squad leads 2-1.

Las Vegas clamped down on the Liberty point guard and all-time leading scorer at Oregon, holding her to 1-7 shooting and four points. She came into the game averaging 24.5 points a game in the playoffs.

Aces coach Becky Hammond said, "We were trying to not let her get downhill at us.”

Game Four is in Vegas on Sunday, with a decisive Game Five Tuesday in New York if necessary.

Meanwhile at Autzen, Gabriel's subpar night was still decent, 20-32 passing for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He and his receivers hit on some big plays, including a 62-yard screen to Terrance Ferguson, another 20-yarder to his next-door neighbor, a 37-yard pass to Traeshon Holden he caught lying down, a nice corner route to Traeshon Holden for a 21-0 lead in the closing seconds of the first half, and a well-designed flat route to Tez Johnson for a score on 4th and 2 that made it 31-0 at the start of the 4th quarter.

After both of Gabriel's misjudgments, the Oregon defense picked him up, forcing a punt each time.

Great players learn from their mistakes and flush them. Look for both Ionescu and the Ducks transfer quarterback to have sharper performances next time out. Neither of them is strangers to pressure or big games.

In fact, one of the best performances of Gabriel's career came last year in the Red River Rivalry against playoff-bound, #3 Texas. He threw for 285 yards and a touchdown, ran for 113 yards and a touchdown as the Sooners knocked off the Longhorns 34-30. He tossed the winning TD to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds to play.

That's thriving under pressure. Expect some big throws and big threes from these two next time out.