GLENDALE, Ariz. —  Ask Tyler Dorsey’s teammates what the last month has been like for the sharpshooter from Pasadena, California. They brag. They smile. They see the swagger. Most of all, they know the Oregon sophomore is deserving of every glowing compliment during this NCAA Tournament.
“Tyler is playing out of his mind,” Dillon Brooks said. “That’s what we need and that’s why our run is so great right now; because he’s playing well.”
Starting with Oregon’s March 9 win over Arizona State in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, Dorsey has averaged 23.5 points agame on 64 percent shooting. In the 31 games prior to the postseason, Dorsey averaged only 12.5 points per game.
Dorsey himself said he felt his game “click” during the Pac-12 Tournament.
“I got a roll going and haven’t stopped since then,” Dorsey said.
For all his postseason heroics — this year and last — Dorsey has earned the moniker, Mr. March.
In Oregon’s first five games during March last season, Dorsey averaged nearly 20 points a game. He scored 17, 19 and 23 points respectively in three Pac-12 Tournament games and led the Ducks to a championship game rout of Utah.
Unlike this year, however, Dorsey eventually cooled off. In the NCAA Tournament, he scored only 41 total points in four tournament games and Oregon was bounced by Oklahoma in the Elite Eight.
But there has been no regression this year.
Almost every Duck has a theory as to why Dorsey has been so good.
“March came up,” Dylan Ennis said. “When that month comes around, Tyler is a different breed of animal.”
“He’s shooting the ball more,” Jordan Bell said. “Tyler’s had great games this year. He’s had 20 (points) plenty of times. I think he’s just consistently shooting the ball better.”
“He just got into a great rhythm,” Casey Benson said. “He’s just letting the game come to him.”
But despite all these theories, Dorsey doesn’t think anything has changed.
“My mindset and the way the I approach a game have been the same throughout the season,” Dorsey said. “It’s not a surprise to me. … I played [well] throughout the season. But I think I’m playing my best basketball [right now].”

Oregon assistant coach Mike Mennenga has a different theory. While Dorsey thinks that this streak started in the Pac-12 Tournament — which the numbers show it has — Mennenga figures a large part of his recent success comes from a sense of urgency the team felt when Chris Boucher went down with a season-ending injury.
“His confidence has always been sky high,” Mennenga said of Dorsey. “We [the coaches] are doing a lot more different things offensively with Tyler with the ball in his hands. … He knew he had to step up and make up the difference.”
Mennenga’s theory would also explain why Dorsey’s rebounds are up and why his intensity on the defensive end has increased. That fact that he’s improved in other aspects of his game is what’s really impressed head coach Dana Altman.
“The thing I’m really most pleased with … is his rebounding production,” Altman said. “He started the conference tournament off with nine rebounds against Arizona State. Defensively he’s been very active. So, it’s been his entire game that has really picked up.”
Ennis noted Dorsey’s uptick in production, too. He said it’s been huge for Oregon’s run so far.
“Sure, he’s scoring 20 points,” Ennis said. “But he’s still grabbing five rebounds, getting three assists. He’s doing things we need him to do to win. The point-scoring is big for us; that’s what he does best, but he’s doing so many other things for the team.
“He knows that this is a big time for us and he’s still playing team basketball.”
Whatever the reason is for this impressive streak, Dorsey has played his best basketball — arguably the best of his career — of late. And while Oregon’s run this postseason has been undoubtedly special, the Ducks will need Dorsey to continue to play at the same high level against North Carolina on Saturday (5:45 p.m. PT CBS).
The Tar Heels are one of the top teams in the country, but so was Kansas. To refresh your memory, Dorsey torched the Jayhawks for 27 points. North Carolina wants to make sure they aren’t his next victim.
“You have to try and let him not touch the ball,” North Carolina forward Justin Jackson said. “The way he’s shooting the ball, it’s going to be hard to guard him whenever he has the ball. So, for us, we’ve got to make it as hard as possible for him to get it. You’ve got to try pretty much anything to try and get him under wraps.”
The Tar Heels will throw everything they have at Dorsey. But that’s exactly what Dorsey wants. He likes the challenge. He’s said that the bigger the stage, the better he plays.
He is, after all, Mr. March.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris
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