Arsalan Kazemi had double-digit rebounds, but that’s pretty much to be expected at this point.

What wasn’t as expected was Oregon’s complete dominance of Oklahoma State. The Ducks out-rebounded the Cowboys 44-30 with an even more one-sided 14-4 edge on the offensive glass. Kazemi was such a force down low that he had more offensive rebounds — six — than all but one Oklahoma State player had total rebounds. He would finish the night with 17 rebounds, one short of his season and career high.

The senior from Iran had a double-double at halftime, picking up his 10th rebound and laying it in for a putback as time expired. The bucket gave Oregon an 11-point lead after 20 minutes of play. He also had a handful of the team’s 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, and even more so than usual, it seemed he was intent on pulling down every single rebound.

“Sometimes my teammates tell me I grab their rebounds,” Kazemi said. “When I jump I don’t look who gets the ball, I jump to get the ball. I apologize if I get their rebound, but I just jump to get it.”

It was one area where the Ducks felt they matched up well, and the Ducks’ coaching staff let their team know.

“We hammered that for the last three days,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said.

Oregon won’t have quite the same advantage when they play St. Louis with a Sweet 16 berth on the line since the Billikens don’t play the same type of small lineup as the Oklahoma State — but St. Louis was badly out-rebounded in their opening round win over New Mexico State. The Billikens only average a hair over 30 rebounds per game, but they shoot so well they haven’t been hurt.

The good news for the Ducks, though, is that they played very active defense and came up with eight steals as a team. With a team shooting as well as St. Louis, minimizing the possessions that end in shots will be a key for Oregon.