The hometown kids did it again.
Such little had gone according to plan through this maddening mess of a Saturday matinee, from its copious scoring slumps to the countless opportunities blown by both teams.
But when 40 minutes of play still left Oregon needing Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad to come through, the Oregon natives did, propelling the Ducks to a massive win.
To push Oregon (21-8, 10-8 Big Ten, four-straight wins) over the top in its upset 77-73 win over No.11 Wisconsin (21-7, 11-7 Big Ten), the Ducks relied on Shelstad’s 3-pointer at the end of regulation and big baskets from Bittle in overtime.
To clinch Dana Altman’s 15th-straight 20-win season in dramatic fashion, the big man hit a pair of hook shots in the post to help push the Ducks ahead. Still, Wisconsin had a chance to tie it, but John Tonje’s 3-pointer drew iron and helped the Ducks grab a breathless top-15 win.
Only Auburn, the No.1 team in the nation, has more NET Q1 wins than the Ducks this season.
The real bedlam began when Bittle missed an easy layup to cut the deficit to one in the last minute. But Wisconsin turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play, giving Shelstad his chance to shine with the long step-back 3-pointer falling through and eventually forcing overtime.
On any normal game, maybe that would’ve been a turning point. On this particularly dizzying Saturday contest, it was just the first of several.
There was the wild shot from Klesmit. Or the clutch mid-range jumper from Tonje that gave Wisconsin an overtime lead. The more consequential moment came just after a huge Oregon defensive stop. Kwame Evans Jr. missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, giving the Badgers new life after a Tonje layup cut the deficit to one.
Keeshawn Barthelemy’s free throws extended the lead back to three. But still, the door remained open until the final seconds when Jadrian Tracey’s late free throw iced the game and ran out the clock.
Until the late heroics, it appeared Wisconsin would out-physical a Ducks’ team dwindling down the stretch of the season.
Oregon scored only 26 points in the first half, falling behind by as many as 12 with Bittle in foul trouble.
Fouls, a lack of free throws, and being outrebounded early were big culprits for the Ducks in the first 30 minutes of the game.
But Oregon eventually rallied back thanks to four Badger turnovers in the final five minutes and a long scoring drought by the home team. The Ducks ended regulation on a 19-4 run, with Shelstad’s 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of a Badger defender, easily the biggest make.
The 6-foot sophomore’s heroics seemed far less likely when Wisconsin rumbled out of the gate on fire, hitting 50% of its first-half shots.
But the moments down the stretch from Oregon’s hometown kids were the stuff of legends, madness in February.
