A year ago to date, Oregon was left answerless during a second half comeback from the Wisconsin Badgers that the NCAA Tournament is predicated on. Wisconsin erased a 12-point halftime deficit in the 2014 third round and outscored the Ducks by 20 points in the game’s final 20 minutes in front of a Bradley Center crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin uniformed almost entirely in Badger red.
Joseph Young hit crucial shot after shot on the night, finishing with a total of 29 points on 10-19 shooting. But his final meaningful attempt – with Oregon trailing 80-77 with under a minute to go – to salvage a self-destruction for the Ducks missed.
A lot changed after that. A tumultuous offseason ensued. Three players were expelled from the university after an alleged sexual assault and suddenly, a team that expected to return seven scholarship players, brought back just three.
Before the season began, Oregon head coach Dana Altman was blunt about the outlook for this team.
“I’m a little concerned,” he said in November. Young and Elgin Cook were the only players returning that averaged 6.2 minutes or more of playing time in the previous season.
But, a lot came to mirror the exact feel of March 22, 2014 exactly a year later. Oregon, with its Pac-12 player (Young) and coach of the year (Altman), faced off against No. 1 seed Wisconsin in Ohama, Nebraska Sunday for the right to move onto the Sweet 16.
The similarities of the first contest stopped there, as the Ducks, behind another overwhelming performance from Young, fought off every dagger the Badgers tried to connect for 40 minutes.
From start to finish – even after Wisconsin held a 20-9 lead in the game’s first ten minutes – the Ducks responded.
Dwayne Benjamin’s three-pointer with 5:29 left in the second half tied the game at 52 for the first time since the opening tip. Wisconsin’s front court, dominated by behemoths like Frank Kaminsky (7-foot) and Sam Dekker (6-foot-9), was outrebounded for just the 11th time this season, 34-32. In his last game in an Oregon uniform, Joseph Young, despite starting 0-5 shooting, finished with 30 points.
Those efforts were not enough, though, to upset a team that was clearly far more versatile and well-rounded. Wisconsin (33-3) outscored Oregon (26-10) 20-13 in the final 5:29 and secured a spot in the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year with a 72-65 win.
“It hurts,” Altman said in his press conference after the game. “The guys found a way to stay in the ball game. We had an opportunity, but Wisconsin is a good team.”
Dekker led the Badgers with 17 points and three other Wisconsin players scored in double-figures. The seven-footer, Kaminsky, who was expected to have his way with an Oregon starting lineup that possessed just one starter above 6-foot-6, managed 16 points and seven rebounds.
Yet, Kaminsky became virtually nonexistent during stretches of the game and Wisconsin’s obvious size advantage never became a deciding factor. In addition to the Ducks’ advantage in rebounds over Wisconsin, the team scored 30 points in the paint to Wisconsin’s 24. Jordan Bell also recorded four blocks, compared to Wisconsin’s three.
As those stats indicate, Oregon did not wilt like it did in its previous contest with the Badgers. The Ducks committed just two more turnovers than Wisconsin and hit one more three-pointer.
But, Oregon attempted just seven free throws to Wisconsin’s 29. The Badgers made 21 of them and hit them during the final minutes of the game when they especially counted. In addition, a number of missed opportunities during the final minutes of the game proved to be a marginal difference in a game decided by just seven points.
Young said in November that his leadership would be the most crucial trait for this team. He said if he was doing things right, then the freshmen and newcomers would follow suit.
Oregon, who was picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 before the season, then surged through the latter part of Pac-12 play and finished second. A team that had a “rebuild” connotation next to it before the season helped the program reach the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive year for the first time in its history.
Behind Young and a cast of underclassmen and junior college transfers, the Ducks fell just short of a Sweet 16 birth – a story that he nor anyone else within the program could’ve imagined being written exactly a year after its devastating loss in the same round to the same opponent.
Notes:
– Young’s 30 point effort tied him with Terrell Brandon for most points in a season by an Oregon player (745).
– Bell finished the season with a school-record 94 blocks.
– Jalil Abdul-Bassit was the only other Oregon player to score in double-figures Sunday. He scored 12 points in the final game of his collegiate career.
– This was the first time Oregon lost when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise