PORTLAND, Ore. — On Wednesday, the Oregon Ducks packed up their travel gear and loaded a bus to take them just two hours north Interstate-5 to the city of Portland, Oregon, for their NCAA Tournament Regional hosted at the Moda Center.
Even just two hours away from their home base in Eugene, the Ducks are sure to be met with a large crowd in the City of Roses. As of midday Thursday, the arena has already sold 10,650 tickets for Friday and is expecting to open its upper-level seating for an expected crowd of 11,000-plus people. 
“Any time you can drive to a regional, that’s a good thing,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “I hope this is a good showcase for all of women’s basketball.”
No. 2-seeded Oregon (31-4) will play No. 6-seed South Dakota State Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Moda Center in the Sweet 16.
On Dec. 12, the Ducks and Jackrabbits met on the floor of the Frost Arena in South Dakota for a nonconference matchup. Oregon came out of a five-point deficit at halftime to win the game, 87-79, and give South Dakota State its only home-court loss of the season.
“The thing about South Dakota State, you can always count on them to be roughly the same in everything that they do,” Graves said. “They really do play basketball the way it’s supposed to be played. … They’re all multi-dimensional. They can post up, they can drive, they can all shoot it.”
Sophomore Satou Sabally had a big night in Oregon’s win with a then-career high of 27 points and six rebounds. On the opposing side, South Dakota’s Madison Guebert scored six 3-pointers, a season-high, in the Jackrabbits’ loss. 
But a lot can change in four months.
“You go back and watch that film, after four or five minutes of watching it, we’re not even the same team,” South Dakota State head coach Aaron Johnston said. “Both teams have really grown, kind of figured out how they’re going to play in tough moments, how they’re going to try to stop certain offenses, defenses.”
South Dakota State (28-6) brings an 18-game winning streak into the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance. After winning both the Summit League regular-season and the Summit League Tournament titles, the Jackrabbits’ six-seed is the highest the program has ever been seeded in the NCAA Tournament.
Oregon is no stranger to the Tournament’s Regional. Last year the No. 2 Ducks defeated 11-seeded Central Michigan, 83-69 in the Sweet 16. The year before that, a 10-seeded Oregon upset No. 3 seed Maryland, 77-63, to reach the Elite Eight as well.
The Ducks enter their third consecutive Sweet 16 and hope to advance to their third straight Elite Eight appearance as well. Freshman guard Taylor Chavez, who has been out the past seven games due to a foot injury, will be on “game-time decision,” Graves said.
“It’s so exciting to play,” Oregon’s Ruthy Hebard said. “We know any given night could be our last night. We say we only have one game left guaranteed. Coming out, playing our hardest, making memories with our teammates is what we are focusing on.”
The winner of Friday’s game will advance to the Elite Eight on Sunday and play the winner of Friday’s earlier matchup between No. 1 Mississippi State and No. 5 Arizona State. 
Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni