Season Ends In Second Round of Tournament

Sunday, March 23

6:40 PM

University of Oregon

25-10,12-8Big Ten

University of Arizona

24-12,14-6Big 12

Oregon

Arizona

Photo by: Ian McFarland/UO Athletics

03/23/25 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Oregon fought valiantly to complete a second-half comeback but couldn't get over the hump in a loss to Arizona on Sunday.

By: Rob Moseley

SEATTLE — An historic series between former conference rivals yielded another epic battle Sunday night, albeit one that didn't go Oregon's way.

The UO men's basketball season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and at the hands of Arizona at Climate Pledge Arena. The fifth-seeded Ducks raced out to an early lead, surrendered it prior to halftime and never could get back over the hump in a tightly contested second half.

Oregon finished the year 25-10, after going 12-8 in its first season as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Ducks saw their season end in the second round for the second year in a row.

"Arizona did the things necessary to win the game — they outrebounded us, hit their free throws and just made the adjustments they had to to win the game," UO coach Dana Altman said. "Proud of our guys; they fought their tails off. We got down 11 in the second half and fought back, put ourselves in position to maybe make a comeback."

Jackson Shelstad had 25 points to lead the Ducks, TJ Bamba scored 17 and Nate Bittle had his second double-double of the tournament with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Oregon was outrebounded, 44-37, and was hurt by 12-of-22 free-throw shooting.

"Losses like this hurt a lot," Shelstad said. "It's going to hurt for a while. We were right there, last year and this year. A couple different plays, free throws, rebounds, it could have gone a different way. So it's going to sting for a little bit."

How It Happened: Five quick points out of the gate from Brandon Angel gave Oregon the lead. Arizona's first basket came 62 seconds into the game, but the Wildcats went nearly five minutes without another field goal and the Ducks put together a 14-2 run to lead 19-4.

A three-pointer by Shelstad gave the Ducks a 24-10 lead as the midway point of the first half approached. But from there Arizona cleaned up some early turnover issues and leaned into an advantage on the glass to tilt the scales. A 13-2 run got the Wildcats back within 26-23.

Shelstad hit a jumper to end that run and Bamba followed with a three-pointer. But Arizona scored nine straight to take its first lead, and though Bamba scored to put Oregon back up 33-32, that was the Ducks' last lead of the game. Arizona put together another run, this one 9-2, taking a 41-35 lead. The advantage at the half was 42-38.

Eight straight Arizona points early in the second half threatened to make the game one-sided at 54-43. But Shelstad hit a three to cap a 7-0 run that got the Ducks back within 56-52, and it was a dogfight the rest of the way.

Oregon got it back to a one-possession game at 68-65, and a jumper by Shelstad with 4:34 left made it 72-70. Caleb Love was in the midst of scoring 10 straight for Arizona at that point, capping that outburst with a three-pointer for an 80-73 lead with 2:01 to go.

That ended up being the Wildcats' final field goal. A three from Keeshawn Barthelemy and a hook shot by Bittle with 49.2 seconds left got Oregon back within 80-78, and a forced turnover in the backcourt set up Bamba for an attempt to tie the game, but he couldn't convert at the rim. Arizona made 1-of-2 free throws before Shelstad got to the basket to make it a one-point game with 10.6 seconds left, 81-80, but the Wildcats clinched it at the free-throw line in the waning seconds.

Notable: Oregon made its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance under Dana Altman, and remained unbeaten the first round. … The Ducks are 28-18 all-time in the tournament. … The Ducks won 24 or more games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2018-19 and 2019-20.