No. 7-seed Michigan (26-11/10-8 Big Ten) vs. No. 3-seed Oregon (31-5/16-2 Pac-12)
7:09 pm Spirit Center, Kansas City/CBS
What’s at stake: A spot in the Elite Eight against the winner of No. 1-seed Kansas and No. 4-seed Purdue.
Clashing forces: Oregon ranks second nationally with 6.4 blocks per game. The Ducks are making back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in program history. Michigan leads the nation with the fewest turnovers per game at 9.2. The Wolverines have reached regional semi-finals in three of the last five years.
They said it:
Oregon’s Dana Altman: “They’ve got very skilled players, passing, catching, shooting the ball. Their ability to put the ball on the floor. John always has recruited very skilled basketball players, and that’s really obvious with this team. Doesn’t matter if it is the 7-footer or the 6-10 guy. They’re all capable of putting it down and bringing it down court. Passing and catching is such an underrated skill, but they do a great job.”
Michigan’s John Beilein: “Our guys have had quite a wild ride here in the last six weeks, where we lost to Ohio State at home, February 4th. It was lower than low at that point for us, to lose a home game to a rival. Ever since then our kids sort of put their backs to the wall and have played really good basketball. There’s been two losses, one in overtime at Minnesota and one on a heroic great play by Northwestern and other than that we’ve played really good basketball for those six weeks and couldn’t be prouder of our group of young men.”
Players to watch: Oregon – Jordan Bell (10.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg), Dillon Brooks (16.4 ppg, 2.7 apg), Tyler Dorsey (14.0 ppg).
Michigan – Zak Irvin (12.9 ppg, 2.97 apg), Moritz Wagner (12.2 ppg), Derrick Walton Jr. (15.4 ppg, 4.9 apg) and DJ Wilson (11 ppg, 5.3 rpg).
How they got here: Oregon beat Iona (93-77) and Rhode Island (75-72) . Michigan topped Oklahoma St. (92-91) and Louisville (73-69).
All-time series: Michigan is 4-0 against Oregon including a 70-63 decision on November 24, 2014.
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