How to watch Oregon Men's Basketball at the NCAA Tournament

Oregon posts up on Liberty Friday at 7:10 p.m. PDT in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It's the first round of the East Regional at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, the fifth-seeded Ducks taking on the 12th-seeded Flames, champions of Conference USA.

The game will be televised on truTV, a basic channel on most streaming services including Hulu, Fubo, YouTube TV and Sling TV. On Comcast cable in Portland it can be found at Channel 51, 751 in High Definition.

The Ducks are a 6.5-point favorite in the matchup. In 15 years at Oregon head coach Dana Altman has never lost a first-round game, 8-0. Five times he's taken the Ducks to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight twice, the Final Four in 2017. He leads all active coaches in the NCAA with 75 career wins in March.

Liberty relies on balanced scoring and the three-pointer. Guards Taelon Peter and Colin Porter both hit more than 44 percent of their threes, and Peter and 5-11 senior Kaden Metheny top 13 points a game in scoring. Junior forward Zach Cleveland provides balance at 6-7, 220: He's the team's leading rebounder at 6.3 boards a game, tops in assists at 5.1 per game, third in scoring averaging 11.0.

For all his strengths Cleveland is the squad's worst three-point shooter, connecting on just 19 percent beyond the arc. He's the one to foul also, just 54 percent from the line.

Ducks seven-foot center Nate Bittle comes into March Madness fresh off two of his best games. In a 74-64 loss to Michigan State he pounded inside for 22 points and 11 rebounds. A week before in the Webfoots' final regular season game the giant from Central Point, Oregon torched the hapless, last-place Huskies for 36 points and 12 rebounds on 13-20 shooting, including 3-4 beyond the arc and 7-8 at the line.

To run deep in the tournament and garner Altman his sixth Sweet 16, the Ducks need to find some consistency on offense. They're prone to long scoring droughts and as outside shooters, guards TJ Bamba and Jackson Shelstad have been streaky. Both have the talent to thrive in the Big Dance pressure cooker provided they can find the right mental groove. Keeshawn Barthelemy and forward Kwame Evans, a 6-9 sophomore from Baltimore, are plus-athletes with the potential to catch fire.

Successful NCAA tournament runs turn on stories like that.