Oregon men's basketball upsets Arizona Wildcats to advance to Pac-12 championship game
LAS VEGAS — The Ducks’ dream of making the NCAA Tournament is one day and one win closer to reality.
Sparked by a second-half performance that was as impressive as any moment this season, the Oregon men’s basketball team rallied to take down No. 1 seed Arizona Friday night in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The 67-59 victory puts the No. 4 Ducks into Saturday's championship game against No. 2 Washington State or No. 3 Colorado, who were playing their semifinal game Friday night.
Oregon (22-11), which needs the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament that comes with the conference tournament title, are playing in the championship game for the seventh time overall and the first since 2019 when it won the last of its five titles.
Jackson Shelstad led Oregon with 21 points, Jermaine Couisnard scored 20 and N’Faly Dante recorded his eighth double-double of the season and fourth in five games with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Led by Shelstad’s 17 second-half points, the Ducks overcame a 33-23 deficit at halftime to outscore the Wildcats 44-26 over the final 20 minutes.
Oregon led by as many 13 points, 61-48, with 5:18 to play as Shelstad caught fire and orchestrated an 18-4 run.
The freshman point guard, who was 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, scored 13 with three 3-pointers during that stretch.
“I just tried not to lose my confidence,” Shelstad said. “First half, I was missing a couple open looks. My teammates and my coaches do a good job instilling confidence in me, just take good ones and they’re eventually going to drop. A couple of them were big down the stretch. I tried not to lose my confidence there.”
Arizona made one last run as it cut Oregon’s lead to 61-57 with 2:40 to play after scoring nine straight. But a put-back dunk by Dante and two free throws each from Shelstad and Kario Oquendo kept the Ducks in the lead as the Wildcats missed on three 3-point attempts in the final minute.
The win was the first against Arizona this season for Oregon, which lost 87-78 at home in January and 103-83 just two weeks ago in Tucson.
Friday’s atmosphere wasn’t much different than a road game at McKale Center as T-Mobile Arena was dominated by fans clad in red.
“They're a really talented team,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “Really well-coached. They had a good crowd. Atmosphere was tilted to them. So with those things in mind, I mean, they kicked us twice. The score was only nine at our place, but they beat us. And they beat us at their place. So our guys, to have a belief that being down 10 at half when it wasn't going our way, for them to battle back, it was a very good half.”
But before it got good, it got pretty scary for the Ducks.
N’Faly Dante goes down early
Oregon’s best player, leader and first-team all-Pac-12 center injured his tail bone and needed to be helped off the court just 1:02 into the game when he fell hard under the basket while battling with Arizona center Oumar Ballo.
Dante, who was averaging 20.3 points and had made 26-of-31 from the field (83.8%) over his previous three games, had X-rays, got some treatment, rode the stationary bike, and read “every verse in the Quran,” he said with a laugh. “I’m telling you, I was going through it, man.”
He returned with 7:41 to play in the half and went into halftime with eight points and five rebounds in nine minutes of playing time.
When he was out, however, the Wildcats made a run, outscoring the Ducks 14-2 at one point to take a 27-13 lead, they’re largest advantage of the game.
“Kind of lost our composure in the first half when Dante went down,” Altman said. “We talked all night about playing through Dante and going to him early. And he went down in the second, third play of the game. And we did lose our composure, had some bad turnovers, took some quick shots. Fortunately they missed some, and we were able to stay in the game.”
As Altman noted, Arizona got cold after taking their big lead and didn’t make another field in the final 6:51 of the first half, a streak that extended through the first 3:02 of the second half as well.
The Ducks defense also had a strong second half
The Wildcats came into the game leading the Pac-12 in points (88.1), rebounding (42.9) and rebounding margin (11.1) per game.
None of it mattered after halftime.
Oregon held Arizona to 26 points in the second half and its lowest point total overall this season.
The Wildcats were also held to a season-low 47 field-goal attempts, of which they made 18.
Along the way the Ducks held Pac-12 player of the year Caleb Love to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting, including 1-for-7 from 3-point range. Earlier this season Love scored 36 against Oregon in Eugene on 12-of-18 shooting and five 3-pointers.
The Ducks won the rebounding battle 38-33 thanks to a 21-11 edge in the second half. It was just the third time this season the Wildcats have been outrebounded.
“Once they were able to kind of get the game at their pace, and that lead, they were able to kind of shorten the game,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “That’s what good coaching will do. So credit goes to them. But we're going to have to take a deep look at that because definitely we want to. We definitely want to get more shot attempts than 50."
What’s next for Oregon
The Ducks will play No. 2 Washington State or No. 3 Colorado at 6 p.m. Saturday on FOX.
Live coverage of Oregon men's basketball vs. Arizona
T-Mobile Arena will definitely feel like home for the Wildcats, whose fans outnumber Oregon’s by a wide margin. The Ducks just took the court for its final pregame warmup and were greeted by thunderous boos.
Starting lineups
No changes to Oregon’s starters as the Ducks will go with N’Faly Dante, Jermaine Couisnard, Jackson Shelstad and Jadrian Tracey.
The Wildcats are starting Caleb Love, Pelle Larsson, Kylan Boswell, Oumar Ballo and Keshad Johnson.
Devastating blow for Ducks
Star center N'Faly Dante was just carried to the locker room and unable to put any pressure on his right leg 1:02 into the game. Dante toppled over Arizona center Oumar Bello and landed hard on a play under the basket. He grimaced in pain after getting helped off the floor by teammates and training staff and was immediately taken into the back.
Dante was named first-team all-Pac-12 earlier this week for the second straight season. In his last three games, Dante has averaged 20.3 points and has made 26-of-31 from the field (83.8%).
N'Faly Dante update
Maybe good news for the Ducks and their star player was behind the Oregon bench riding the stationary bike as the first half nears the halfway point.
Ducks keeping close despite Dante's absence
Arizona leads 18-13 at the 11:23 mark and Oregon could be closer if it could make a 3-pointer. Continuing a trend that started almost a month ago, the Ducks just can't hit from deep. They're 1-for-7 so far tonight and shooting 36% from the field overall.
Arizona starting to pull away
The Wildcats are on a 9-0 run and have gone up 25-13 at the media timeout with 7:41 to play in the first half. The Ducks haven't made a field since the 12:44 mark.
Some good news for Oregon
N'Faly Dante reentered the game for the Ducks coming out of the timeout.
Ducks struggling on offense, down 29-16
With 3:47 left in the half, Oregon has scored just 16 points and is shooting 6-for-21 from the field and 1-for-10 from 3-point range. How bad has it been? N'Faly Dante is their leading scorer with five points and he has played just five minutes.
Halftime: Arizona 33, Oregon 23
The Wildcats lead the Ducks at halftime but if Oregon could just make some shots, it might be able to make a run in the second half. As it is, the Ducks shot 33.3% from the field in the first half on 9-of-27 shooting. That included 1-for-12 from 3-point range.
N'Faly Dante, who missed most of the half after getting injured just 1:02 into the game, returned late and leads Oregon with eight points and five rebounds. Jermaine Couisnard has also scored seven.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo thrived in Dante's absence. He has 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting, as well as eight rebounds.
Oregon cutting away at deficit
The Ducks have outscored the Wildcats 9-5 to start the second half and now trail 38-32 with 15:48 left in the game.
The Ducks momentarily take lead
Jermaine Couisnard capped a 14-5 run with a 3-pointer to put Oregon ahead 43-41 at the 12:53 mark. The Wildcats have scored the last three points as they lead 44-43 at the 10:29 media timeout.
Shelstad rolling for Ducks
Freshman point guard Jackson Shelstad has scored seven straight for the Ducks who have taken a 50-44 lead with 8:58 to play.
Oregon takes big lead
The Ducks are on a 10-0 run and lead 53-44 at the 7:50 media timeout. Jackson Shelstad and Jermaine Couisnard have made back-to-back 3-pointers during the run.
Arizona gets four free points
The Wildcats went 4-for-4 from the line with 4:11 to play to cut their deficit to 61-54. Two foul shots came on technical foul called on the Oregon bench.
Final: Oregon 67, Arizona 59
The Ducks rallied in the second half to take down No. 1 Arizona and advance to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game.
Jermaine Couisnard scored 20, Jackson Shelstad had 21 points, and N'Faly Dante, despite missing more than 10 minutes in the first half with an injury, had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Oregon will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between Washington State and Colorado.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Arizona men's basketball vs. Oregon in Pac-12 Tourney: Score, updates
