“Hayward magic” is a concept discussed quite often in Eugene as an imaginary force many hope to touch, especially the heroes that make up Oregon’s renowned track and field squads. 

Take it from Aaliyah McCormick, the Big Ten 100-meter hurdles champion and the only woman in her event to run that race in less than 13 seconds. 

“What really motivated me was the Hayward magic,” McCormick said. “If we all feel the Hayward magic, everything’s gonna work out just fine.”

Men’s 5000-meter champion Simeon Birnbaum shared a similar feeling during his Big Ten Outdoor Championship record time of 13 minutes,  31.87 seconds. 

“Whenever an Oregon uniform takes a lead, you kind of feel a surge in energy in the crowd,” Birnbaum said. “With a lap to go, I took the lead and the crowd started roaring.  It was amazing.”

This “magic” isn’t some mythical aura that is played up by the Ducks’ success on the track; it’s an intangible feeling provided by Hayward’s historic grounds. 

That was the feeling prevailing over the iconic stadium’s first time hosting the Big Ten conference championships. While it may have fueled the men’s team to a resounding conference title, it made the experience over the weekend an incredible one. 

Each day built on the next, especially since the Ducks were in contention for both conference titles going into each session. Birnbaum was correct in his assessment as well; every time an Oregon racer, jumper or thrower did anything, the crowd at Hayward made sure that the athlete felt their presence. 

When Oregon decathlete Koby Kessler from the famed IMG Academy from Canby, Oregon, took his beanie off to reveal his hairstyle, it would be a point of discussion throughout the weekend. Kessler started his decathlon in a way that the occasion warranted by showing off his buzzed, bleached hair, which included about a half-dozen green ducks painted on. 

“(The hair added) about 100 points,” Kessler said about his decathlon score. “The 100, when I took the beanie off, that definitely helped me score a little more and run a little faster for sure.”

Kessler thrived off the raucous home crowd, even on the first day of competition.

“I love having the home crowd; it’s awesome,” Kessler said. “A big part is family coming down and being supportive. I love it.”

Another part of the Hayward magic is the proximity that fans get to athletes, especially ones not competing. During the men’s shot put competition, I sat within feet of many of Michigan’s men’s track team, many of whom weren’t competing that day, when I heard shouts of “That’s my roommate!”

The intimacy of the meet shocked me. Athletes from each team were dispersed over the concourse, cheering on their teammates and enjoying the atmosphere of one of the nation’s best sites for track and field. 

Oregon’s athletes seemed to thrive off the home crowd, which became more enthusiastic each day as the Ducks got closer to a sweep of both Big Ten titles. Knowing that the NCAA outdoor championships will be coming back to Hayward, the magic isn’t done for the year. 

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With multiple meet records, Oregon wins and overall Hayward magic, the Big Ten Outdoor Championships proved everything it cracked up to be.

Going into the final event the Ducks’ women’s squad held a narrow, one point lead over USC, and their triple crown title was in jeopardy going into the 4×400-meter relay. The Women of Troy were just too much to keep quiet, and their dominant relay performance secured a Big Ten team title for USC. 

The Ducks’ men’s team finished first in the conference with 110 points after entering the day with a three point lead over Nebraska. 

On day two of the meet, despite her 15th place finish in the final event, senior Annika Williams secured a 63 point victory in the heptathlon with a personal best 5914 cumulative score. 

“Being that close to 6000 points is great, (but) I would love to get to 6000,” Williams said. “Like I said, I didn’t (personal best) in anything this weekend. Anything could have been a little bit better for me to get to that 6000.”

As the only sub-13 hurdler in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, junior Aaliyah McCormick dominated the competition all weekend and took home the conference championship with a season best 12.86. 

“I haven’t gone under 13 until right now, so it definitely reassures me that I’m in the right position and it’s so exciting honestly. I love being under 13 seconds,” McCormick said. “This is our first year in this conference and it’s very important to all of us to win at home.”

Senior Klaudia Kazimierska eased to a win in the women’s 800-meter, and the Poland native beat the rest of the competition by almost two whole seconds with her 2:02.92. Kazimierska took an early lead which only grew as she continued running.

Going into the 5000-meter races, the Oregon men’s squad practically wrapped up the team title, but the Women of Oregon still hung behind the USC Women of Troy by 14 points. 

Sophomore Simeon Birnbaum bounced back from a disappointing 1500-meter race where he placed third to win the 5000m with a meet record time of 13:31.87. Birnbaum hung back behind the top five most of the race and then sprung himself to victory in the final two laps to win by less than a second. 

“I got out-kicked in the 1500, so I got really fired up and ready to go for this race,” Birnbaum said. “I wanted to go out there and ice this meet for us.”

Junior Silan Ayyildiz raced a meet record 5000m with a 15:37.11, which gave her the win by less than half a second. Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich held a large lead going into the final few laps, and it looked like she would take an easy win, but the competition caught up. 

“Simeon (Birnbaum) really inspired me,” Ayyildiz said. “I tried to go with (Cherotich), but it was kinda early and I waited a little bit. In the last 600, I was just counting the laps in my mind. I was just like ‘I can do just the last 200 or last 100.’”

Ayyildiz did just that and carried her momentum into a phenomenal last stretch which pushed her to a massive win in the 5000m. That gave Oregon enough points to take a one point lead going into the 4x400m, which was the closing event of the weekend. 

The Women of Troy took first place in the relay, while Oregon placed eighth. The dream of a Big Ten triple crown was squashed in that final event. 

The Oregon men’s squad took home the Big Ten crown, which added a silver lining as the Ducks head to Bryan-College Station, Texas for the NCAA Regionals. Oregon has 43 entries in that meet. 

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Recruiting players for college basketball has turned into the quest to get to players as early as possible. 

Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuits and prep schools breed players from the time they are in elementary school to the time they are ready to take the next step. Athletes get offers as early as seventh grade in some cases, which is why Oregon guard TJ Bamba is so unique. 

Bamba didn’t receive the same interest at a young age. In fact, Bamba didn’t even start taking the sport seriously until 10th grade, which comes as more of a surprise since he grew up in the Bronx —  often lauded for its ability to produce some of the best basketball players. 

“New York is a basketball state, especially in the city,” Bamba said. “We have Dyckman and Rucker (Park), so seeing that and feeling that energy, it moves you as a young kid. Especially because I had a lot of friends who played basketball and were good.”

Bamba noticed the life-changing opportunities that those he knew were getting by playing basketball, and knew he had the ability to work to that level. 

“I wasn’t good. I wasn’t taking it seriously yet. Seeing the opportunities they started to get and how it could change their situation with their families or the trajectory of their lives,” Bamba said, “I needed to go somewhere where I can put my head down and learn at my own pace.”

So, at the age of 16, he moved in with his aunt and uncle in Denver to attend Abraham Lincoln High School. 

“I felt like I could be good at (basketball) if I put my mind to it,” Bamba said. 

Bamba credits a lot of that confidence to his religious upbringing, especially the more than three years he spent learning at a boarding school in Senegal that centered its teachings around Islam. His family felt that faith should be an important pillar in Bamba’s life, which led to their decision to send him to Senegal when he was just seven years old. 

As would become a theme for Bamba, he blossomed. 

“It was a culture shock, learning a new language, different type of food (and) different type of curriculum, so at the time I didn’t know what I was going through. Being able to get through it by myself as a kid helped set me up to have the skills in life now,” Bamba said. “I can go anywhere and be successful. Me being a person that’s heavily religious and faithful, I know anywhere I go, God is with me.”

Bamba took his talents out west for his final years of high school, which also allowed him to make the best decision for the “greater good.” A lot of the time, that came with sacrificing being close to family, which was something Bamba had to become okay with in order to succeed. 

“I got an opportunity to train differently, get coached differently and really expose me to the real basketball world and what it would take for me to become a great basketball player,” Bamba said. “The Senegal experience prepared me to sacrifice family time or being close to home for the greater good.”

The gamble ultimately paid off. Bamba was not a nationally-ranked recruit, but he received an offer from one power-five program — the Washington State Cougars. 

“I didn’t have many other offers at places where they believed in me and I felt like (former Washington State head coach Kyle) Smith and them believed in me,” Bamba said. 

Bamba eventually broke out and averaged 15.8 points per game in his junior season in Pullman, which finally drew interest from the national powerhouses. For his fourth year, he signed up to play for head coach Kyle Neptune at Villanova University. After the Wildcats’ lackluster season and a dip in the NBA draft waters, Bamba decided to bring his talents to Eugene. 

“I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without being used to traveling or going away from home,” Bamba said. 

Bamba, now out of college eligibility, will prepare for the draft back home in New York, but given his experience, he will be perfectly fine wherever he ends up. 

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As if the college football world couldn’t get any crazier, the NCAA now finally plans to address the inequity between athletes and mascots in college sports. 

According to reports from multiple sources, the NCAA has moved to implement a rule for the upcoming college football season that would require each team to use mascots at least once a game per each side of the ball.

Teams that are found to use their mascots less than the required amount will have to forfeit any game where the rule wasn’t followed. 

“This new rule aims to create more parity in college sports through the implementation of non-football athletes into each game,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a press release on March 32.

Teams will now be required to sub in their mascot for one play on offense and one play on defense, but both can be mitigated if that mascot is used to make a field goal longer than 25 yards. 

“We knew having the best mascot in our program would pay off at some point,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “It’s an exciting opportunity for the sport, and I am excited to see what gray areas we can explore.”

Lanning’s attention to detail when it comes to the rules of the game is no secret — evidenced by him taking a purposeful 12-man on the field penalty that eventually led to the clock running out on Ohio State’s offense on the following play. Oregon aims to be at the forefront of innovation in college football, and this new rule is simply a fresh opportunity to flex those muscles. 

“We’ve already looked into the possibilities — the Duck has been at the facility all day doing a pseudo-combine. He’s quick,” Lanning said. 

Other coaches around the country weren’t as stoked about having to place an unpadded mascot into the field of play every game. Washington head coach Jedd Fisch noted his team’s considerable lack of funding — not for the first time — as a reason why the Huskies wouldn’t be able to make this work. 

“Teams like Oregon and Ohio State have $20 million dollar rosters, which makes it so much harder to compete. I already have to worry about not getting boat-raced by Rutgers and Iowa. College football is so unfair,” Fisch said. 

In a 247sports article chronicling the top NIL spenders in college football, it noted that Washington ranked No. 24 with a collective of $9.4 million, while Oregon ranked No. 19 with its $10.6 million collective.

Much of the talk surrounding this move discusses the lack of possibility around play calling for a mascot. Multiple users on X mentioned how certain schools don’t use a physical mascot at their games. Those schools include the likes of Michigan and Illinois. 

Well, the NCAA thought ahead. Those schools will now need to enlist an NCAA-sanctioned physical mascot at each of its games that must align with the nicknames and history of that school. 

“Michigan can now just hire one of their players and call it a wolverine. There has to be something preventing that. I am just worried for the Duck’s safety out there,” Lanning said. 

The same narrative has been brought up about Notre Dame’s famous leprechaun, who has full range of motion in most of his body. Because of that, the leprechaun would be the premier mascot for kicking field goals, which absolves the team from using the mascot again. 

Notre Dame wouldn’t be the only program with an advantage, however. 

Purdue’s Boilermaker mascot includes full range of motion below the waist, but his bulky head and body make it tremendously difficult to run. BYU’s cougar, often lauded for its jaw-dropping acrobatics and choreographed dances, will have the opportunity to display that as a wide receiver. Administrators from BYU are trying to figure out a way to get the Cougar to have the ability to play more than twice, as he is an invaluable part of the team. 

Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been an outspoken supporter of the rule. Pearl, who had stepped into the role as mascot during his time as an undergrad at Boston College, knows there’s a lot more to being a mascot than meets the eye. 

“Mascots are much more than just a dancer, and no one realizes their athletic capabilities. Mascot rights in sport have long been overlooked,” Pearl said.

The NCAA’s move to include mascots in the largest college sport marked a large step in mascot rights, but there is still room to grow. Mascots still cannot receive benefits from NIL, payments from sponsors, sign with an agent or transfer freely as athletes have done in recent years. 

The reasoning for this, Baker said, was because the NCAA is still figuring out how to officially classify mascots as athletes, which is made harder by the fact that some mascots are animal-human hybrids rather than strictly a human or an animal. 

The Duck, for example, has opposable thumbs and no wings. 

“(The Duck’s) hybridness allows us to bring out the best from his human and Duck sides,” Lanning said. 

Reports have circulated that Lanning and his staff plan to use the Duck as a tight end and outside linebacker, which fits his 6’4” 264-pound profile. Both positions also allow for the Duck’s quickness to come into play, as seen by Oregon’s use of tight end Kenyon Sadiq and linebacker/edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei in different positions and formations due to their athletic versatility. 

Lanning, along with coaches around the country, now deal with a new fold to the ever-changing landscape of college sports. While new rules are constantly subject to change, it appears as if the disparity between mascots and athletes is finally lessening. 

*Disclaimer: All quotes and facts in this article are completely satirical and fake, in light of April Fools Day.*

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Oregon baseball fields a star-studded roster filled with weapons at every position. None more important than the man the Ducks trust up the middle of their defense — sophomore Maddox Molony. 

Molony’s breakout campaign in 2024 proved one of the prevailing stories to come out of Oregon’s successful spring. Going into the 2025 season, both the Ducks and Molony were expected to keep stride with previous successes. 

Molony slashed .315/.402/.566 with 10 home runs, 31 RBIs and finished with an incredible OPS of .968. The freshman phenom was also named to both the First-Team All-Pac-12 and NCBWA Second-Team All-Freshman. 

The 10 home runs and .566 slugging percentage also ended up as Oregon freshman records. 

Even after a brilliant start to his college career, Molony mentioned earlier in the season that he made a point to gain weight in the offseason, and now weighs in at 210 lbs. 

“It’s helped a lot. Don’t know if that last home run gets out if I am not 210,” Molony said after hitting two home runs in a win over The University of Toledo Rockets. 

Molony missed the back half of the series against The University of Rhode Island due to injury, but returned as a crucial part of Oregon’s sweep over Columbia University. Molony tallied five hits, seven RBIs and two home runs in the series sweep over the Lions. 

“His presence is awesome. He’s a settling force. Big, strong kid…he’s just a good player,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “A scout grabbed me this morning and said that ‘he walks around and the aura around him makes him look like a major leaguer.’ I couldn’t agree with him any more, he’s that kind of kid.”

In just a fraction of the time, Molony has already reached half of his home run total from last season. The Springfield native has used his increased power to his — and the Ducks’ — advantage by hitting five home runs as of the end of the Columbia series. 

Four of those home runs came in two games, as Molony sent a pair of blasts over the fence in two different contests. 

Along with the five homers, Molony has posted an OPS of 1.195 and .695 slugging percentage. His .390 batting average also places him first in the team standings. 

Molony solidified himself as the chosen player at the most-important position in the infield. He plays a very good defense, only committing three errors in 2024. After three home series, Molony’s fielding percentage of .964 lagged slightly behind his .980 clip from 2024, but the more he plays — and the more he plays well — the more his fielding percentage will improve. 

Molony set the tone with an incredible 2024 and a tremendous start to the 2025 season. A solid shortstop is important to any successful baseball team, and the Ducks boast success behind Molony and the infield. 

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Oregon men’s basketball tends to be a microcosm of the grit and grind endured in a college basketball season. Accompanying that is the increased amount of travel experienced by Big Ten teams due to the conference’s expansion — it’s a borderline impossible mission to stay consistent the whole year. 

Last season, Oregon exemplified the tough grind, as the Ducks started conference play on a lackluster run only to flip that on its head by March. 

As the season got underway, however, it never appeared this would repeat itself, but, lo and behold, it did. 

The Ducks entered their first season of Big Ten play undefeated. 

While much of the Power Four can boast solid out-of-conference records before January hits, Oregon’s 8-0 record was astounding. The Ducks actually got conference play started in early December as they took a win down in Los Angeles against the USC Trojans, but fell at the buzzer to UCLA for their first loss of the season. 

That being the only loss in the 2024 portion of this season meant something. 

Wins against two real contenders in the nation’s best conference — the SEC — in Texas A&M University and University of Alabama put the Ducks on the country’s radar. Oregon ranked as high as the No. 9 slot on the AP top-25 poll in December, and were in the top-16 as recently as late January. 

So, what happened?

One can point to certain games like the ones at home against Illinois and Purdue. Each of those contests, in their own ways, humbled Oregon as it looked to start a reign of terror over its new conference. The blue bloods of the Big Ten made sure to quiet that noise. 

“I have no problem with our effort and our focus. Against Michigan and Michigan State, we played hard, we just weren’t good enough those two days to beat them,” head coach Dana Altman said. 

That Purdue game became the beginning of a stretch where Oregon would lose six of seven, including a five-game skid. In those seven games, the Ducks scored more than 75 twice, with their only victory in the stretch coming 82-71 over Washington. 

“Other than that one week, I thought our guys have tried. I haven’t been pleased with their focus at times or their execution offensively. But, for the most part, they’re trying to listen and trying to do what we want them to do,” Altman said. 

That one week derailed the season so dramatically that it knocked the Ducks out of the top-25 and created a lot of questions regarding their hopes to return to March Madness. 

However, the losing streak fired Oregon up for the final stretch of the season, especially the team’s two-way focal point, Nate Bittle. 

Bittle scored in double-digits in two of the five losses — one game tallying 13 points and the other 16. The senior big man flipped that on its head by scoring in single-digits just once in the eight-game win streak. 

“It’s March, everybody’s playing for their lives, and we just gotta come ready to play,” senior guard Keeshawn Barthelemy said.

Barthelemy also mentioned that the energy in the locker room is “different” at this point in the season. That energy started to translate on the defensive end in a dramatic way. 

The last time the Ducks turned the ball over more than their opponents was Jan. 30 in a 26-point loss at UCLA. In the five-game losing streak, Oregon allowed at least 77 points in each of the games. 

In the eight games since then, the Ducks allowed that just once, and still won a nail-biter against the Iowa Hawkeyes. 

“We’re starting our sixth month (of the season) here and you hope the guys have enough to finish. You can get worn out, you can lose your focus, you can lose your intensity,” Altman said. 

The opposite appears to be true; the Ducks’ intensity seemed to ramp up with each of the previous five wins. 

“There’s a sense of urgency here, it’s our last month. It’s been a long season,” Altman said.

A similar sense of urgency propelled N’Faly Dante, Jermaine Couisnard and co. to a Pac-12 tournament win and an appearance in the March Madness Round-of-32. With the ability to receive production from players outside the top seven or eight players, which became the case last season. 

“Definitely gotta have depth, and guys gotta be ready to go,” Altman said. “That’s why I am so happy that Mookie (Cook) and Jamari (Phillips) and those guys have stayed ready.”

Having reliable players to plug into any situation has helped the Ducks reduce the negative side effects of foul trouble and slight injury knocks. The team’s ability to throw in Supreme Cook to do some dirty work is valuable and boosts defensive versatility to keep Bittle healthy.

Barthelmy admitted Bittle is the team’s best defender, so keeping him healthy has been of utmost importance, especially given how much time he missed in 2023-24. 

This most recent run of positive basketball has both Altman and the team confident as the Ducks enter the Big Ten Tournament. Oregon is a battle-tested team that rides a dangerous hot streak, and Altman believes there’s more to come. 

“I think we’re really close to having better offensive possessions and our communication can get better defensively. I think we’re really close to having a good ball team,” Altman said. 

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Oregon men’s basketball received the 5-seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and will take on the Liberty Flames in the round-of-64. The Ducks’ first game in March Madness will tip-off on Friday in Seattle. 

With a win, Oregon will face the winner between the 4-seed Arizona and 13-seed Akron. 

The Ducks’ eight-game win streak, and with it, their Big Ten Tournament run, ended on Friday in Indianapolis. 

However, Oregon will play more basketball. On Sunday, the Ducks found out their Round-of-64 matchup in the NCAA Tournament and their way ahead to more games. 

That trip will begin in Seattle, as the Ducks secured the No. 5 seed in the East region. Oregon faces the 12-seed in the region, the Liberty University Flames, and potentially matches up with the 4-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the second round, which is a familiar conference foe. 

It will take a different team in order to make a splash in Seattle, as the display from Oregon’s loss to Michigan State lacked the ambition needed to make a run in March.

Dana Altman’s team struggled to create offense and were dragged down even further by poor decision making, which led to missed shots and turnovers. Those factors also combined in the 15-0 Spartan run that defined the contest. 

All that being said, the atmosphere in the founder’s club stayed positive throughout — a guaranteed trip to March is nothing to balk at. 

Oregon now prepares for its newest March challenge on Friday.

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“Made too many mistakes to beat a good team,” head coach Dana Altman said in his postgame press conference. 

Oregon men’s basketball’s eight-game win streak and Big Ten Tournament run ended in a 74-64 loss to the one-seeded Michigan State Spartans. The Ducks fell behind the ball at every turn and got out-hustled by Tom Izzo’s defensive team. 

Basketball is often called a “game of runs,” which was exemplified by each of these teams. The Spartans’ late-game 15-0 run proved the final and most significant one of the day. 

Oregon’s 4-19 mark from three-point territory didn’t help matters. 

“We had some pretty good looks, we just didn’t hit them. Shooting the ball is a big part of the game and we needed someone to shoot some threes and we just didn’t do it,” Altman said. 

The Spartans came out running as soon as the clock started. Fierce defense on the perimeter and subpar Oregon shot-making characterized the early portion of the game. 

The Ducks looked like a team that played the previous day, while Michigan State relished its five-day long break — the Spartans started the game on an 8-0 run. 

Oregon forced a turnover directly after the first media timeout, and Brandon Angel converted on the other end from the low block as proof of life. 

It appeared that it only took five minutes for the Ducks to wake up. 

After an initial stretch where Oregon shot 2-5, it picked the offense back up by making six of the next seven. Nate Bittle settled into the game much more quickly against the Spartans and added nine points in the opening frame. 

Bittle led the way for Oregon and tallied 22 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. 

“Today, I just tried to do my job,” Bittle said. “We fought hard as a team and we know what we need to do going forward.”

Michigan State, the worst three-point shooting team in the regular season based on percentage, made four of its six attempts from beyond the arc in the first. That proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth first half which saw each offense gain a foothold at times. 

The Spartan’s relentless on-ball pressure and commitment to getting the ball into transition as quickly as possible often put the Ducks on their back foot. Teams on their back foot don’t tend to hustle well. 

“We didn’t go after the ball,” Altman said. “They picked up loose balls, they were quicker to it and we had to have everyone on the boards and we didn’t.”

That was evidenced in the first through the considerable rebounding margin, as MSU doubled Oregon in rebounding 18-9 to begin the contest. Further, the Ducks didn’t grab a single offensive rebound in the opening half, while the Spartans grabbed six. 

Michigan State only made that into a 36-29 margin for the game, but that was largely due to the stretch where the Spartans took a double-digit advantage. 

“That’s not something we can do against a good team if we want to win,” Bittle said about the rebounding margin. 

The mistakes and lack of hustle compounded on itself as the first drew to a close. 

Michigan State ended the half on a 7-0 run, which included four Oregon turnovers in three minutes. The Ducks also couldn’t contest without fouling, as their nine fouls against gave the Spartans 10 attempts from the line in the first. 

Michigan State took a 42-32 lead at the break.

In the opening three minutes, Oregon scored the first six points of the half and reversed the narrative by forcing four Spartan turnovers in that stretch. 

The difference in effort between the first and second halves was drastic. Oregon started fighting for every loose ball, every rebound and every single point in the latter half of the quarterfinal. 

For example, the Ducks didn’t grab an offensive rebound until about five minutes into the second half. That came on a Bittle and-one that also scored Oregon’s first second-chance points. 

The Ducks then failed to score for the next five minutes while Michigan State took a 15-0 run a little less than halfway through the second. That was good to put the Spartans ahead by 16. 

“We got within one and they scored [15] in a row, we didn’t get the stops, and took some really contested shots,” Altman said. 

Oregon’s newest scoring drought put the nail in the coffin in its chances to pull off a shocking upset and move on in the conference tournament. A loss to the regular season conference champion in the quarterfinals would be no shameful end to the season for any eight-seed. 

But, this isn’t the end of the road for this iteration of Altman’s Ducks. 

The Ducks’ impressive regular season showing was good enough to lock them into a spot in March Madness. It’s going to have to look much different than it did on Friday for Oregon to make a run. 

Oregon cut into single-digits within the final five minutes on multiple occasions, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Ducks would not play cinderella today. 

The Spartans closed out the contest 74-64 and moved onto the Semifinals. 

Oregon now awaits its fate, which will be decided on Selection Sunday. 

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The two hottest teams in the Big Ten Tournament will face off. 

The eight-seed Oregon Ducks, fresh off a resounding victory over the Indiana Hoosiers, take an eight-game streak against the Big Ten regular season champions. 

The Michigan State Spartans ended the season with a similar run, as it took the final seven games — and eight of the last nine, which includes a victory over Oregon.

Everything that’s said about hot teams in March can be thrown out the window, as it’s now true for each side of the contest. 

“They’re gonna play physical and very hard, so we know we have to bring that same energy,” Jackson Shelstad said. 

The Ducks know all too well the challenges posed by the top seed in the tournament. 

In February, Oregon traveled to East Lansing, and jumped out to a 14-point lead by the end of the first half.

“When we played Michigan State the first time, we played really hard in the first half, we had a good lead,” Jackson Shelstad said. “In the second half we let our foot off the gas and went on a run, so we know we have to play a full 40 minutes to compete with them.”

Shelstad referred to the measly 24-point second half that the Ducks produced against the Spartans. Michigan State pounced on that opportunity and turned the halftime deficit into a 12-point win of their own. 

Michigan State’s electric freshman guard Jase Richardson led the way with an astounding 29 points. 

Richardson is the team’s second-highest scorer — averaging 11.6 points per game — behind Jaden Akins, who averages 12.9. 

The backcourt duo of Akins and Richardson suffocates opposing guards and makes them pay for weak defense. Teams often shoot themselves in the foot by committing too hard to one of the players, only for the other to wreck the game. 

Oregon holds the advantage when it comes to neutral site games, as the Ducks haven’t lost a neutral site game and have played five this season. The Spartans are 3-2 in the same sample size in a neutral site. 

Michigan State scores in droves and shuts down the opposing offense, as it scores 78.7 points and allows 67.0 per game. Oregon scores 76.6 and allows 70.8 per game, including the 86 let up to the Spartans in Feb. 

It’s March now, and everything’s on the line. This is where Dana Altman’s squads like to be at this time of year. 

The Ducks aim to make a major splash with a surprising upset in their second round matchup of their first Big Ten Tournament, and have the tools to get it done.  

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The Ducks never aim to win ugly. During this eight-game win streak, Oregon figured out how to do it routinely. Even in a contest where the opponent shot 36% from the field, the Ducks were required to put their heads down and grit out a win.  

The Big Ten Tournament second round proved more evidence to that fact — as the Ducks emerged victorious over the Indiana Hoosiers 72-59. 

While Oregon found success on neutral sites, its second round matchup proved anything but that. 

Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers, and host to the conference tournament, sits just 54 miles from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. In other words, this was a Hoosiers’ home game. 

“We knew the crowd would be involved, with it being in Indiana. We play well on the road and with crowds involved. We’re kind of the ‘away team,’ so we just brought that energy,” Jackson Shelstad said. 

Shelstad led the Ducks with 18 points. 

The opening five minutes reflected that. Each Indiana basket drew a significant reaction from the crowd, while Oregon had to play silencer, even as the technical home team. 

Indiana took an early lead by forcing nine Oregon turnovers in the first half. 

Once the offense slowed down and the ball moved around more, the Ducks found their open shots. Oregon tied the game at 23 with seven minutes remaining in the opening frame after two-straight possessions finished by a Brandon Angel three. 

Angel posted 14 points on 6-8 shooting and made both of his tries from deep. 

“Brandon gave us a big lift in the first half. He hit a couple threes and got to the rim,” Altman said. 

Indiana center Oumar Ballo dominated the boards in the first. His eight first half rebounds, five coming from the offensive end, made Oregon’s big man Nate Bittle obsolete at times. 

“Nate was coming down in the first half to help on drives, and no one was cracking down on [Ballo],” Altman said. “[Ballo] didn’t play a lot in the second half, and he was giving us problems with those offensive rebounds.”

Along with Ballo, Indiana received excellent production from its backup center Malik Reneau, who played the majority of the second half. Reneau tallied a game-leading 19 points while facing the tough defensive task of defending Bittle. 

“Reneau was playing so well, he was giving us fits,” Altman said. 

After a career-high 36 points in the Ducks’ regular season finale, Bittle failed to score a point for most of the first half and only secured three rebounds. Bittle’s first basket came from beyond the arc, and took a lead with two minutes to play in the first. 

“I thought Nate showed great maturity,” Altman said. “You wouldn’t have known if he scored 30 today or two, he just played. He had six assists and one turnover.”

The offense that Oregon generated came almost exclusively from Shelstad and TJ Bamba, who finished with 12 and eight points in the opening frame, respectively. Bamba’s tally grew to 17 by the final whistle. 

“In the second half, I thought TJ did a good job of getting to the basket and really taking his time, making some plays, nose to the goal and went to the free throw line,” Altman said. 

Oregon finally found its run in the final four minutes of the half, and took a 37-29 lead at the break after a 13-2 stretch. 

Indiana opened the second by scoring the first six points and reinvigorating its home crowd. 

It took three-and-a-half minutes for Oregon to score in the second half, which came as Indiana spent over two minutes without scoring. The Ducks’ turnover woes didn’t stop as the game wore on, however. 

Oregon finished with 14 total turnovers, which at times became the only reason Indiana had a way back into the contest — the Hoosiers had the ball more. 

That being said, Indiana’s offense continued to struggle in the same ways it did last week in Eugene — the Hoosiers couldn’t hit threes. Indiana scored its points inside and led the game in the paint 36-20. 

But the Hoosiers would not be counted out. Trey Galloway responded with a make from deep and Reneau followed it up by adding two more in the paint. Oregon’s answer, once again, proved resounding. 

Jadrian Tracey scored his only three points of the game from the deep elbow and the Ducks’ defense forced a crucial turnover. As Oregon sustained its lead, slowing down Indiana’s offense became the primary method of closing the game out.

That method proved successful. Indiana spent over five of the final seven minutes scoreless, and in that same stretch, the Ducks took a 9-0 run for the first double-digit lead in the contest. 

Barthelemy iced it with a contested three and Oregon was on its way to the quarterfinals. 

The Ducks will face the tournament’s one-seeded Michigan State Spartans at Noon tomorrow. 

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