By Knight Jarecki
Normally March means that a Dana Altman-led Oregon team is rolling. March 2022 was not the case as Altman's 5-seeded Ducks were bested by the 4-seeded Colorado Buffaloes 80-69 Thursday afternoon inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With the loss, it ends Oregon's hopes to make the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
Half 1
Oregon started the game shooting the ball extremely cold. The Ducks began the opening 6 minutes shooting just 27.3% from the field as Oregon chose to drive the ball inside and put up countless contested shots. Jacob Young was able to push the pace early scoring 4 of Oregon's 8 points to begin the game. Colorado went to the big-man Evan Battey early on with the senior forward connecting on his first two shots for 5 points as Colorado led 9-8 with just under 14min to play. After the first media timeout, the Ducks defense went to work. Oregon shut out Colorado for over 2 and a half min with the Buffs having a stretch of 8 missed shots. During the cold Colorado stretch, Quincey Guerrier started to take over for the Ducks. Guerrier was responsible for 10 of the Ducks' first 18 points while also adding 4 rebounds. Colorado's offense started to pick up midway through as Jabari Walker scored 4 quick points before the Buffs went scoreless for another 2 minutes. With under 8 minutes to go, the Ducks went extremely cold. Oregon had a streak of no field goals for over 4min of Basketball. With 4min left in the first half Oregon was just 1-11 from 3pt range but were still leading the game largely because of their defense which was holding Colorado to under 30% shooting. Finally, the drought became too much as the Buffs capitalized and went on a 12-0 to lead 30-25 with just over 2 minutes to play. Quincey Guerrier was able to convert an and-one play with 1:06 left for Oregon's first made shot in over 6 minutes but that was it for the offense in the first half. Oregon went 1-12 in the final 7:44 while Colorado made 2 3-pointers before the break to lead 36-30.
First Half Stats
Half 2
Oregon started the second half shooting a lot better than the first half. The Ducks were able to connect on 4 of their first 8 shots including a 3-pointer by Quincey Guerrier to make it a 3 point game with under 15 minutes to play. Colorado kept scoring though with an even spread of offense. 4 different Buffs made shots in the first 5 minutes. Oregon and Colorado kept up the scoring with Rivaldo Soares hitting a three and Evan Battey working at the foul stripe. This brought the score to 50-48 with under 12 min left. N'Faly Dante also picked up his 4th foul at the 11:58 mark and it put Colorado in the bonus for the remainder of the game. Jacob Young then started to take command to bring the Ducks back into the game hitting 3 of 4 shots plus a steal in a span of 3 minutes. Colorado kept hitting timely shots and KJ Simpson had an impressive stretch for CU when he hit a 3 pointer, nailed a floater, and drew a charge. Still, though, the Buffs and Ducks kept trading baskets as it was a 60-58 with under 8 minutes to play. Jabari Walker then started to heart up asserting himself into the game with an and-one play followed up by a nice move inside for an easy layin. Despite a Quincey Guerrier three, his third of the game, the Ducks trailed 67-59 with just over 5 minutes to play. Eric Williams Jr. hit a three to bring the Ducks within 6 but Jabari Walker hit a three 10 seconds later to stretch the lead back to 9 with under 4 minutes to play. Ultimately the lead to too much as Colorado was able to hang on 80-69.
Quincey Guerrier was excellent finishing with 25 points on 8-18 shooting while bringing in 13 boards. Colorado's big men Evan Battey and Jabari Walker were just too much for the Ducks. Battey finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Jabari Walker added 18 points and snagged 16 boards.
Oregon is now 14-5 in the quarterfinals all time. It was the Ducks first loss in the quarterfinals since 2014 when the 7-seeded Ducks lost to the 2-seeded UCLA Bruins.
Final Stats
Postgame Audio
Audio Story by Knight Jarecki