If you were to play a round of Sesame Street’s “Which One Doesn’t Belong”, the Oregon Ducks in the Sweet 16 may be your response, but the 12 Seed showed they deserve to be there after beating UC Irvine.
In fact, the Oregon Ducks are the only seed higher than 4 to make the Sweet 16 Field in a year where higher seeds did their job over the weekend earning wins. Oregon has one thing going for them and it comes down to the fact that all of the pieces finally came together in late February leading to a now 10 game winning streak that I don’t think anyone wants a part of.
More from Autzen Zoo
- Oregon football: Ducks and Coach Prime playing it cordial leading up to Saturday
- Oregon Basketball: Non-conference slate features Michigan coming to Eugene
- Oregon football: Ducks find complete game effort in win vs Hawaii
- Oregon Ducks must get run game going against Hawaii
- 8 Pac-12 teams represented in Associated Press Top 25 after Week 2
The Oregon Ducks beat UC Irvine 73-54 on Sunday night and finished the game strong hitting 5 of 6 from the floor after a dry spell to open the second half allowing the Anteaters to get back into the game. During the 2019 NCAA Tournament, several Oregon Ducks have made names for themselves.
Kenny Wooten has shown his athleticism making several big moves above the rim and also shots on the other end in the form of some monster dunks. Payton Pritchard was on pace last month for a lackluster season, but he has turned the team’s season around as the catalyst during the 10 game winning streak. He has shown he is not afraid to attack the basket or to take a long three, especially when he hits the shot.
The Oregon Ducks now have number one seed Virginia in their sights on Friday night and bring key wins against Wisconsin and UC Irvine to Louisville, Kentucky. Wisconsin and Iowa are two teams Oregon has faced this season that play a similar style to Virginia. While the Ducks have a chance, they will need to continue to play shutdown Defense and find the basket on Offense.
Not only is Oregon on a 10 game winning streak, they are also 7-1 on neutral floors this season The Oregon Ducks and Virginia Cavaliers meet on Friday night at 7 pm Pacific Time on TBS.