ANAHEIM – Top-seeded Oregon will continue its NCAA tournament run following an 82-68 win over Duke in the Sweet 16. Up next will be an even tougher task with the nation’s leading scorer Buddy Hield and No. 2 seed Oklahoma.
The Elite Eight West Regional final is set for a 3:07 PST start time on Saturday at the Honda Center.
Here’s what you need to know about the Sooners:
Oklahoma
Record: 28-7
Conference record: 12-6; finished third in Big-12
Wins in the tournament: 82-68 win over No. 15 CSU Bakersfield, 85-81 win over No. 10 VCU, 77-63 win over No. 3 Texas A&M
Coach: Lon Kruger (Fifth season at Oklahoma, 110-56, 589-360 overall)
Players to watch:
Buddy Hield: 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, senior guard
Stats: 25.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 46 3P%
Dropping 30 points or more at the Division I level is no easy task. Buddy Hield has done it 11 times. A front-runner for National Player of the Year, Hield is going to be the most refined scorer Oregon will have faced this season. In what many considered to be the regular season game of the year against No. 1 ranked Kansas, Hield topped out at 46 points in a triple overtime loss. On a team that hangs its hat on deadly outside shooting, Hield is the maestro.
Isaiah Cousins: 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, senior guard
Stats: 12.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 42 3P%
When Dana Altman signals his players to pressure Oklahoma with its tight full court press, it will have to do so against a veteran point guard. An All-Big-12 Conference guard, Isaiah Cousins can do it all: shoot the three, attack the rim, and clean the glass. Against Duke, Oregon, at times, took advantage of playing against an unconventional team without a true point guard. Saturday afternoon, that won’t be the case.
Jordan Woodard: 6-foot, 187 pounds, junior guard
Stats: 13.0 PPG, 3.4 APG, 46 3P%
Rounding out the deadly trio of guards Oklahoma poses, Jordan Woodard might be the hottest. In the tournament, Woodard has combined for 45 points — 17 against VCU, 22 points last night against Texas A&M — as Oklahoma’s third scoring option. If Oregon can manage to slow down Hield and Cousins, it will still have its hands full with Woodard.
Key stat to the game: In the tournament, Oregon has been unforgiving against the three, holding teams to 31 percent. But keeping this up against Oklahoma, a team that made a sixth-best 364 3-pointers on a second-best 42.6 percent, will be a different ball game. Thursday, Oregon held Duke to 7-of-22 from beyond-the-arc.
Oregon will have the chance to play in the Final Four for the first time since 1939.
Follow Hayden Kim @HayDayKim