The Oregon men’s basketball team may have fallen short of an NCAA Tournament bid, but it still made enough of an impact this year to earn a No. 3 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and will host LSU this Tuesday at Matthew Knight Arena. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205396139@@
The announcement came late Sunday afternoon as Oregon joined Washington, Stanford and Arizona as one of four Pac-12 schools to earn a bid. The Huskies and Wildcats each garnered No. 1 seeds (Washington is also the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament), while the Cardinal was slated alongside Oregon as a No. 3 seed.
This is Oregon’s 10thinvitation to play in the NIT, though the Ducks have not competed in the tournament since 2004. Overall, Oregon holds an 11-10 record in NIT games.
LSU, a No. 6 seed with an 18-14 record on the year, will arrive in Eugene fresh off of a narrow 60-51 loss to No. 1 Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament last Friday. The Tigers defeated Arkansas 70-54 in the opening round of the tournament, but had lost three straight to end regular season play. This is the first time LSU and Oregon have matched up in men’s basketball. @@http://www.ncaa.com/scoreboards/basketball-men/d1/2012/03/09@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205396139@@

Should Oregon (22-9) defeat LSU on Tuesday, it would face the winner of a matchup between No. 2 seed Dayton and No. 7 seed Iowa in the second round. Washington, Texas-Arlington, Northwestern and Akron make up the rest of Oregon’s quarter of the bracket. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205396139@@
Tuesday’s game is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN. According to the Oregon athletic department, all student entries will be free and claimed via the student distribution system. Non-student tickets range from $10 to $28 dollars, and distribution will begin today at 6 p.m.