As it turns out, Oregon will end up playing deeper into March than most of the Pac-12 after all.
Without Will Richardson, N’Faly Dante, Jermaine Couisnard and Brennan Rigsby, many feared the Ducks would be a first-round exit in the National Invitation Tournament despite earning the No. 1 seed in their bracket.
But Oregon rolled past No. 8 UC Irvine on Wednesday, and a 68-54 win over No. 3 UCF on Sunday. Suddenly, this depleted roster that had been so disappointing all season has found its way into the quarterfinals of the NIT. Unbelievable. But then again, what parts of the Ducks’ 2022-23 season has made sense?
“Everybody wants to play in the NCAA tournament,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said about his players’ resilient ambition in the NIT. “But [the NIT] is still a chance to play. I would have been really disappointed if our guys didn’t want to play.”
Now his players have chipped their way to a quarterfinal appearance. They found a way on Sunday.
The game started about as slowly and sloppily as possible. The first points didn’t come for nearly three minutes, and after the first five minutes Oregon led 5-2 and the Golden Knights tallied four fouls before they scored three points. Sloppy.
It would be a lie to say it got a whole lot better after that.
But, without the aforementioned Oregon players, the Ducks found themselves in a rhythm that UCF couldn’t keep up with. Without a clear star, Oregon shared the love between the rest of its depleted roster. The team tallied 14 assists, 40 rebounds and 68 points.
Nate Bittle – the local center from Central Point, Oregon – led the charge for the Ducks. He scored 21, had 13 rebounds and a pair of assists to secure his first career postseason double double.
“I thought [Bittle’s] rebounding early really set a tone for us,” Altman said. “I thought he really went after boards. The points are great, but the 13 rebounds in 25 minutes is kind of his high for the year.”
During the first eight minutes of the second half, Bittle scored eight points. UCF scored six.
Defensively, Oregon took advantage of an already struggling Golden Knight offense. The Ducks held UCF to just 54 points while forcing 13 turnovers and 22 fouls.
“They really couldn’t guard us in the paint,” Oregon center Kel’el Ware said. “All we had to do was be physical, and once we got physical with them, they couldn’t stop us.”
The Oregon lead was built on a slew of runs and protected by a determined defense.
The Ducks had a pair of runs in the first half to give them a lead they wouldn’t surrender in the second frame. A 14-3 run in the first half and a 7-0 run to close it out gave Oregon a 33-24 halftime lead. The Ducks held UCF scoreless through the final three minutes of the first half.
Then they busted the game open by starting the second half on a 14-2 run that lasted nearly five minutes. The run gave Oregon a 21-point lead – its largest of the game.
Nobody told the few thousand fans in attendance that this was “just an NIT game.” The energy was there as Lök Wur, Rivaldo Soares and Quincy Guerrier drained three-point shots.
Guerrier had the challenge of guarding UCF’s Taylor Hendricks. Altman said there were “NBA people” in attendance to watch him play, but Guerrier and the Ducks held him to just nine points and nine rebounds through 36 minutes. Altman praised Guerrier and said he “really took the challenge tonight.”
The Ducks were 5-of-19 from the three-point line – which isn’t great, though they’ve certainly demonstrated worse this year – but it was enough to blast past the Golden Knights.
Some parts of Sunday’s game were spot on with how Oregon’s season has gone thus far. The Ducks outrebounded their opponent (40-31), scored the bulk of their points down low, weren’t elite three-point shooters and dealt with some ugly turnovers of their own (18). But it didn’t seem to matter this time. The Golden Knights traveled over three thousand miles to have their season ended by Bittle and the bigs.
In the end, in an incredibly anticlimactic fashion, UCF – which prides itself on its space school – had to watch its season’s final countdown while Oregon fans came to believe that maybe – just maybe – they had just seen one of the most surprising put-together games of the Ducks’ whirlwind season.
“I’m just happy that we’re still playing,” Bittle said. “I have a bunch of friends who play all over the country and their seasons are coming to an end.”
Ware added that “some people I know, their season already ended. But I get to keep moving and working on my craft in practice and in the games.”
Oregon advances to play No. 2 Wisconsin (19-14) in the quarterfinal round of the NIT on Tuesday at 6 pm. The Badgers beat No. 7 Bradley 81-62 and No. 3 Liberty 75-71 to earn their path to the only “elite eight” that Duck fans still care about.
