Notes: Ducks Face Wisconsin in NCAA Opener

Pac-12 Tournament champion Oregon is the No. 12 seed in the South Region and will open the NCAA Tournament against #5 seed Wisconsin Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. (TBS).

THE STARTING 5
• 1 – This is Oregon's sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven years, and overall it is the Ducks' ninth straight postseason appearance.
• 2 – A turnaround for the ages. On Feb. 23, Oregon was 15-12 (10th place in the Pac-12 at 6-8). Then came the streak of eight wins in a row. After allowing UCLA to score 62 points in the second half, the Ducks held their next six opponents to less than 62 points for the entire game.
• 3 – During the eight-game winning streak, the Ducks are outscoring their opponents by nearly 18 points per game (72.0 to 54.2). Opponents are shooting 34.6 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from three.
• 4 – In the midst of that streak, Oregon held six consecutive opponents to less than 62 points. The last time Oregon did that was 1982-83, three years before the shot clock. During the streak, only Arizona State (75) has cracked 62 points.
• 5 – While Oregon's recent defensive surge can be directly linked with the switch to the "big" starting lineup (four players standing 6-9), the play of Pac-12 Tournament MOP Payton Pritchard shouldn't be overlooked. During the eight-game winning streak, he is averaging 15.8 points per game with 39 assists, 22 steals and just 11 turnovers.
• BENCH – Dana Altman is now one of six active head coaches in NCAA Division I who have posted a winning record for the last 22 consecutive seasons (the other five - Williams, Boeheim, Izzo, Self and Coach K - are all in the Hall of Fame).

THE FIRST NCAA CHAMPIONS
Oregon's 1939 basketball team earned a niche in sports history by winning the first NCAA championship basketball tournament ever held. With a first unit composed of four native Oregonians and one Washingtonian, coach Howard Hobson guided the "Tall Firs" to a 29-5 season record and Oregon's only NCAA basketball title. Oregon's title run began in the Western Playoffs at Treasure Island, Calif., by knocking off Texas, 56-41, and dropping Oklahoma, 55-37. On March 27, the Tall Firs faced Ohio State on the neutral Northwestern University court at Evanston, Ill., for the national title. John Dick scored 13 points and Laddie Gale and Bobby Anet contributed 10 apiece as the Ducks rolled to a 46-33 victory and the NCAA crown.

VERSUS THE SAN JOSE NCAA FIELD
The Ducks and Wisconsin have an interesting NCAA Tournament history. Friday will mark the third time in the last six years that Oregon and the Badgers have met on March 22 in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin won the first two NCAA meetings and is 5-2 all-time versus the Ducks. Oregon is 2-2 all-time against Kansas State and 6-2 all-time versus UC Irvine. Oregon's Dana Altman was Kansas State's head coach from 1991-94.

LAST TIME IN SAN JOSE
This might sound familiar. The last time Oregon was sent to San Jose for the NCAA Tournament was 2013. That season, Oregon won the Pac-12 Tournament and wound up in San Jose as the #12 seed. The Ducks knocked out #5 Oklahoma State 68-55 before taking down #4 Saint Louis 74-57 to advance to the Sweet 16 where they lost to top-seeded Louisville 77-69. This year the Ducks won the Pac-12 Tournament and were sent to San Jose as the #12 seed.

NCAA THREE DOT DATA
This is just the fourth time that both the UO men and women will play in the NCAA Tournament (1995, 2000, 2017) ... The #12 seed matches Oregon's lowest seed in the NCAA Tournament (2013) ... Two Ducks will be making their second NCAA Tournament appearances, while it will be the first for the rest of the squad. Payton Pritchard was the starting point guard on Oregon's 2017 Final Four team. Paul White was a member of Georgetown's 2015 NCAA Tournament team before transferring to Oregon.

OREGON ANNOUNCES CONTRACT EXTENSION FOR ALTMAN
University of Oregon Director of Athletics Rob Mullens announced during the Pac-12 Tournament that the UO has agreed to terms and is finalizing a contract extension with head men's basketball coach Dana Altman, pending Board of Trustees approval. The agreement runs through the 2025-26 season and is intended to be funded through philanthropy.

DUCKS IN THE DESERT
No one has won more Pac-12 Tournament games in Las Vegas than Oregon. The Ducks are 17-4 since the league moved the championship to the desert in 2013. In the seven tournaments in Las Vegas, the Ducks have played in five championship games (winning in 2013, 2016 and 2019) and have advanced to the semifinal round six times. The only year the Ducks departed Vegas prior to the semis was in 2014 after a quarterfinal loss to UCLA.

PAC-12 TOURNAMENT STAYING POWER
Since the conference tournament returned in 2002, Oregon has won at least one game in 14 of 17 appearances and went on to take the conference crown five times (2003, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2019). The Ducks are 30-12 (.714) in 17 appearances since 2002. Oregon's only first round exits during that span came in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Including the conference tournaments from 1987-90, Oregon's overall .667 winning percentage (32-16) is third-best in the conference, while the Ducks' five titles trail only Arizona's seven.

ALTMAN BECOMES PAC-12 TOURNAMENT'S WINNINGEST COACH
With four wins in the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament, Dana Altman became the winningest coach in Tournament history. He finished 2019 with 19 career wins in the Pac-12 Tournament. This year he passed Sean Miller, Arizona (17) and Lute Olson, Arizona (16) for the all-time lead.

PRITCHARD, KING SHINE IN PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
Payton Pritchard's sublime performance in the Pac-12 Tournament earned him Most Outstanding Player honors. He had 20 points in the quarterfinal against Utah, 18 in the semifinal versus Arizona State and 20 in the championship against Washington. For the Tournament, he had 22 assists, four turnovers and eight steals. Lou King was also and all-tournament selection after scoring in double figures in all four games. He had 12 points against Washington State, 20 versus the Utes, 19 against the Sun Devils and 15 versus the Huskies.

OREGON'S HISTORIC DEFENSIVE STRETCH BEST OF THE SHOT CLOCK ERA
Oregon's defense over the last three weeks has not only been good, it is historically remarkable. For the first time in the shot clock era (1985-86 to present), the Ducks held six consecutive opponents to less than 62 points - Arizona State (51), Arizona (47), Washington State (61), Washington (47), WSU (51) and Utah (54). The last time Oregon did that was early in the 1982-83 season: Rutgers (53), San Diego State (49), St. Olaf (39), Montana State (55), Idaho (56) and Lamar (41).

DUCKS EARN NINTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Oregon earned its ninth consecutive 20-win season on Wednesday night. The Ducks are one of only 11 schools nationally that have won 20 games in a row for at least nine consecutive seasons.
Teams with 9+ 20-Win Seasons:
Belmont, Cincinnati, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon, Saint Mary's and Vermont.
There are another two programs that could join that group this season:
Wichita State (17-13) and Iona (17-15).

OREGON SECURES NINTH STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON
This is Oregon's ninth straight winning season, something that hasn't happened in Eugene in 87 years. The only other time Oregon has had nine or more winning seasons in a row was the decade between 1923-32, when the program posted 10 consecutive winning seasons under coaches William Reinhart and George Bohler.

OREGON SETS NINE-YEAR WIN RECORD
Not surprisingly, Oregon has set the program record for wins over a nine-season period, now with 233. The Ducks passed the previous mark of 226, which was set just last year (2009-18).

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Players Mentioned

Payton Pritchard

Paul White

University of Oregon Athletics