Oregon's NCAA tournament hopes dashed after 80-69 loss to Colorado

There will be no magical conference tournament run to save Oregon’s season this time around.

The Ducks saw their postseason hopes collapse Thursday as they fell to Colorado, 80-60, in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. They are now 19-14 on the season and have fallen far short of a team with a resume worthy of an at-large NCAA tournament bid.

Now, Oregon will almost surely miss out on the big dance for the first time since 2017-18, and its only consolation prize will be a likely invite to the NIT.

“We had aspirations of going to the Rose Bowl and we’re going to the Weed-Eater Bowl,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said.

The Ducks’ 14 losses are the second-most by an Altman-coached Oregon team since 2010-11, which was his first year in Eugene. That squad won the CBI invitational behind big performances from Joevan Catron and E.J. Singler and helped launch the program on an upward trajectory just as it had moved into newly-built Matthew Knight Arena.

Now, 11 years later, it’s hard to argue that the Oregon program has experienced a lower point since then.

The Ducks were the No. 13 team in the nation to start the season and are stocked with talent and experience at nearly every position. Now, they can only hope to salvage the season with a potential run through a consolation tournament.

“We went into the season, our expectations were a lot higher,” Altman said. “We didn’t meet those expectations. And so as I mentioned that’s on me, it’s on the fellows, and we’ll evaluate everything in our program to try to get better.”

Oregon was led Thursday by Quincy Guerrier, who finished with a season-high 25 points and 13 rebounds. Jacob Young added 18 points and seven assists one day after he carried the Ducks to victory over Oregon State.

Evan Battey led Colorado with 19 points and 12 boards.

The Ducks delivered a gritty, inspired performance early on. While they shot the ball poorly all night, they were competitive on both ends of the floor in the first half and went into halftime trailing just 36-30.

With 14:31 to go, they cut the Colorado lead to 44-43 and seemed to be on the verge of taking control of the game.

But the Buffs never surrendered the lead and withheld Oregon’s efforts long enough to go on a decisive run. In a 72 second span that began with 4:12 to go, Colorado uncorked a 7-0 run that was highlighted by a Jabari Walker three-pointer and left the Ducks trailing 76-63.

Oregon was hindered in the second half when starting big-man N’Faly Dante picked up his third and fourth fouls in a 27-second span with 11:58 to go.

“You know, it was big, because Dante was rebounding,” Altman said. “He had 11 boards. Offensively, he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been, but he was rebounding. And that’s when the big discrepancy in rebounds became
obvious.”

The Ducks will now have to wait until selection Sunday to find out if they will receive an invite to the NIT. They will need to secure at least one win there in order to avoid becoming the first Altman-led Oregon team to win fewer than 20 games in a season.

“I want to play, and I hope our guys get the opportunity, and I hope they take it,” Altman said. “Because we’re not too good to play in the NIT. Our program, where we’re at, we’re not too good to play in the NIT. It’s still an honor.”