Ducks Dominate Liberty To Advance To NCAA Tournament Second Round
Oregon Athletics media release –
Dominant Performance Sends Ducks To Second Round
By Rob Moseley
SEATTLE – In what was billed as a battle of size versus three-point shooting, one team decided to dominate both areas Friday.
The Oregon men’s basketball team made four early threes to race out to a double-digit lead, and the Ducks never let Liberty’s shooters get going as the UO men won their first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with the Flames, 81-52. The Ducks moved on to face Arizona in Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday (6:40 p.m., TBS).
“I thought the fellas came out with a lot of energy,” UO coach Dana Altman said. “The early threes kind of got us going, but I thought our defensive activity was really, really good. We moved the ball, we made plays for each other.”
Jackson Shelstad led the Ducks with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Nate Bittle had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Keeshawn Barthelemy added 10 points. Kwame Evans Jr. continued to provide valuable minutes off the bench, with six points and seven rebounds, and TJ Bamba had six points with a team-high four assists.
Shelstad scored 15 of his points in the first half, including eight as the Ducks jumped out to an 18-2 lead and five on the final two possessions of the first half.
“When you hit your first couple shots, obviously it gives you come confidence,” Shelstad said. “And my teammates did a really good job of getting me open looks as well.”
The Ducks held Liberty to a season-low 52 points. The Flames shot 32.8 percent overall and 21.6 from three-point range, making 8-of-37 from deep after coming into the game averaging 10.6 made threes per game, 13th-most in the country.
“They can really shoot it, but our activity and our challenging their shots kind of got them out of rhythm,” Altman said. “Their ball movement wasn’t the same as it’s been throughout the year.”
How It Happened: Bittle hit a jumper and Brandon Angel followed with a three to open the game. Liberty scored at the other end to make it 5-2, but the Ducks then held the Flames scoreless for more than five minutes. Oregon went on a 13-0 run in that span, including two threes from Shelstad and another from Barthelemy to open up an 18-2 lead.
Liberty finally made its first three-pointer of the game at the 9:35 mark of the first half, and made it a 6-0 run with a three-point play moments later. But Bittle responded by going to work in the post, scoring Oregon’s next three baskets — the last a three-point play to cap a 7-0 run for a 34-14 lead.
“I knew crashing the glass and going to the rim aggressively was what I needed to do,” Bittle said.
It was 39-17 late in the first half when a run of four straight empty UO possessions was capped by a Liberty three with 49 seconds left. But Shelstead answered with a long jumper, then dove on the court for a steal in the backcourt and hit a three-pointer to give Oregon a 44-20 lead at halftime.
“It was a good way to go into the second half,” Shelstad said.
Liberty scored twice to open the second half and get back within 20, but the Ducks scored the next six in a row. After the Flames rallied to within 21 at 52-31, Oregon ripped off a 10-0 run that included two buckets by Supreme Cook and two from Evans.
That put the Ducks up 62-31 with less than 10 minutes to play. Liberty made five three-pointers the rest of the way, but found its stroke much too late to impact the outcome and Oregon went deep into its bench to rest its regulars for Sunday’s second-round matchup.
Notable: UO remains undefeated in first round games under Dana Altman, improving to 9-0 … The Ducks were able to play 14 players in the win, with Shelstad (17 points), Bittle (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Barthelemy (10 points) reaching double-digits … The 29-point margin of victory is the second largest in Oregon NCAA Tournament history, trailing only the 39-point victory over Holy Cross in 2016.
Up Next: The Ducks face Arizona in the second round Sunday (6:40 p.m., TBS).