Oregon’s formula for success so far through the NCAA Tournament has been fairly consistent: make the three-point shot and pressure the three-point shot on defense.
It’s worked well so far for the third-seeded Ducks as they are back in the Elite 8 for the first time since 2002 after defeating seventh-seeded UNLV 76-72 on Friday in the semifinal of the Midwest Region in St. Louis.
This time, 5-foot-6 freshman Tajuan Porter led the Ducks’ three-point onslaught by hitting on 9 of 17 from long range. He finished with 33 points, the most since the third game this season when he scored 38, and he helped Oregon shoot a blazing 63.6 percent (7 of 11) from beyond the arc in the second half and a season-best 56.5 percent (13 of 23) for the game. Malik Hairston was 2 for 3 from beyond the arc and Maarty Leunen finished 3 of 5.
“We are in a good rhythm,” Hairston said. “We passed the ball well and got a lot of open shots.”
Porter had three three-pointers and Leunen added two more to propel the Ducks to their largest lead of 18 with 8:13 gone by in the second half.
“Congratulations to Oregon,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “I thought they obviously controlled and dictated for much of the 40 minutes.”
With the Runnin’ Rebels needing to play catch-up, the Ducks also effectively stifled the outside shot, holding UNLV to 9 of 33 shooting from beyond the arc.
“This team is a very good defensive team,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “They’ve been really good…with rotating and doing a good job of executing game plans.”
The Ducks used a similar pattern to defeat 11th-seeded Winthrop in the second round of the tournament last Sunday in Spokane, Wash.
Oregon, behind 5-of-9 shooting from long-range by senior point guard Aaron Brooks and 4 of 8 from Porter, also limited the Eagles to 8-for-31 shooting from downtown. And defense in general has been a strong point for the Ducks, having held five of their last seven opponents under 40 percent shooting.
UNLV shot 37.8 percent Friday.
Freshman phenom
Porter, the smallest player remaining in the NCAA Tournament, continues to dazzle his opponents as he climbs the record books.
Not that any of that surprises his teammates.
“Are we surprised? It’s expected at this point,” Hairston said. “He’s shooting the ball incredibly. He’s confident. He’s making big plays. We say the same thing after every game. I’m proud of him.”
Porter, who finished with 33 points, recorded one of his most dazzling performances on one of the biggest stages to help lead the Ducks into the Elite 8.
But he’s been a mark of consistency all season. He now averages 14.8 points per game and shoots near 45 percent from beyond the arc.
“He can stop on a dime,” UNLV guard Kevin Kruger said. “Not many people can do that. And it allows him to get a couple feet of space, which is what he needs to get off the shot and he’s perfected it.”
The Ducks surely needed Porter’s monster effort after Brooks, the senior leader, got into early foul trouble and struggled to find his touch with just eight points on 2-of-8 shooting.
“He was dynamite today,” Brooks said of Porter. “I think he saw that we were all struggling a little bit on the offensive side…he’s been doing that all year.”
Porter poured in 17 consecutive points in the first half and picked up where he left off in the second much to the astonishment of those 26,307 in attendance at the Edwards Jones Dome.
“I’m confident in my shots and my abilities,” Porter said. “I was able to knock them down today.”
Porter tied an NCAA Regional record with eight three pointers and set an Edward Jones Dome record with that same mark, breaking the previous high of six held by former Kentucky standout Tayshaun Prince and former Illinois guard Luther Head, both currently in the NBA.
Porter’s currently third on the NCAA all-time single-season freshman three-point list at 108, 14 behind the top mark of 122 set by Stephen Curry at Davidson this season.
Porter already owns Oregon’s record for number of three pointers in one season and previously passed former UCLA star Jason Kapono for the Pac-10 freshman record.
“He’s just a terrific little ball player,” Kent said. “Special type of player.”
Slowing the star
One key for Oregon’s defense was limiting UNLV’s leading scorer, Wendell White, who came in averaging 14.6 points per game – and 20.5 in the NCAA Tournament – and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game. He finished with just nine points and four rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
“We talked about that they had three terrific scorers, and if we could neutralize two of them and do the job on the rest of the people on the floor and the bench, one guy could have a good game and I thought we did a good job of that,” Kent said.
The Ducks also did a decent job on Kruger, the familiar face from Arizona State who transferred for his final season to play for his father Lon Kruger. Kevin finished with 15 points but was 5-of-16 shooting from the field and 2-of-11 from three-point range.
Big test ahead
Oregon’s smaller lineup likely faces the ultimate test Sunday in an Elite 8 match-up against top-seeded Florida, the defending national champions, who boast a lineup consisting of Al Horford, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound bruiser and the skilled 6-foot-11, 232-pound Joakim Noah as well as the 6-foot-9, 185-pound Corey Brewer. The Ducks tallest starter is the 6-foot-9, 215-pound Maarty Leunen.
“They’re a complete basketball team,” Kent said. “They’re well coached. They’re experienced. They’ve got size inside. They’re big guys can score…they have everything you need to win a national champion, which is why they did it last year. We’re going to have to play extremely, extremely well to win that ball game.”
The Gators are coming off a 65-57 dog fight against Butler earlier on Friday, making it 15 straight postseason victories for Florida and seven straight on the season. Four of five Florida starters average double figures and all four reached that against Butler, led by point guard Taurean Green’s 17 points. Horford chipped in with 16.
Florida is making their fourth Elite 8 appearance while Oregon is making its fifth, but the first since 2002 when the Ducks lost 104-86 to Kansas.
Oregon is eyeing only its second Final Four appearance and first since 1939.
Game time is set for 11:40 a.m. PST.
Odds and ends
Leunen, with 11 points and 10 rebounds, secured his 12th career double-double and his 11th double-digit rebounding effort this season. Hairston also recorded a double-double, the fifth of his career, with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Brooks’ streak of 10 straight double-digit scoring outputs ended though he did move up to number seven on the Oregon single-season scoring list. He now has 594 points and passed Anthony Taylor, who had 589 during the 1986-87 season.