In the last dance for the Pac-12 Tournament, we saw an upset in the semifinals that was quite surprising to set up an exciting matchup for the championship.
Oregon and Colorado pulled off wins yesterday and while Colorado has been one of the best teams in the conference, the Ducks being in the championship is quite a surprise. As it was discussed though in the Pac-12 quarterfinals takeaways, Dana Altman is buying in to the “survive and advance” mentality.
Takeaway #1: Oregon’s defense won the game and gives the Ducks hope.
Oregon knows there’s only one path to the NCAA Tournament, and that is through securing the Pac-12’s automatic qualifier bid with a win in the championship game. Their resume for an at-large isn’t good enough compared to the bubble teams, and the Ducks are showing they aren’t going down without a fight.
That fight started in the first matchup against UCLA that was too close for comfort for Altman and his team, but they clamped down defensively against Arizona. For just the third time this season, Caleb Love was held to single digits with the senior guard scoring just six points. Outside of Love, Pelle Larsson and Oumar Ballo were the only two players for the Wildcats to score 10+ points.
Two of the three times Love has been held under 10 points, Arizona lost the contest, and both of those losses were against Pac-12 teams (USC and Oregon). Despite the Wildcats not having the best shooting performance from behind the arc, credit to the Ducks for pulling off an upset against the top seed in the conference.
Takeaway #2: Turnovers prove to be costly for Washington State
Offense wins games, defense wins championships. We’ve all heard that before, but Colorado took it to heart in the semifinals against Washington State after both teams saw Arizona fall to Oregon. The Buffaloes forced 19 turnovers against the Cougars and scored 16 points from them to secure the win.
If you ask Tad Boyle, he will say his team should’ve scored more than 16 given how many extra possessions his team had as a result of the strong defense. His team limited Washington State from behind the arc, and the Cougars’ largest lead in the game was just three points.
Colorado has more of a chance to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large than Oregon given the Buffaloes’ resume. They currently sit on the bubble and may only get a chance at the big dance by going through Dayton in a First Four matchup. Winning against Oregon, though, would make Selection Sunday a lot less stressful.
Oregon vs Colorado. Saturday at 9 p.m. EST on FOX.