The Oregon Ducks run out of wishes in NCAA Tournament loss to Arizona
The Ducks won’t get those free throws back.
SEATTLE — Brandon Angel slumped in his chair in the corner of the Oregon locker room.
His shoes were off, his uniform was still on, and the Oregon senior forward fidgeted with a tape cutter in his hands. His college basketball career was over, and after four seasons at Stanford and one season here with Oregon, Angel understandably didn’t have the time or distance to try and put it all in perspective.
He came to Oregon for a shot at March. And he didn’t just get it, he got the full tasting on Sunday night — from racing out to a 15-point first-half lead, to falling behind by 11 points in the second, to a last two minutes that had everyone inside Climate Pledge Arena on the edge of their seats until four-seed Arizona finished up Oregon’s season 87-83.
Angel experienced joy this week. Angel experienced heartbreak. He won’t forget any of it.
“Playing in March is something that’s been the goal of every college basketball season and it took five years to get here,” he said. “Big time opponents. Big time atmosphere. The fans were amazing. That’s why you play the games.
“I just wish we could have gotten the job done.”
That’s the thing about March though. It’s undeniably a month filled with magic. But the spell every team that’s ever come through this tournament knows you can’t cast is the one where wishes in hindsight become reality.
Oregon’s season ended in the Round of 32 on Sunday because the Ducks wished they would’ve rebounded better. They wished they wouldn’t have blown a fast start — such as the one that keyed their pasting of Liberty on Friday night — and they really wish they would’ve hit their free throws. On a night where the Ducks lost by four points, the best free throw shooting team of the Dana Altman era finished a season-worst 12-of-22 from the line.
“Knowing that we were a good free throw team and tonight we shot our worst, it sucks,” said senior guard TJ Bamba, who finished with 17 points. “It just sucks to end this way.”
The Ducks were close, no doubt. Jackson Shelstad’s 25 points kept the Ducks in the game against their former Pac-12 rival, so did the eight points Nate Bittle (16 points overall) scored in the game’s final 10 minutes. This wasn’t a bad Oregon team, and it was a very good Arizona team, one that behind the play of Caleb Love (game-high 29 points) should be able to give No. 1 Duke a run next week in Newark for the Sweet 16.
Eventually, the Ducks believe they can bounce back from this.
At 66 years old, the 2024-25 season only deepened Dana Altman’s desire to get back here. He swatted down retirement rumors earlier this month and largely seemed invigorated by the resolve of a basketball team that started the year hot, weathered a five-game losing streak and then bounced back to win eight of their final nine games leading up to this tournament.
For as much success as Altman has had in March, every single one of his runs in this tournament has ended with a loss. That’s just the way it goes, and it’s part of the life of a coach to figure out how to take the emotion from a four-point loss, flush it, and start building on the next thing.
He knows he’ll likely have Shelstad back. He hopes he can convince players like Bittle and Kwame Evans, too.
“Everybody that’s eligible to come back, I hope they want to come back,” Altman said. “I hope they want to work their tails off so that we can get better…if not, we’ll find a group that wants to be at Oregon and wants to compete in the Big Ten and wants to try to go a little further in the NCAA Tournament.”
It’s not that simple for the players, though. Sunday was the last game in college for Angel, Bamba, Supreme Cook, Ra’Heim Moss and Keeshawn Barthelemy. Next week, the week after, and next year, they’ll be watching players on TV who they know, who they’ve competed against and who they’ve wanted to beat.
And while players like Angel and Bamba are proud of the season the Ducks had, and appreciative of the time they got to spend on Altman’s roster — especially here in the postseason — those ungranted wishes will never fall far from their thoughts.
That’s just how March goes.
“We love each other,” Bamba said. “We play for each other. And I feel like we just created a culture this year, playing hard, playing scrappy, never giving up and never giving in. Throughout the year we’ve been in holes — 11-point deficits, 11-point leads. We just never wavered.
“I just wish we could go back and do it over, but that’s not how this works.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
Shout out to the local seattleite trash that came out just to boo our Ducks like the uninvited, bottom-barrel nerds you are! Sundays around here are typically reserved for driving around in Teslas, windows up, congratulating themselves on the prowess of their flatulence. Ran into one such flaccid specimen wearing nondescript clothing in the concession line, who admitted the uw alumni association sent an email blast out encouraging them to buy tickets and wear Arizona gear. These cowards don't even have the stones to wear their own putrid colors, instead dressing up like catering staff to sneak into a party at their own house that no one wants them at. Sorry for the rant Tyson!