Thanks for joining us once again at VAVEL USA for this Third round action. I'm your host, Blake Hesser, checking out.
The Badgers move on to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Sweet Sixteen next Friday.
2nd Half (0:00): Joseph Young gets a standing ovation as he exits the game for the final time in his college playing career. Final score: Badgers 72, Ducks 65.
2nd Half (:12): Koenig makes 2 more free throws. Young with a mid-range jumper for his 30th point of the game. Badgers 70-62.
2nd Half (:24) Koenig hits 2 free throws. Young gets an easy layup on the other side of the court. He has 28 points. Badgers 68-60
2nd Half (:37): Joseph Young makes 2 free throws to cut the deficit to 66-58. But it appears to be too little, too late.
2nd Half (:48): This time Hayes makes one free throw and Kaminsky rebounds the miss and puts it in for a layup, Badgers up 66-56.
2nd Half (:49): Hayes makes one of two free throws and then the Ducks dribble the ball out of bounds. Badgers up 63-56.
2nd Half (1:00): Koenig makes both free throws. Then Young makes a layup on the other end. Badgers up 62-56.
2nd Half (1:03): We have reached our final TV Timeout with just over a minute to go. Badgers up 60-54 and shooting free throws when we return.
2nd Half (2:22): Frank Kaminsky gets to layup to go in. Timeout Ducks. Badgers lead 60-54.
2nd Half (3:03): Joseph Young slams home a fastbreak dunk to cut the deficit to 58-54.
2nd Half (3:57): Sam Dekker for THREE! Badgers lead 58-52.
2nd Half (4:58): Dekker with a reverse layup extends to lead to 3. Wisconsin 55-52.
2nd Half (5:27): Benjamin for THREE! Koenig shoots 2 Free throws on the other end and makes 1. Wisconsin 53-52.
2nd Half (6:06): Once again Young scores a 2. On the other end Kaminsky gets fouled while shooting and makes both FTs. Badgers lead 52-49.
2nd Half (7:18): Dekker gets fouled while shooting and makes both FTs. 50-47 Badgers.
2nd Half (7:36): ABDUL-BASSIT again hits a three! Ducks down 48-47! Out of bounds Oregon on the other end to send us to our under 8 TV Timeout. Wisconsin 48, Oregon 47.
2nd Half (9:06): Abdul-Bassit hits a three and the Ducks call timeout trailing 48-44.
2nd Half (9:30): Bell with a layup cuts the deficit to 5. Dekker then hits a two to extend the Badgers lead to 48-41.
2nd Half (10:40): A beautiful reverse layup for Showalter and on the other side of the court Young makes another basket. Badgers 45-39.
2nd Half (11:11): Zak Showalter for a Three! On the other end, the Brooks shoots and misses as the ball goes over the back board and out of bounds. We head to the under 12 minute TV Timeout with Wisconsin leading 43-37.
2nd Half (13:30): Hayes assists Dekker while posting up for a layup. On the other end Benjamin hits a three. 40-37 Badgers.
2nd Half (13:50): Dewayne Benjamin makes a floater to cut Wisconsin's lead to 38-34.
2nd Half (15:20): First TV Timeout of the 2nd half. Badgers 38, Ducks 32. Oregon ball.
2nd Half (16:13): Kaminsky gets his first points of the half on a layup. Badgers lead 38-32.
2nd Half (16:38): Brooks dishes off an assist to Bell. Ducks down 36-32.
2nd Half (18:08) : The Ducks get their first points of the half on a layup by Young. Ducks trail 36-30.
2nd Half (19:00): The first points of the half come off a Koenig reverse layup. Then the Badgers score again on a Dekker three. Badgers lead 36-28.
2nd Half (20:00): The second half has begun with the Badgers leading 31-28.
The Badgers will get the ball first to start the second half. Stay tuned for live coverage of the second half!
Frank Kaminsky had a good start to the half but the Ducks did a good job of shutting him down after the 11th minute as he did not score after that minute. Kaminsky has 7 points and only 1 rebound. But the Badgers still lead by 3 at the half.
Nigel Hayes and Joseph Young were the stars of the first half. Hayes scored 12 points on 4 of 6 field goal attempts. For Young it was a 14-point half as he also led the Ducks in assists with 2.
1st Half (0:00): Young misses a deep three that would have tied the game at the halftime break. Wisconsin 31, Oregon 28.
1st Half (0:54): Joseph Young shoots 1-and-1 after being fouled by Gasser. He makes both. Badgers up 31-28.
1st Half (2:12): Josh Gasser goes up for a tough layup and makes it. On the other end, Young makes another jump shot. Wisconsin leads 31-26.
1st Half (2:39): Koenig fouls Ahmaad Rorie on a three point attempt. He only makes one free throw. Ducks trail 29-24.
1st Half (3:25): Dillon Brooks with a layup to cut Wisconsins lead to 29-23.
1st Half (3:53): Out of the timeout, Dewayne Benjamin gets called for traveling. That will send us to our final TV Timeout of the half. Wisconsin 29, Oregon 21.
1st Half (4:21): Joseph Young is on fire! He hits a long 2 pointer. On the other end, Bronson Koenig hits a three. Badgers lead 29-21. Timeout Ducks.
1st Half (5:16): Hayes with a long 2 point jumper and then a steal on defense. He is then fouled and makes one of two free throws. Wisconsin 26-19.
1st Half (6:45): Young for Three! Then he assists Jordan Bell for an easy layup. Ducks trail 23-19.
1st Half (7:44): A quick jumper for Young makes bring the Ducks within 6 but Hayes drains a three on the other end. Badgers 23-14.
1st Half (7:48): We have now reached the under 8 minute timeout. Badgers lead 20-12, Ducks ball.
1st Half (9:17): Joseph Young with his first points of the game on a Three! Wisconsin 20, Oregon 12.
1st Half (10:24): Duje Dukan for Three! Badgers 19-9.
1st Half (11:41): Frank Kaminsky's field goal attempt counts after a defensive goaltend. Badgers lead 16-9 at the under 12 minute TV Timeout.
1st Half (12:25): Oregons' Dillon Brooks gives us our first highlight reel play of the night with a huge dunk! Ducks trail 14-9.
1st Half (13:06) Hayes now sinks a turn-around jumper. Wisconsin 14-7.
1st Half (15:04): Hayes makes 2 free throws after the timeout to give the Badgers a 12-7 lead.
1st Half (15:04): Kaminsky with another layup but on the other end Elgin Cook hits a three. Wisconsin 10-7 at the first TV Timeout of the game.
1st Half (16:26): Nigel Hayes with a strong drive results in a lay in for Wisconsin. Jalil Abdul-Bassit responds with a three for the the Ducks! Badgers lead 8-5.
1st Half (19:00): Jordan Bell gets a lay-up and that is followed by a Sam Dekker 3. Badgers up 6-2.
1st Half (19:24): Frank Kaminsky gets the first points of the game on a layup and-one! He makes the Free Throw. Wisconsin 3-0
1st Half (20:00): Oregon wins the tip and we are off!
Here we go!
Tip-off has been pushed back to 8:04 PM ET.
Two of today's first three games have resulted in upsets, could this be another? Stay Tuned!
Oregon: Guards Jalil Abdul-Bassit and Joseph Young; Forwards Elgin Cook, Dillon Brooks, and Jordan Bell.
Wisconsin: Guards Josh Gasser and Bronson Koenig; Forwards Nigel Hayes, Sam Dekker, and Frank Kaminsky.
With about 30 minutes until game time, here are both teams projected starting line-ups:
We are less than an hour away from tip-off, stay tuned to VAVEL USA for Live coverage!
In NCAA Tournament history, one seeds have beaten eight seeds about 80% of the time they match up. However, yesterday the eight seeds that went up against one seeds went 1-1, so clearly an upset in this matchup wouldn’t be unfeasible.
Despite only making the tournament three times during his tenure with Oregon, coach Dana Altman has a 6-10 record in his career during NCAA Tournament games, 4-2 with the Ducks and 2-8 during his tenure with Creighton prior to being hired by Oregon. He has only made the Sweet Sixteen once in his career and that was two years ago when the Ducks were a 12 seed. That year they also beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Second round. A win would send the Ducks to their seventh Sweet Sixteen.
Since Wisconsin signed coach Bo Ryan in 2001, they have reached the NCAA Tournament every year. In six of those 13 tournaments before this one, the Badgers made it to the Sweet Sixteen. To make it to seven Sweet Sixteen’s in his first 14 seasons at Wisconsin would be an amazing accomplishment considering the school had only reached three of them before his arrival. Bo Ryan has done a tremendous job at turning Wisconsin basketball into a college basketball powerhouse.
Kaminsky isn’t the only player in this matchup who won Conference Player of the Year honors earlier this month; the Ducks’ senior guard Joseph Young was awarded the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year. Young averages 20.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. The Ducks also get double-digit points per game from junior forward Elgin Cook and freshman forward Dillon Brooks. Jordan Bell, a 6’9” freshman, played a big role in their win in the previous round defensively by swatting away four blocks.
Wisconsin is led by Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, senior forward Frank Kaminsky, who averaged a team leading 18.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game, while shooting 55.9% from the field. They also get some fantastic play on a regular basis from their other two starting forwards, Sam Dekker (13.2 PPG and 5.4 RPG) and Nigel Hayes (12.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG). Senior guard Traevon Jackson, who leads the team in assists per game, hasn’t played since early January when he injured his foot and is not expected to play in this game. Sophomore guard Bronson Koenig has replaced Jackson in the starting lineup and done a fantastic job. Koenig has scored double-digit points in 12 of the Badgers 18 games since Jackson’s injury.
It was a tough challenge for the Ducks to advance to this round in their matchup with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Ducks trailed by as much as eight points during the first half and trailed for about four minutes in the middle of the second half before sneaking out with a 79-73 victory. The Ducks did a poor job of boxing out for defensive rebounds in the matchup with Oklahoma State, which led to the Cowboys outrebounding them 9-3 on the offensive boards. The Ducks will need to do a better job of boxing out against the Badgers or else it could be a long day for the Ducks.
In their previous matchup during this tournament, the Badgers beat the 16-seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 86-72. However, the final score made the game appear much closer than it actually was. The Badgers were leading 86-63 with just under two minutes left when the Chanticleers made a 9-0 run to finish the game, but it was against the Badgers backups.
The Oregon Ducks came in third in the Pac-12 Conference during the regular season and second in the conference tournament. The Ducks went 4-6 against teams NCAA Tournament-bound. The wins included UC Irvine in overtime, UCLA, and Utah twice. The losses came against Arizona three times, VCU, Ole Miss, and UCLA. Oregon has been a part of an impressive run by the Pac-12 Conference, which has yet to lose an NCAA Tournament game this year, going 7-0 to this point.
The Wisconsin Badgers were the Big Ten Conference regular season and tournament champions. They only lost two games during conference play, both of which were on the road, one against Rutgers and one against Maryland. The only other game the Badgers lost this season was an early December matchup at home against the Duke Blue Devils. The Badgers went 13-2 against teams that made the NCAA Tournament’s field of 68 including wins against Boise State, UAB, Georgetown, Oklahoma, Buffalo, Purdue twice, Iowa twice, Indiana, Michigan State twice, and Ohio State.
The first-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (32-3) of the Big Ten Conference will play against the eighth-seeded Oregon Ducks (26-9) of the Pac-12 Conference on Sunday, March 22, 2015 at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska at 7:45 PM ET. This is a Third round matchup in the NCAA Tournament for the West Region. The winner of this matchup will play the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday, March 27, 2015 in the Sweet Sixteen.