Photo Credit: CBS Sports
The story lines in the NCAA Tournament obviously add a lot of different angles and intrigue to games that otherwise might not seem so on paper. The third round match-up of Kansas and Wichita State was an obvious one, Oregon vs Oklahoma State with the winner getting Wisconsin — barring an historic upset by the 16-seeded Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina?
It’s all about location, location, location. Oregon’s head coach is Dana Altman and he’s assisted by Kevin McKenna. Both spent many years building up the Creighton basketball program and in part creating the venue, the CenturyLink Center, that would host this tournament. The game against Oklahoma State? A rematch of a 2013 second round battle in the NCAA Tournament, a game the Ducks won on their way to the Sweet Sixteen. The potential match-up with Wisconsin, also a rematch for the Ducks as the Badgers ended their season in the third round last year on the way to the Final Four.
Both created a lot of pregame intrigue and potential, and on Sunday it will play out even further after Altman’s Ducks dropped Oklahoma State and the Badgers lit up Coastal Carolina and the scoreboard in Friday’s second session of games in Omaha.
Game One: No. 8 Oregon def. No. 9 Oklahoma State, 79-73.
PAC-12 Player of the Year Joseph Young, junior forward Elgin Cook, and freshman forward Dillon Brooks combined to score 62 points for the Oregon Ducks as they held off the Oklahoma State Cowboys in an entertaining back and forth affair.
The Ducks had trouble in the early going trying to navigate Oklahoma State’s pressure defense as well as slow down Cowboys duo Le’Bryan Nash and Anthony Hickey. Each had 11 points in the first half, Hickey’s coming in bunches to give the Cowboys a 36-28 lead with five minutes to go before halftime.
Hickey, a transfer from Louisiana State University, was playing in his first NCAA Tournament, but he didn’t get rattled by the stage. He hit his first two shots from the field and caused a lot of havoc on Oregon’s back court early on, specifically against Ducks senior guard Joseph Young.
“My mindset was just to play hard, try to stop Young as much as I can … I just wanted to do whatever just to win,” said Hickey. “Just play hard for the main thing; affect the game as many ways as I can.”
Stopping Young appeared possible when the Cowboys were building the eight-point lead. Stopping the Oregon guard when trying to protect the lead was another story. Young caught fire and went on a personal 15-3 run to the turn his team’s deficit into a 43-39 halftime lead.
The halftime break didn’t cool him off either, because he came out of the locker room and scored eight of his team’s first 11 points in the second half, pushing Oregon’s lead to as many as eight points in the process. Between the end of the first and the start of the second half, Young scored 23 of Oregon’s 26 points during in eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds of game time, turning a 36-28 deficit into a 54-49 lead with 15:34 left to play.
“It was just my teammates trusting me. Teammates found me, they got me the ball and good screens, open on the pick-and-roll, just stepped up and knocked down open shots,” Young said. “I really commend my team for really getting me open and getting me the ball and Coach [Altman] trusting me with the ball and running me to the right place.”
Hickey and the Cowboys had another run left in them still. The senior guard keyed an 11-2 stretch with a pair of steals and a 3-pointer to put the Cowboys ahead 60-56 with 12:49 to go.
The Ducks answered with couple of steals and transition baskets by junior forward Dwayne Benjamin as part of a 14-2 run over the next six minutes of action to retake a 70-62 lead. After the Cowboys scored seven straight to cut it to one, Dillon Brooks knocked down an important 3-point basket to push the lead back to four points, and Oregon sealed the game at the free throw line.
Young finished with a game-high 27 points and four assists to go along with four rebounds, playing nearly the entire game. He stole the show with his 23-point stretch between the two halves, but Oregon’s balance and big plays from other players who weren’t necessarily the focus of Oklahoma State’s game plan proved to be the difference not only in tonight’s win, but in the games that got the Ducks to this point.
“We have a lot of guys that have made contributions. Joe and Elgin are a one, two punch most nights, and down the stretch, since we have been playing better in February and March, it’s been these two guys,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “But tonight it was Dillon hitting a big three, play out of a time-out. Coach McKenna kind of recommended it, and it worked. We ran that same play against Oregon State for Dwayne; he hit it, same play against Stanford, he hit it. So different guys have stepped up, but we have rode these two guys really hard. Dillon had a great offensive game tonight. He was 7 for 9; 17 points, 7 for 9 from the field. That’s great for a freshman to step into your first NCAA Tournament game and go 7 for 9, get 17 points, great performance.”
“I think we have had different people contribute. We were down 8 in the first half and in trouble, and Joe sparked us there. Jalil got a big steal; Joe hit a big 3. Different guys have stepped up, but, again, these two guys have carried the ball. They’ve made the plays, really a tribute to these two guys, and then Dillon stepped up tonight, Dwayne stepped up in previous games, Jalil. Again, Jordan with the four blocked shots. We’ve had a lot of guys step up and make contributions.”
Game Two: No. 1 Wisconsin def. No. 16 Coastal Carolina, 86-72.
National Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky recorded a double-double as he led all players with 27 points and 12 rebounds, also distributing the ball with four assists to help the Badgers roll into the Round of 32 and a rematch of last season third round game against the Oregon Ducks.
The Badgers didn’t trail the rest of the night after Kaminsky scored in the paint, then stepped outside the arc and hit a 3-pointer two possessions later. He turned a one-point deficit into a four-point advantage and the rout was on.
“Well, he’s an All-American, that’s the bottom line. He’s an All-American. He hits you so many ways,” said Coastal Carolina head coach Cliff Ellis. “Where it hurt us, we wanted him to have to make the 3-point shot tonight. He did! So that forces you to go out. The 3s will hurt you more than 2s. We gambled with regards to saying make him make the outside shot, and he can, but you never know in a one-and-done situation what’s going to happen, what was really the daggers when he was knockin’ them down. And then you have to go back out, and it opens the rim up for other people. As good as they are around the block, it just opens up their 3-point shooting and made it tough.”
Wisconsin shot 55% from the field in the first half, including eight 3-point baskets to lead 47-32 at the break. It was both the most points allowed in the first half and the largest halftime deficit the Chanticleers had faced all season.
The second-half shooting wasn’t quite as good as the first, but it was enough for the Badgers to extend the lead to as much as 24 points before a turnover-filled final two minutes allowed Coastal Carolina to get some easy baskets and trim down the final margin.
For the game, Wisconsin shot 54% overall, hit 11 3-pointers, and dished out 14 assists while committing nine turnovers.
“I think we played pretty efficient, in spurts, though. There were times when we were very efficient and times where we weren’t taking very good shots,” said Wisconsin junior forward Sam Dekker. “I think early in the second half we kind of slacked off and took some quick looks and we weren’t running the stuff that we usually do. So I think we did a better job late in the second half, and overall I think it was a pretty efficient offensive night, but we can do better, and we’re looking forward to doing better on Sunday.”
Sunday is when the Badgers will next take the court. Facing a team they eliminated in last year’s NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee. In that game Oregon scored 49 points in the first half and led by as many as 14 points before Wisconsin came back to win, 85-77, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Oregon guard Joseph Young, who scored 27 points in the Ducks’ second round win over Oklahoma State, gave the Badgers fits as he went off for 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting in last year’s contest. A year later, he’s a player the Badgers are still well aware of.
“We know they’re a good team. They made it to their conference tournament finals, and they got a lot of good players on their team, and it starts with Joseph Young,” Kaminsky said. “We know how good he is from last year, so it’s going to be a battle again, just like last year. Hopefully we’ll play well and hopefully we’ll come out on top.”
The rematch between Wisconsin and Oregon will take place a half an hour after the conclusion of No. 2 Kansas vs No. 7 Wichita State, which is scheduled to tip off at 4:15 p.m. (CST).
