In the third place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, Oregon faced No. 6 North Carolina, dropping its second game of the tournament, 78-74.
Yet again, Oregon found themselves trailing early in the first half — although not nearly as disheartening as the 24-7 deficit they faced against Gonzaga.
The Ducks’ height disadvantages were thoroughly exploited by North Carolina. The Tar Heels tallied a season-high nine blocks in the first half alone, led by freshman Armando Bacot Jr. with four.
Oregon’s bigs got next to nothing on the interior and with Anthony Mathis’ shooting woes continuing — shooting 1-5 from three-point range in the half — the Ducks looked to their point guards to carry the offensive load.
Will Richardson poured in a season-high 12 points in the half, looking far more aggressive offensively than he has in any other game on the young season. Payton Pritchard scored 11 himself, bucketing a trio of tough 3-pointers.
Despite their ineffectiveness on the inside, the Ducks timely buckets and transition play helped them stay in the game, trailing 46-41 at the half.
The second half went much like it had in Oregon’s last game against Gonzaga. North Carolina repeatedly built leads, only to have the Ducks claw back into the game due in large part to their season-high 22 offensive rebounds — the most the Ducks have had in a game since 2016. Unfortunately, many of them came from, and resulted in, missed layups around the rim as Bacot Jr. continued to dominate. He finished the game with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and six blocks. He also hit nine of his 10 free throws.
Freshman Cole Anthony, who had largely controlled North Carolina’s half court offense on his own, left the game with his fourth foul with 10 minutes remaining. But the Ducks couldn’t capitalize. When they did score, they couldn’t get a stop. And when they finally tightened up and made defense plays, the offense looked lost.
With five minutes to go, the grueling 72-hour tournament seemed to get to the Ducks. Chris Duarte got caught in no man’s land as he failed to move his feet on defense and allowed a wide open three. Cash. On the other end, Bacot Jr. collected his sixth block, ran the floor, and finished with a dunk driving the Tar Heels lead to 10.
The game looked out of reach.
Oregon again showed its grit. Clutch threes from Pritchard and Richardson as well as a trio of made free throws brought the game to within a point.
Then, CJ Walker, just like he had countless times against Gonzaga, collected an offensive rebound and put it back up for two.
Four consecutive points from Anthony put the Ducks in position to tie the game and send it to overtime for the second time in as many days.
With 20 seconds left out of a timeout, Will Richardson dribbled towards the baseline before finding Pritchard near the top of the key. Pritchard had hit huge threes all game and had a chance to make up for his miss game-winner the day prior. It clanked off the side of the rim.
The Ducks fought hard, facing three top-12 teams in the span of three days. They downed Seton Hall and were mere points from downing Gonzaga and North Carolina, but couldn’t get it done in the final minutes, leaving the island 1-2.
Oregon now has a chance to regroup. It’ll face Hawaii on Dec. 7 before heading to Ann Arbor a week later to face a formidable Michigan Wolverines team, who faced Gonzaga in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.
