Game Preview: No. 11 Oregon Opens NCAA Tournament vs. No. 6 South Carolina
The No. 11 Oregon Ducks (23-11, 12-8 Pac-12) are coming into the 2024 NCAA Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country, winning four straight games, including three wins in Las Vegas to hoist the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament trophy.
The high-flying Ducks will play against the No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks (26-7, 13-5 SEC) on Thursday, March 21 in Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
For Oregon to even be in the Big Dance, the Ducks had to win the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament for an automatic qualifying bid to keep their season alive.
Oregon went through a gauntlet defeating UCLA (68-66), No. 6 Arizona (67-59) and Colorado (75-68) en route to claiming the final Pac-12 Tournament championship.
N'Faly Dante was awarded the Most Outstanding Player award at the Pac-12 Tournament.
© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Fifth-year seniors N’Faly Dante and Jermaine Couisnard have weathered the storm of a turbulent season full of injuries to Oregon’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years.
Dante leads the team in scoring averaging 16.2 points per game, 8.8 rebounds per game and 1.9 blocks a game while shooting 85% from the field in March. Couisnard has averaged 15.4 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game and 3.3 assists per game starting every game this season.
According to Evan Miya, a college basketball analytics website, the Ducks have the most minutes per game missed by rotation players from top 75 teams at an outstanding 50 minutes per game missed.
Oregon currently has eight scholarship players available on the roster, due to Keeshawn Barthelemy (ankle), Nate Bittle (illness), Mookie Cook (ankle/foot) and Jesse Zarzuela (ankle) suffering season-ending injuries throughout the season.
Freshmen Jackson Shelstad and Kwame Evans Jr. have had to step up in place of the injured veterans, composing the starting lineup alongside Dante, Couisnard and Jadrian Tracey.
Shelstad has taken over the ball-handling duties along with Couisnard, averaging the most minutes played per game (32.3 minutes per game, tied with Couisnard) and averaging 13.2 points per game (third most behind Dante and Couisnard). Evans has helped Dante on the defense, averaging 7.5 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, a block and a little over one steal per game.
Oregon Ducks guard Jackson Shelstad has averaged 13.2 points per game this season.
© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
While the Ducks have been dealing with injuries all season, South Carolina has had one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. The Gamecocks were 11-21 last season, having a 15-game improvement while being projected to finish dead last in the SEC. Instead, South Carolina tied Auburn with the second-best record in the SEC.
South Carolina is led by their guards Meechie Johnson and Ta’Lon Cooper along with forward B.J. Mack.
South Carolina will have their hands full with Dante in the paint, who could have another game similar to what he did against Colorado (25 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals).
The Gamecocks were blown out by the Auburn Tigers 86-55 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, the eventual SEC Tournament champions.
The last time South Carolina was in the Big Dance, the Gamecocks were in the Final Four in 2017 and lost to Gonzaga 77-73. Dana Altman and the Ducks were also in the Final Four that year losing to North Carolina 77-76, and the Tarheels went on to win the NCAA Championship.
Oregon and South Carolina face off against each other in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 21 at 1 p.m. PT, in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena. The game will be broadcast on TNT.
