Chris HansenAlec Dietz, Eugene Register-Guard
LAS VEGAS — Oregon is off to the Big Dance.
The Ducks travelled to Las Vegas this week with one final shot to make the NCAA Tournament. That’s all they needed.
Oregon completed a 3-0 Pac-12 Tournament run Saturday night, defeating Colorado 75-68 in the title game to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Ducks (23-11) won their sixth Pac-12 championship and first since 2019, in front of a crowd of 12,912 at T-Mobile Arena. They will find out where they will play in the NCAA Tournament when the 68-team bracket is released on CBS at 3 p.m. Sunday.
“It feels special right now,” point guard Jackson Shelstad stated. “We came here to acquire one!
.I’m quite proud of our squad and how we performed this weekend. We’re not finished yet, though. Now we have to make something happen.”
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Following three great games, the Oregon centre was voted the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Saturday’s performance was his best yet.
Dante finished 12-for-12 from the field, scoring a career-high 25 points. He also had a game-high nine rebounds, three steals, and one dramatic block on Colorado’s KJ Simpson’s three-point shot with 35 seconds to play and the Ducks leading 72-66.
“I thought N’Faly Dante was the difference in the game,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “… “I thought he was a beast tonight.”
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