Sunday night the Wisconsin Badgers square off against the Oregon Ducks in the NCAA Tournament round of 32. If this year’s 1-8 Wisconsin-Oregon match up sounds familiar, that’s because just one year ago, these two teams met in the round of 32 out West.
Wisconsin, the top seed in the West, earned a place in the round of 32 after taking down the 16-seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 86-72, while 8-seeded Oregon advanced past the 9-seed Oklahoma St. Cowboys with a 79-73 victory.
Wisconsin Badgers
Flash back to 2014.
Wisconsin, a 2-seed in the West last year, advanced to the round of 32 after blowing away the 15-seed American Eagles 75-35. Oregon, then a 7-seed, advanced to the second round after an 87-68 win over 10-seed BYU.
A pseudo-home game for the Badges at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, the Badgers looked like anything but the home team at the start.
Oregon jumped out to a 9-4 lead, but the Badgers scored the next 6 straight, with a Ben Brust three giving Wisconsin a 10-9 lead with 5 minutes gone in the first.
The next 5 minutes were relatively even, and with 10 to play in the half, Wisconsin trailed 26-24.
Oregon went on a 10-5 run over the next couple of minutes (Nigel Hayes scored all 5 Badgers points) to take a 36-29 lead, but a pair of Frank Kaminsky free throws made it a 5-point, 36-31 game with under four to play in the half.
Oregon closed out the final 4 minutes on a 13-6 run to take a 49-37 lead at the break.
The Badgers came out firing in the second half, and over the course of 5 minutes made it a 1-point, 55-54 game thanks to a 17-6 run that saw Kaminsky add nine points and Josh Gasser add 5 and Traevon Jackson score three.
Oregon’s Mike Moser hit a three to shake the Ducks’ slump, but Brust answered with a three, Kaminsky hit a jumper, and Jackson drained another three to put Wisconsin up 62-58.
Cincy on the Prowl
Wisconsin held the lead until a Joseph Young layup tied the game at 70-70 with 5 minutes to play.
Moser hit a pair of free throws for Oregon, but Sam Dekker answered with a layup to keep the game tied at 72-72. Jackson put the Badgers up 74-72 with a pair of free throws, but Young answered and gave the Ducks the 75-74 lead with a three pointer.
The Badgers weren’t going away, and with just over a minute remaining, Brust drained a three to put Wisconsin up 77-75. Oregon couldn’t score on its next possession, and was forced to foul. Jackson added two more, and the Badgers led 79-75.
Oregon scored one last time – a Jason Calliste layup, but it was the last points the Ducks would score and Wisconsin added a few free throws to take home the 85-77 victory and advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Kaminsky led the Badgers with 19 points and five rebounds as all of Wisconsin’s starters scored in double figures – Jackson 16, Gasser 13, and Brust and Dekker 12 each. Hayes and Bronson Koenig added 6 and 5 points off the bench, and 2 points from Duje Dukan rounded out the scoring.
Oregon was led by 29 points from Young, while Calliste added 20 off of the bench. Moser finished with a dozen for the Ducks.
Check out the full game highlights to relive all the action from a year ago.
The Badgers hope for a similar outcome this time around as they look to make it back to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight season.