Oregon Basketball: Ducks miracle run continues to Sweet 16

Oregon Basketball is one of the hottest teams in the country. In a Sweet 16 filled with great teams, the Ducks are showing that they can compete with them.

From the beginning of its Round of 32 matchup against UC Irvine, there was never really any doubt that Oregon Basketball was the much better team. The Ducks only needed to show it by playing with a lot of energy. One key figure was Ehab Amin, although the stats don’t do him justice. When Oregon was at its best, Amin made it seem like he was everywhere on the court at once. He was taking charges, diving out of bounds for loose balls, getting steals, applying pressure to the dribbler to induce a back-court violation, and banking three-pointers with confidence.

Amin helped Oregon win the turnover battle. The Ducks had seven steals, three of them from Amin. They forced UC Irvine into 15 turnovers and punished the Anteaters for it by converting 25 points off those turnovers. Another key defender was Kenny Wooten, who did a great job protecting the rim for Oregon with his athleticism and vertical leap. He tied his career-high with seven blocks. While the Ducks’ scoring output can lull in the half-court, their transition game found a spark from the defensive efforts of Amin and Wooten.

Payton Pritchard was UO’s key offensive figure. The point guard was his team’s best facilitator of offense, accruing at least seven assists for the fourth consecutive game. The Anteaters tried hard to get the ball out of his hands, but that task is easier said than done. He has the speed to elude a double team. He dribble penetrated and dashed his way to the basket to take advantage of collapsing defenders and get his teammates involved. The Ducks used their height advantage to complete a number of alley-oops.

They were also solid from behind the arc because of their inside-out game and their quick ball movement around the perimeter. Players spread themselves along the perimeter in catch-and-shoot position and took advantage of the open shot opportunities. As a team, Oregon went 13-for-25 from three. Besides Amin, Louis King also made four threes. Pritchard made a couple of timely threes by creating space for himself after driving and stepping back behind the arc.

The only phase of the game in which Oregon did not look superior was in the beginning of the second half. UC Irvine came out of the locker room with tremendous energy, while Oregon looked like it was struggling to wake up. The Anteaters had been down 35-23 at half, but led 37-35 with 12:44 left in the second half. They took Oregon’s driving lanes away by positioning their help defense so as to be ready to close any gaps inside the paint. On offense, they negated Oregon shot-blockers by attacking the rim and making contact with them so as to avoid giving them the space that they want to make blocks.

Pritchard tried to take his team on his shoulders, making some incredible dashes to the basket, but struggling to finish. UC Irvine couldn’t maintain its level of energy for long. Also, its top players had no response for the energy of Pritchard, Amin, King, and Wooten. UC Irvine’s leading scorer, Max Hazzard, was just 1-for-8 from three. Numerous Ducks collaborated to pull away in what turned out to be a 73-54 blowout.

The big takeaway from this game is that Oregon, which has now won 10 in a row, is not playing like a 12 seed. Oregon will look to challenge the South Region’s top seed Virginia in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.