Arizona Wildcats oust Oregon Ducks from NCAA tournament, reach Sweet 16

SEATTLE – Back in the days of the old Pac-12 – like a year ago – the fans of Arizona would descend on Las Vegas every March for the conference basketball tournament and create a home-court advantage no other school could match.

“McKale North” they called it in reference to the Wildcats notorious home floor in Tucson. And whether it was inside T-Mobile Arena or in the casinos around the tournament, Arizona’s fans let everyone know they were there.

A little piece of that returned on Sunday night where the fourth-seeded Wildcats faced No. 5 seed Oregon in a second-round matchup of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Climate Pledge Arena didn’t reach that level of Arizona partisanship, but in moments it felt like a time machine had whisked everyone back to the days before conference realignment destructed the history we all knew.

For the record, it was Arizona moving on after a thrilling 87-83 win over the Ducks that featured both teams surrendering big leads, engaged and enthused fans and a reminder of what once was.

Kelso native Tommy Lloyd has now led Arizona to the Sweet 16 three times in his four seasons since arriving in Tucson, with the only hiccup a pretty big one when the Wildcats were upset as a No. 2 seed by No. 15 seed Princeton two years ago.

Arizona’s reward is a date with No. 1 seed Duke on Thursday night in Newark, New Jersey.

The nightcap and final game of the second-round felt like a throwback to those nights in Las Vegas when fans throughout the Pac-12 would gather for a long weekend of hoops. Arizona red and Oregon green or yellow in the crowd, sprinkled with some Washington purple, Washington State crimson or Oregon State orange.

Instead, the weird new reality of college sports dictated that it was a Big 12 team, outlasting a Big Ten team in a Big Ten city.

At least it ended up being a March classic in a tournament void of much madness to date.

Caleb Love scored 29 points and four other Wildcats each scored 12 points. Anthony Dell’Orso hit four free throws in the closing seconds and Love hit two more for the final margin.

Jackson Shelstad led Oregon with 25 points, while former Wazzu player TJ Bamba added 17 and Nate Bittle scored 15.

Oregon also struggled badly at the free-throw line after entering the game at 76% for the season. The Ducks were 12 of 22 and 11 of 19 in the second half, a big deal in a four-point game.

Then there was the lead the Ducks quacked away.

Oregon scored 19 of the first 23 points, leaving the Arizona fans clad in red and any neutral fans who showed up looking to root against the Ducks sitting on their hands at the start. The Ducks were flying and seemingly on the verge of doing the unthinkable and blowing out Arizona.

Fifteen minutes later, the Wildcats went to the locker room with a 42-38 lead. Arizona’s closing punch to the first half was so good the Wildcats could laugh when Carter Bryant’s half-court heave that came well after the halftime buzzer swished.

Arizona’s lead reached 11 with 15:59 remaining, but the Ducks lingered and made the closing seconds nervy for anyone in red. Shelstad pulled Oregon within 72-70, only to see Love score five straight including a driving right-handed dunk.

Bittle’s jumper in the lane with 49 seconds left pulled Oregon to 80-78, but the closest the Ducks could get was within one in the final seconds, and Arizona was 6 for 6 at the line to close out the victory.

Up next for Arizona is another juicy storyline in playing Duke.

Love was the star player for the 2022 North Carolina Tar Heels team that beat Duke in the Final Four. He scored 28 points as UNC sent legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski into retirement, a month after the Tar Heels spoiled his last home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.