Nate Bittle leads Oregon to blowout win over UCF in second round of NIT
Even with its three leading scorers unavailable, the Oregon men’s basketball team found a way to keep its season alive on Sunday.
The Ducks (21-14) captured a 68-54 win over UCF at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene to advance to the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Seniors Jermaine Couisnard, N’Faly Dante, and Will Richardson were all sidelined with injuries, and Oregon had just seven scholarship players available for the second straight game. But sophomore Nate Bittle stepped up and led the Ducks past a talented UCF squad that finished seventh in the AAC this year.
Bittle led Oregon with a career-high 21 points and 13 rebounds to notch the second double-double of his career. He shot 7-of-14 from the floor, 6-of-8 from the free throw line, and drew six personal fouls to keep the Knights on their heels all afternoon.
Quincy Guerrier added 14 points and six boards, and Kel’el Ware had 11 points in 16 minutes. Keeshawn Barthelemy tallied nine points and eight assists.
How it happened
Neither team got off to a particularly strong start on the offensive end of the floor. After four minutes, Oregon was 2-for-9 from the field and UCF was 0-for-8.
But both the Ducks and the Knights began to find their footing as the half went on.
UCF held a 15-9 lead at the second media timeout after a three-pointer from Ithiel Horton. But the Ducks got a big boost from Keeshawn Barthelemy, who closed the gap with six straight points over a 56-second span to tie the game at 15-15.
With 3:24 to go, in the half, and Oregon holding a 26-22 lead, freshman big man Kel’el Ware delivered the highlight of the night for the Ducks and got the home crowd on its feet.
Ware shimmied behind his defender and caught a lofted entry pass from Rivaldo Soares before hammering home an emphatic one-handed dunk.
Oregon closed out the half on a 7-0 run that was highlighted by Quincy Guerrier’s three-pointer with 44 seconds to go that sent the Ducks into the break with a 33-24 advantage.
Once the second half began, Bittle and the Ducks picked up right where they left off.
Bittle converted a pair of layups within the first 90 seconds of the second half to make it 37-26 Oregon. Then, when the Knights sent a double team at him next time down the floor, he found Lok Wur wide-open in the corner for a three to make it 40-26.
As the second half continued, the game devolved into Bittle’s personal coming-out party.
His activity on both ends of the floor helped the Ducks close the door on any hopes the Knights had of climbing back into contention.
With 12:11 to go, Bittle scored his 19th point of the night to set a new career high. Shortly after, he pulled down his 10h rebound to tally his second career double-double.
The Knights managed to trim the Oregon lead to 51-36 late in the afternoon after a six-minute stretch during which they held the Ducks scoreless. But with 8:34 to go, Barthelemy drilled a baseline jumper to get Oregon back on track.
By the time Bittle exited the game for good with 4:52 to go, he had racked up a career-high 23 points and 13 rebounds and propelled Oregon to a 58-40 lead.
Oregon was sloppy in possession for much of the second half and committed 13 turnovers over the final 14 minutes of regulation.
Even still, UCF never trimmed the Ducks’ lead to single digits in the second half.
What’s next
The Ducks will face Wisconsin (19-14, 9-11 Big 10) in the quarterfinals of the NIT. The game will be played on either March 21 or March 22, but the exact time had not yet been announced at the time of publication.
