The No. 4 seeded Oregon Ducks earned a second-straight upset victory, this time beating the No. 3 seeded Colorado Buffaloes 75-68 to become the Pac-12 Champions and punch their ticket to March Madness. N’Faly Dante was named Tournament MVP with his incredible performance of 25 points and nine rebounds while shooting a perfect 12-12 from the field. He was also +19 in the game. Jermaine Cousinard and Jackson Shelstad were both named to the All-Tournament team.
“For me, it’s just something I’ve always dreamed of,” Cousinard said. “We came together at the beginning of the year and wrote this down on the board.”
The Ducks were aggressive on defense early in the game, determined to prevent the Buffaloes from gaining too much momentum. Oregon forced three turnovers in the first three minutes of the game to mess with the flow of Colorado’s offense. However, that aggressive defense had its downsides as Dante picked up his second foul early in the contest to land him on the bench just over five minutes into the game.
“Our communication was a lot better,” Dana Altman, head coach of the team, said about the zone defense. “I think we made some adjustments and the guys felt a lot more comfortable with it.”
The Ducks struggled to keep the Buffaloes off the free throw line, allowing Colorado to go on a 13-0 run to take a 20-11 lead 11 minutes into the contest. A dominant early performance on the glass for the Buffaloes hurt Oregon’s ability to retake the lead.
The Ducks’ shotmaking fell off a cliff during Colorado’s run. A lack of offensive production put Oregon in the unenviable position of having to make a run while fighting foul trouble. Dante was the only Duck able to put the ball in the basket with any consistency during the stretch.
The heroes of the second half against the Arizona Wildcats – Cousinard and Shelstad – got off to shaky starts in the championship game. The duo made just three of their first 15 attempts from the field, which was a major contributor to Oregon’s slow start.
The Ducks were able to rally late in the first half to close the gap. Cousinard made two layups to help tie the game before Jadrian Tracey made a 3-pointer to take the lead at 29-28 with a minute to play before halftime.
“Believe. That’s the word, believe,” Cousinard said about Oregon’s run. “We knew what we had to come down here and do, and we knew we had to win three straight. So everybody had to put everything inside and do whatever it takes for us to get the win.”
Shelstad finally saw the ball go through the hoop on a pair of free throws, and then on a baseline jumper to end the half with four straight points for the Ducks. Despite poor shooting for much of the first half, Oregon took a 33-30 advantage into halftime. The final basket from Shelstad meant the half ended on a 14-4 run for Oregon.
The Buffaloes held a 21-15 advantage on the boards in the first half, yet the Ducks went into the halftime break trailing by at least five in that category in all three tournament games. Oregon was able to make up part of that deficit in the second half, but still lost the overall rebounding battle 34-31.
After trailing both UCLA and Arizona at halftime, the Ducks held the advantage against Colorado. Through the previous two games of the tournament, Oregon had proven itself a second-half squad, a promising trend for a team holding a slight lead.
Both teams got off to quick starts in the second half. Just over two minutes in, the Buffaloes were able to tie the game at 37-37 following a pair of free throws from Tristan da Silva. Dante’s continued dominance in the paint continued to be the most consistent source of offense for the Ducks as Colorado’s Eddy Lampkin Jr. struggled to contain him down low.
The game was slowed considerably by the amount of fouls called on both teams. Eleven total fouls were called between Oregon and the Buffaloes in the first seven minutes of the second half. Through the stoppages, the Ducks were able to maintain their lead through the early part of the half. Dante’s dominance kept Oregon on top 49-46 through the first eight minutes.
The Ducks were able to take great care of the ball while forcing an abundance of mistakes on the defensive end. The first 30 minutes of the game saw Oregon grab eight steals and force 11 turnovers while Colorado was able to force just three turnovers in the whole game.
“I thought our defensive connection was a lot better,” Altman said. “I thought we made fewer mistakes against two really good offensive teams in Arizona and Colorado.”
With just under five minutes to play, Colorado’s Luke O’Brien hit a massive 3-pointer to give the Buffaloes a 62-61 lead. The basket was immediately juxtaposed with another miss from deep from Oregon’s Kwame Evans Jr., which dropped the Ducks to just 2-17 shooting from outside the arc.
“The guys finished it off,” Altman said about Oregon’s play down the stretch. “We’ve had trouble finishing. So we finished the last three games, which you have to do this time of year.”
Similar to the game plan down the stretch against Arizona, Oregon began to slow down the pace of the game after taking back the lead. A layup from Tracey put the Ducks up 66-62 with just under three minutes remaining in the game, but Colorado’s 3-point shooting ensured that no Oregon lead would be safe until the final buzzer sounded.
A huge momentum building dunk from Dante silenced the Buffaloes’ crowd and helped the Ducks push the lead back up to a two-possession game with two minutes remaining. A putback layup on the next possession, also from Dante, pushed the lead to 70-64 and forced the Buffaloes to resort to fouling after missing their next shot.
An incredible block from Dante on a 3-pointer from Simpson, and then a tip for the rebound to Shelstad sealed the 75-68 win for Oregon.
“He’s just unbelievable,” Altman said about Dante during the celebration. “He’s a warrior, he fights his tail off.”
The Ducks have earned their spot in March Madness, and their next opponent will be revealed tomorrow on Selection Sunday.
Oregon Center N'Faly Dante #1 (right) and Forward Kwame Evans Jr. #10 (left) fight for a rebound with Colorado Center Eddie Lampkin Jr. (middle) under the basket. The University of Oregon Ducks Men's Basketball team was defeated by the University of Colorado Buffaloes 79-75 in a home game at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore., on March 7, 2024. (Eric Becker/Emerald)
