University of Oregon
23-12
Washington
26-8
Ducks Punch NCAA Ticket with KO Of UW
03/16/19 | Men's Basketball
The Oregon men's basketball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament after a 20-point win over first-seeded Washington in the Pac-12 Championship on Saturday.
LAS VEGAS – A sublime performance from Tournament Most Outstanding Player Payton Pritchard sparked a dominant second half as the Oregon men's basketball team ran away from Washington 68-48 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Oregon held Washington to 48 points, the lowest total in Pac-12 Championship game history. In four tournament games, the Ducks allowed just 57.0 points per contest.
The Ducks will watch the Selection Sunday show knowing their name will be among the 68 teams included in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, something that was nearly impossible to fathom three week ago after the Ducks sat at 6-8 in the Pac-12 Conference following a three-game slide to Oregon State, USC and UCLA.
But then Oregon morphed into the hottest team in the country, reeling off eight consecutive wins to roll into next week's Big Dance.
"In the 39 years I've been lucky enough to do this, I've never seen a team make that drastic of a change in a three- or four-week period," said the Pac-12 Tournament's all-time winningest coach Dana Altman. "They really grew up quick and really believed in each other."
Pritchard scored 20 points with six rebounds, seven assists and four steals, while fellow all-tournament honoree Louis King added 15 points.
How It Happened: In the first half, the Ducks and the Huskies went back and forth with neither team leading by more than five points. Pritchard led Oregon with 10 points and five rebounds, while White had seven points and King six to help Oregon gain a slight 48-46 edge at halftime.
In the second frame, Oregon came out on the floor looking like a team who wasn't going to walk away with anything less than a win. Sparked by a steal and layup from Kenny Wooten, the Ducks opened the frame on an 18-4 run to give them a sizable 16-point lead with 10 minutes remaining. During that span, Oregon held Washington scoreless for more than eight minutes and only allowed the Huskies to make two field goals from 11 attempts.
From there, Payton Pritchard made sure the Ducks stayed ahead. The game seemed to be decided with 4:54 remaining. Pritchard found Wooten up top for an alley-oop to give the Ducks a 54-35 lead, along with deafening cheers from the stands. The next play, Pritchard drew an offensive foul. Pritchard was quick to get up, feeding the crowd by lifting his arms into the air with a smile on his face. A few minutes later, Pritchard grabbed his final steal of the night and dunked it on the other end for the emphatic exclamation point.
As he was subbed out in the final minutes, Pritchard was met at the bench by his teammates who greeted him with hugs and jumps and the MVP screamed, "we're going dancing!"
Welcome to March Madness, Oregon.
Who Stood Out: In addition to Pritchard and King, Paul White was also in double figures with 14 points … Kenny Wooten sparked Oregon's defensive effort with four blocks, all in the second half, to go along with seven rebounds.
Notable: Oregon set combined Pac-12 Tournament records for most points (297), most field goals (107), most steals (36) and most blocks (23) … Kenny Wooten set the individual record for most combined blocks in a Pac-12 Tournament with 10 … Oregon improves to 32-16 all-time in the Pac-12 Tournament … No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon. The Ducks are 17-4 since the league moved to the desert in 2013 … Oregon became the second team to win the Pac-12 Tournament by winning four games, joining Colorado in 2012 … Oregon became the third No. 6 seed to win the Pac-12 Tournament, joining Colorado in 2012 and USC in 2009. The No. 6 seed is now 3-0 in title game appearances … Oregon wins the Pac-12 Championship for the fifth time, the second-most titles all-time trailing only Arizona's seven … Dana Altman has the most wins all-time in the Pac-12 Tournament with 19 … Dana Altman has 233 wins at Oregon, two behind Ernie Kent for most in program history … Payton Pritchard passed Luke Jackson for the second-most career steals in Oregon history with 161 … Three of Washington's four lowest-scoring games this season have come against Oregon. The Huskies are 1-2 against the Ducks.
Quotable:
Dana Altman, Head Coach
"I thought the first 10 minutes of the second half was the deciding time. I know at the 12- minute timeout, they had scored two points, and Kenny had blocked shots. And we kept the ball in front of us. We had some deflections."
Paul White, Senior Forward
"I remember talking about after the UCLA game, talking about how those games going into the (Pac-12) tournament is probably what would be the deciding factor of how well we do in the tournament. And we really played well with the Arizona schools, and we just carried that momentum. And now we're here, Pac-12 champs. I couldn't be more proud."
Up Next: NCAA Tournament Selection Show, Sunday, 3 p.m. PT, CBS.
