OREGON ROCKS, SHOCKS KANSAS
Oregon advances to Final Four for first time in nearly 80 years
Playing in Kansas City, Mo., the Ducks (33-5) hammer the topseeded Jayhawks 74-60 for the Midwest Regional championship. Kansas finishes 31-5.
Oregon lost one of its best players to an injury just before the NCAA Tournament, had to survive two nail-biters to reach the Midwest Regional finals, and then faced a top-seeded Kansas team that had romped to the brink of the Final Four.
Of course, the Ducks would rise to the occasion.
With swagger and verve and downright prolific shooting, the plucky team that everybody wanted to count out rolled to a 74-60 victory over the Jayhawks on Saturday night, earning the Ducks their first trip to the national semifinals since 1939, when the Tall Firs won it all.
“You feel so good for so many people,” said Ducks coach Dana Altman, who is headed to his first Final Four after 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Tyler Dorsey hit six 3s and poured in 27 points, Dillon Brooks added 17 and Jordan Bell finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks in a virtuoso performance for the Ducks (33-5), who seized the lead with 16 minutes left in the first half and never trailed the rest of the way.
Player of the year candidate Frank Mason III had 21 points in his final game for the Jayhawks (31-5), but the offensive fireworks and steady poise that had carried them to a 13th straight Big 12 title fizzled just 40 minutes from campus.
Star freshman Josh Jackson was mired in early foul trouble. Sharpshooting guard Devonte Graham never got on track. And the swagger the Jayhawks showed in humiliating Purdue in the Sweet 16 simply evaporated for a team that rolled to the Elite Eight by an average margin of 30 points.
“I’m disappointed for them more than I am for me,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, who fell to 2-7 in Elite Eight games, including four defeats as a No. 1 seed. “But the one thing that happened today — and it’s hard to admit — the best team did win today.”
Foul trouble sent Jackson to the bench for much of the first half, allowing the Ducks to carve out a comfortable lead. Dorsey finished the half with back-toback 3s, including a deep bank shot at the buzzer, as the Ducks took a 44-33 lead.
The Ducks’ lead swelled to 55-37 when Brooks drilled another shot from the perimeter.
Kansas crept back into it and when Svi Mykhailiuk buried a 3 from the corner, the lead was down to 66-60 with 2:49 left. But Dorsey answered at the other end with another 3-pointer as the shot-clock expired to give Oregon breathing room.
A few minutes later, the Ducks were cutting down the nets.