On To The Final! Ducks Beat Arizona To Advance

Friday, March 15

Las Vegas, NV

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

22-11,12-8Pac-12

Arizona

25-8,15-5Pac-12

Oregon

Arizona

Photo by: Ian McFarland/UO Athletics

03/15/24 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score: UO 67, UA 59

Oregon bounced back from first-half adversity to beat Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals Friday night.

By: Rob Moseley

LAS VEGAS — As the Oregon men's basketball team bounded into its locker room following Friday's Pac-12 Tournament semifinal, the Ducks settled into their folding chairs to await the arrival of head coach Dana Altman.

In a brief moment of quiet, Jadrian Tracey's voice emerged: "Don't count us out!"

For the first 20 minutes of Friday's game at T-Mobile Arena, more than a few observers likely did. But the Ducks didn't count themselves out. And now they'll play for the Pac-12 title, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, after upsetting top-seeded and sixth-ranked Arizona on Friday, 67-59.

The Ducks won despite losing N'Faly Dante for a big chunk of the first half following a hard fall. They won despite missing 12 straight three-point attempts following an opening make. They won despite allowing, for the second night in a row, a late 9-0 run by the opposition that turned a double-digit lead into an ending fraught with tension.

But forget about all that "despite" — the Ducks won. They'll play for the tournament title Saturday, a game televised by FOX at 6 p.m.

"Ain't nobody believe in us," senior guard Jermaine Couisnard said upon arriving to the locker room following his postgame interview on the set of the Pac-12 Network. "Keep believing, fellas!"

The Ducks won thanks to defensive intensity that never waned, regardless of all that adversity — Oregon held Arizona without a field goal from the 6:52 mark of the first half until more than 3 minutes had elapsed after halftime. They won thanks to 6-of-11 three-point shooting in the second half, with three makes by Couisnard and another three by wunderkind Jackson Shelstad, whose 21 points led the team. And they won, for the second night in a row, by flipping the script on the boards, going from minus-5 in the first half to plus-10 in the second.

The halftime locker room, Couisnard acknowledged, was contentious. The Ducks were frustrated. But also, they knew they still had a chance.

"We were just challenging each other — and they challenged me," said Couisnard, who had 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists. "That helped me step up in the second half."

After the way the first half went, the Ducks needed it.

The game opened with a defensive stop by Oregon, and then a basket at the other end by Dante, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. To that point, everything was going to script. And then, the script went to tatters.

Arizona fed the post for a game-tying basket. Dante flew in to contest the shot, couldn't find his footing and came down hard on his back side. Eventually he left the floor with help from UO staff, keeping weight off his right leg.

"We had talked all night about playing through Dante and going to him early," Altman said. "He went down, and we did lose our composure."

It wasn't instantaneous — ironically enough, Couisnard preceded Oregon's 12 straight missed threes by making the Ducks' first attempt of the game. Arizona answered that as well, but then Shelstad scored for a 7-5 lead.

The weight of Dante's absence, though, proved heavy. Arizona scored six straight to lead 11-7. A few minutes later, amid a flurry of UO turnovers, the Wildcats put together another run, this time of 11 straight points. The Ducks trailed 27-13.

But the last two points of that run came on the last field goal Arizona would make for more than 10 minutes of game clock. Dante returned to the game and ended a stretch of 7:16 without a field goal by Oregon, getting it back to 27-16. When it was 32-18, Couisnard scored on consecutive possessions, and the deficit was 10 at halftime — significant, but not insurmountable. If the Ducks could just get going.

"We knew it was going to come down to a close game," Couisnard said. "I just told them in the locker room, keep believing."

Couisnard helped will his words into reality. He followed a basket by Shelstad with one of his own to cut the deficit to 33-27 early in the second. Couisnard finally broke Oregon's streak of missed threes with a make to get the Ducks within 35-32, and later he scored again before a steal and thunderous dunk by Kario Oquendo made it 38-36.

Another Couisnard three got the Ducks over the hump, for a 43-41 lead. Arizona clawed back ahead, 44-43. And then, Shelstad took over.

He put Oregon back in front, 45-44. The Ducks forced a turnover, and Shelstad's burgeoning confidence showed as he hit a fadeaway jumper along the baseline.

After another forced turnover, the freshman from West Linn hit the first of three three-pointers he'd make in a span of six possessions. By the time he hit the third, Oregon's lead was 61-48.

"I just tried not to lose my confidence," Shelstad said later. "First half, I was missing some open looks. But my teammates did a good job instilling my confidence — take good ones, and they're eventually going to drop."

From there, though, things started to look eerily, scarily similar to the night before — when UCLA used a 9-0 run to close within one of the Ducks in their quarterfinal matchup. Arizona rallied in kind, helped by a technical foul on the UO bench. When the Wildcats hit a three-pointer with 2:40 to go, Oregon's lead was cut to 61-57.

Sticking to the plan from the opening tip — the plan that had gone awry for a stretch of the first half — the Ducks went back to Dante. He ended Arizona's run with a bucket — set up by Jadrian Tracey, who was scoreless in the game but had eight boards and five assists — then blocked a shot at the other end. The Wildcats scored just once more, and the Ducks got two free throws each from Shelstad and Oquendo to clinch it.

The rebounding effort, the timely shots, the defensive intensity — all of it had been crucial. Altman could barely contain his emotions postgame.

"I said we had to hold them under 70," he told the Ducks in the locker room. "I didn't say anything about 60!"

Dante shouted in response: "Even better!"

As Altman addressed the Ducks postgame, he did so while the T-Mobile Arena's game clock counted down on the wall behind him. As the Ducks regrouped following their win, the clock was counting down the minutes until tip of the second semifinal, between Colorado and Washington State.

Altman wanted the Ducks locked in on Saturday's final 15 minutes before the tip of the Colorado-WSU game. He happened to glance up at the clock when it read 19:47.

"You've got 4:47 to celebrate," Altman said. "We didn't get it done yet."

One of the Ducks' veterans, guard Keeshawn Barthelemy, had earlier expressed the same sentiment as the team returned to the locker room. Barthelemy might be injured and unable to participate in the postseason. But his voice was heard.

"We didn't make it this far," he told the Ducks, "to make it this far."

Still, the heart Oregon played with Friday was worth celebrating, even if only for a short time. Alumni of the program, Altman told the team, had been watching — guys like Luke Ridnour and Chris Duarte, who sent congratulatory text messages immediately after the game, and guys like Garrett Sim and Freddie Jones, who were on hand for Friday's game.

"Those guys," Altman told the current team, "would be so proud of you right now."

Just about at that exact moment, UO athletic trainer Clay Jamieson emerged from the training room. Jamieson had heard from UO legend Dillon Brooks; did Brooks, Jamieson texted back, have any message he wanted passed along to the team?

When it arrived, Jamieson handed his phone to Altman, who read aloud to the team Brooks' message.

"Win it all," it read. "Don't leave nothing on the table."