The No. 11 seeded Oregon Ducks fell 86-73 to the No. 3 seeded Creighton Blue Jays in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. Oregon got 32 points from Jermaine Couisnard and a career-high 28 points and 20 rebounds from N’Faly Dante, but could not get any offense outside of that pair after the first half.

The Blue Jays, normally a prolific 3-point shooting team, struggled out of the gate. After making their first attempt from deep, they missed their next 10. However, the Ducks were unable to capitalize on the cold stretch due to their own struggles from the field.

Couisnard – who broke the Pac-12 record for most points through two games in the NCAA Tournament with 72 points – picked up two early fouls, forcing the Ducks to have to adapt their game plan to make up for Couisnard’s offensive production being on the bench. 

The lack of depth for Oregon came up again, which led Dana Altman to decide that having Couisnard on the floor was more important than making sure he did not add to that foul total. Couisnard re-entered the game just four minutes after he left.

Couisnard immediately made his presence known. He hit a layup, then a 3-pointer to give the Ducks their first lead of the game at 22-21 with just under seven minutes left in the first half. He seemed to be fighting Creighton on his own. He scored 11 straight points for Oregon to keep them locked in a fight for the lead despite getting destroyed on the boards.

At halftime, the Ducks trailed the Blue Jays 23-15 on the glass, and 14-2 in second chance points. However, Oregon trailed just 36-34 thanks to Creighton’s struggles from deep. Couisnard led all scorers at halftime with 15 points. He was helped by eight points and eight rebounds from Dante.

Although the Blue Jays shot just 6-23 – good for just 26.1% – from 3-point range, they had been able to force the Ducks to play faster than they wanted to. Dante struggled at times to be effective while sprinting up and down the court, being caught multiple times on both offense and defense with his hands on his knees and out of breath. Creighton’s center Ryan Kalkbrenner was able to exploit Dante’s fatigue to score 12 points and grab seven rebounds, both of which led his team.

The dominance from Couisnard and Dante continued in the second half. The pair scored all 17 of Oregon’s points in the first 10 minutes of the half. That helped the Ducks keep up as the Blue Jays finally found some magic from 3-point range. Creighton made four of its first six attempts from behind the arc to start the second half, but only led 52-51 through the first 10 minutes.

Oregon took control of the game with a 9-0 run – with all nine points coming from Dante and Couisnard – to secure its biggest lead of the game at 58-52. During the run, the Ducks held the Blue Jays scoreless for over six minutes, showcasing their defensive dominance against the high-powered Creighton unit.

Somehow the trend of Dante and Couisnard comprising the entirety of Oregon’s offense continued throughout the rest of the game. The pair were able to hold off the Blue Jays’ late push, putting the Ducks up 62-58 with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman made a pair of free throws, then a jump shot to force overtime with the score tied at 62-62.

The overtime period was back and forth through its opening minutes. Oregon made a couple mistakes, turning it over twice and allowing the Blue Jays to capitalize on the other end. The Ducks found themselves trailing 69-66 with just under a minute remaining. There was still no offense outside of the duo of Couisnard and Dante, but Oregon was also without the services of Jackson Shelstad who went back to the locker room late in the second half after a knee injury.

Creighton tried to take Couisnard out of the game entirely, double-teaming him every time he touched the ball. That defensive focus led to Kwame Evans Jr. taking a game-tying 3-pointer and missing badly. Luckily, Tracey was able to make the putback to get the first points outside of Couisnard and Dante since the first half. Couisnard made an incredible 3-pointer on the next possession to tie the game 71-71 and the game to a second overtime period.

The second overtime period was all Creighton. Steven Ashworth and Kalkbrenner made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the Blue Jays separation. The lead got up to 15 points as Creighton was able to pour it on. Oregon failed to score a single point until under a minute remained, and the game ended with a whimper.