After cruising through the first round of the NCAA Tournament, a pair of former Pac-12 rivals are set for a reunion Sunday night when No. 4 Arizona faces fifth-seeded Oregon in a Round of 32 matchup in Seattle.
Despite the teams playing in the bracket’s East Region, this meeting has a decidedly West Coast flavor. Oregon fans had an easy trip up the I-5 to their team’s first-round venue, where they watched the Ducks (25-9) crush Liberty 81-52 on Friday night.
“I feel like our fans are a big part of what we do,” Oregon guard Keeshawn Barthelemy said. “… Just to play in Seattle, get that opportunity, it’s an opportunity to play in Seattle for March Madness, and our fans are pretty excited about it.
“You can definitely feel the energy from the players and the families that are here.”
The Ducks made seven of their first nine shots to break out to an 18-2 lead, and the margin was never smaller than 20 in the second half. They shot 54.4 percent from the floor, led by Jackson Shelstad (17 points), Nate Bittle (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Barthelemy (10 points).
It was a similar bloodbath for Arizona (23-12) once it pulled away from Akron in the first half. The lead grew to 34 late before the Wildcats wrapped up a 93-65 win featuring 56.5 percent shooting from the field and 48 percent (12-for-25) from 3-point range.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is a Washington native who spent 20 years as a top assistant coach at Gonzaga.
“Arizona basketball fans travel, and I’m sure there are going to be a lot of Oregon fans there, but there might be some fans that wear purple and gold (Washington) that might decide to root for Arizona,” Lloyd said. “I’m just guessing.”
Now the Wildcats will try to qualify for their third Sweet 16 in four years under Lloyd.
Arizona led the Big 12 this season in both points (82.1) and rebounds (40.0) per game, and Oregon (76.4 and 35.8, respectively) — now in the Big Ten — will try to keep up.
“We have to put a body on ‘em, we’re going to have to be physical and we’re going to have to do a good job, all five guys staying in the fight and trying to get the ball,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said.
The Ducks do have white-hot 7-footer Bittle in their corner. Arizona’s 7-footers, Henri Veesaar and Emmanuel Stephen, come off the bench, but rebounding is a total team effort.
Trey Townsend grabbed eight boards (four offensive) to go with his 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting against Akron. The March spotlight is nothing new for the forward, who starred for the Oakland team that upset Kentucky in the first round a year ago.
Caleb Love scored just 10 points against Akron, 6.4 below his average, but added seven rebounds. He’s in his second season with Arizona after guiding North Carolina to a national championship game appearance in 2022.
In the schools’ final year in the Pac-12, Arizona swept the regular-season series with Oregon, but the Ducks got a measure of revenge with a 67-59 win in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.
“They’re well-coached, and we know they’re a great team,” Love said. “They want to play in a lot of ball screens and things like that.
“I think they’re well rounded with the guys that they have. They play their roles really well. Obviously, they’ve got Shelstad and Bittle as their go-to guys, but the other guys, they pitch in where they need to, and we’ve just got to be ready for every punch that they give us.”
–Field Level Media
