Report: Oregon, BYU to play in Phil Knight Invitational in Portland

Oregon and BYU are set to compete in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon in the 2021-22 basketball season, Jon Rothstein reported Wednesday.

There is no timetable for an official announcement on the nonconference matchup, Rothstein wrote.

Oregon and BYU were scheduled to play in the Phil Knight Invitational last season, but the game was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Oregon is projected to be a top-15 team by most outlets, and the Ducks finished the 2020-21 basketball season with the No. 17 ranking in the AP top-25. The Ducks went 21-7 last season, including a 14-4 conference record — good for the Pac-12’s regular season title. They won their first Pac-12 Tournament game over Arizona State but were eliminated in the second round by Oregon State, a team that went on to make a Cinderella run to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.

Oregon in 2021 won its first-round NCAA Tournament game via no-contest, as VCU was unable to take the court due to COVID-19-related quarantines. The Ducks beat Iowa in the second round, bringing them to the Sweet 16, where they were eliminated by USC.

BYU may not be a top-25 team to start the 2021-22 season, but it finished as one last year: the Cougars had an excellent season, trailing only Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference, and finished the season ranked No. 23.

BYU could very well find itself in the 2022 NCAA Tournament once again. The BYU Cougars went 20-7 last season, including a 10-3 record in the West Coast Conference, and showed massive strides of improvement in what was head coach Mark Pope’s second season at the helm. They finished second in the WCC regular season standings, then as the No. 2 seed in the WCC Tournament beat, where they ultimately fell to Saint Mary’s.

BYU clinched an NCAA Tournament berth in 2021, the program’s first trip to the Big Dance since 2015.

After winning its second consecutive Pac-12 regular-season title, Oregon lost plenty of talent ahead of the 2021-22 season and added some new faces. Eugene Omoruyi, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior forward moved on to the NBA after his first team All-Pac-12 campaign last year. Chris Duarte, one of the Pac-12’s best players and the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, should be a big loss for the Ducks. However, the Ducks added transfers in Syracuse’s Quincy Guerrier, Oklahoma’s De’Vion Harmon and Rutgers’ Jacob Young, along with a talented freshman class.

BYU lost a few role players of its own ahead of the 2021-22 season. Forward Kolby Lee and guard Brandon Averette are the Cougars’ two biggest losses; center Matt Haarms and guard Connor Harding also create holes in the depth chart. They returned the core of their team, though, and added two transfers in Te’Jon Lucas from Milwaukee and Seneca Knight from LSU, then San Jose State.