Will Oregon’s Cinderella story continue with a win in the Sweet 16 over No. 1 Virginia or can Tony Bennett’s team march to the Elite 8?
The one monkey on the back of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is that his brilliant Cavaliers’ squads has had more March Sadness than March Madness. After the lowlight of losing to 16-seed UMBC a year ago, the Cavaliers have responded nicely by returning to the Sweet 16 this year.
Virginia had little trouble with Oklahoma in the Round of 32, controlling the pace of the game and grinding out a 63-51 victory over the Sooners. Even though they didn’t score a ton of points, Oklahoma simply couldn’t figure out the Cavaliers’ Pack Line defense, putting Virginia one step closer towards that long-awaited Final Four trip.
The next obstacle standing in Virginia’s way is the lowest seeded team left in the field, the Oregon Ducks. Oregon upset Wisconsin in the first round and outlasted 13-seed UC Irvine 73-54 on Sunday night to complete an improbable trip to the Sweet 16.
Back on Feb. 23, Oregon completed a winless three-game trip by falling to UCLA 90-83, dropping the Ducks to just 15-12 on the season and 6-8 in Pac-12 play. Oregon hasn’t lost since, ripping off 10 straight victories to not only steal the conference’s automatic bid to March Madness but shoot their way into Louisville.
The Ducks are led by guard Payton Pritchard, who was a starter on Oregon’s Final Four team two years ago. That experience, combined with some hot perimeter shooting, could make the Ducks a very tough out for Virginia.
How to watch Oregon vs. Virginia
- Date: Thursday, March 28
- Time: 9:57 p.m. ET
- Location: Louisville, KY
- Venue: KFC Yum! Center
- TV: TBS
- Live Stream: WatchTBS