Oregon men’s basketball returned to Eugene as the 12-seed Ducks continue their Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament. As the lone double-digit seeded team, the Ducks have a big test ahead in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday night in the form of No. 1-seed Virginia.
“They don’t beat themselves, they don’t give you easy baskets,” head coach Dana Altman said on Tuesday. “Defensively they know exactly what they want to do and they’ve played together. Very cohesive unit. Offensively, they don’t turn the ball over. They get the shot they want nine times out of 10.”
Oregon flies to Louisville Tuesday evening after practice and scouting sessions. The Ducks started watching film on the flight back to Oregon following the second-round win over No. 13-seed UC Irvine.
“Just making sure mentally they’re ready, physically you don’t want to tire them out,” Altman said. You just want to make sure they’re ready to go.”
Oregon’s run as the underdog started with a win over No. 5-seed Wisconsin in San Jose, California, but the test against a one-seed presents different challenges from all over the court.
“Right now we don’t really care who we play,” junior guard Payton Pritchard said. “We’ve got 40 minutes so we’re gonna give everything we’ve got for 40.”
One of the big challenges from Virginia is guard Kyle Guy, who Pritchard will step up against. But Pritchard says he’s ready for the task of defending the 6-foot-2 Indiana native.
“I’ve known Kyle for a long time — since freshman year of high school so I know his game a little bit,” Pritchard said. “He’s a great player, he’s going to hit a couple but you’ve just got to take away his looks. A lot of players this year have tried to do that and lately they’ve stopped him so hopefully we can do the same against Kyle.”
Ty Jerome and De’andre Hunter add to Virginia’s shooting prowess with all three shooting over 40 percent on the year.
“They do have a number of guys who can score,” Altman said. “It’s a very difficult assignment for a team to have to make sure we stop three guys. All three of them are capable of having big games and really taking over a game. It will stress our defense, there’s no doubt about it.”
On Tuesday, celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted that Oregon five-star recruit “Bol Bol and his handlers also received large sums from Nike.” This comes one day after Avenatti’s arrest on federal charges of extortion and bank and wire fraud.
“I don’t have any information on that,” Altman said. “I have no reason to believe any of it’s accurate. Until I get any more information I don’t have a comment on it.”
Bol will still travel with the team to the Sweet 16.
As for on the court, Altman says he doesn’t need to motivate his players for this matchup.
“I think it’s motivation enough we’re in the Sweet 16 and and this is an opportunity to go to the Elite Eight.”
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow
