Oregon secures NCAA Tournament bid, wins Pac-12 title behind 25 points from N'Faly Dante

Oregon completed an improbable run to the NCAA Tournament, securing an automatic bid by besting Colorado, 75-68, in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game on Saturday night in Las Vegas. And the Ducks did it on the back of star bag man N’Faly Dante.

The center went a perfect 12-for-12 from the field with nine rebounds, three steals and a key late block to help close out the game in the final seconds. He finished with a game-high 25 points.

Oregon entered the Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 4 seed, but firmly on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament field. The consensus from bracketologists was simple for a team that lost a trio of starters from its opening day lineup by season’s end: Win the league’s auto bid or expect a trip to the NIT.

Now, the Ducks will be dancing.

Colorado will have to sweat things out on Selection Sunday with the bubble getting thin, in part due to the Ducks. On3’s James Fletcher moved the Buffaloes to the last four byes among the field following the loss. He projects Oregon as a No. 12 seed, perhaps No. 11. And the Buffaloes are likely the last No. 9 seed at the moment.

Colorado had looked poised to establish and maintain a lead early as Oregon’s offense struggled Dante picked up a pair of fouls fewer than six minutes into the game. But a first half lead that grew to as much as nine was squandered as Oregon went on a 14-4 run to end the first half and take a 33-30 lead into halftime.

It had Colorado head coach Tad Boyle displeased with his team at the break.

“We gotta guard,” Boyle said to Fox Sports’ Allison Williams. “We gotta have some patience on offense. We’re trying to score off of one pass, dribble the ball too much. We just get the ball moving, we’ll get any shot we want. But we’re so impatient on offense and defensively we’ve let them get loose.”

Things changed for Oregon when head coach Dana Altman opted to put Dante back in the game with two fouls with about 10 minutes left in the first half. Dante managed to avoid picking up a third foul and finished the half with nine points. Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad also added nine points in the first half.

Then Dante went on and dominated the second half, pushing Oregon into the NCAA Tournament for certain.