SAN JOSE, Calif. — Cinderella has webbed feet.
Although if you are Oklahoma State or Saint Louis, you sure don’t think the 12-seeded Oregon Ducks are a Cinderella.
Insulted with an extremely low seed for the NCAA Tournament despite winning the Pac-12 conference tournament, the Ducks are now one of two Pac-12 teams moving on to the Sweet 16 after whipping the Saint Louis Billikens 74-57 on Saturday.
The tournament selection committee is probably regretting the decision to put the Ducks so low, as UO has now breezed past five and four seeds, but the ranking placed Oregon in San Jose for its first two games, meaning a big turnout from Duck fans.
“I loved our seed and where we played,” E.J. Singler said. “I thought it was going to be great for our team, playing close to home. I knew it was going to be a great environment for our fans to come and support us.”
Oregon is playing its best basketball of the year at just the right time, having won five in a row across the conference tournament and the first two matchups of March Madness.
The talk of the tournament has been the slighting of the Ducks, but the other teams in the field know the true worth of Oregon.
“Well they’re playing really well,” said a shell-shocked Jim Crews, head coach of Saint Louis.
“This was not your typical 12-seed,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said.
Damyean Dotson, whose offensive play has been a huge boost for the Ducks in the last five games, had his best game of the year against Saint Louis, scoring 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
“This is a feeling I’ve never felt before,” Dotson said. “I always thought about it but I never thought I’d be able to experience it. It is a dream come true. I don’t know what it was, I was just letting ‘em go and they were going in.”
Dotson was an unbelievable five of six from three-point range, making his first five attempts before missing the last. That miss was collected by Arsalan Kazemi, serving as the perfect segue to focus on his brilliant performance.
Kazemi, having just pulled down 17 rebounds against Oklahoma State, captured 16 missed shots against Saint Louis and came up just one bucket shy of a second-straight double-double, having earned eight points.
“Arsalan, you could have had a double-double again but you missed that dunk,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman joked with Kazemi during the postgame press conference.
Oregon shot 53 percent from the floor, including an astounding eight of 11 behind the three-point curve. The Billikens, on the other hand, were a grim one for 17 from three before connecting on a couple more in the end to finish at three of 21. They shot under 38 percent as a whole on the night.
The game got off to a messy start for both parties, especially Oregon, as the Ducks struggled to get into an offensive set, turning the ball over four times in the first 4:30 of play.
Carlos Emory nailed a three with 13:31 left in the half to take a 10-7 lead, and the Ducks blasted into another dimension, leaving Saint Louis sputtering light-years behind.
Johnathan Loyd checked into the game and proved to be a spark to set fire to an Oregon wildfire. He earned an assist on the aforementioned three from Emory and buzzed around in a zone defense that Altman switched his team into.
Loyd tallied another assist when he slipped the ball through his legs to Singler, who trailed Loyd way behind the three-point line. Singler bucketed the long shot to send the Duck-driven arena into exaltation.
Oregon turned an 8-0 run into a 21-4 streak to end the first half behind laser-guided shooting from Dotson, who had nine at the half. Emory provided 10 points as well to send the Ducks into the break ahead 35-19. The 16-point deficit was the largest the Billikens faced all year, and their 0-for-10 mark from three was the big reason.
The second half start was for Oregon just as the first half was, but the Ducks got it together when Dotson found a trajectory that resulted in a streak of 4-for-4 from three.
The Oregon lead ballooned to 24 at one point, at 63-39, as a result of a Dotson three.
In the waning moments of the game, fans began buzzing about a trip to the Sweet 16, a first for Oregon since 2007. Fans erupted into a “Let’s go Ducks!” chant as the final minute approached.
Speedster Loyd got the ball in his hands at this time, and he dribbled literal circles around the weary Billikens, looking like a jovial child in a game of keep-away.
“I told you, when I can just get space on the floor, it is one of the funnest things ever,” Loyd said.
With just seconds left on the shot clock, Loyd tossed up an aerial assist to an open Kazemi, who jammed the ball through the basket with powerful force that sent shockwaves through the NCAA bracket.
Next up for Oregon is the country’s No. 1 team and the one-seed in the Midwest bracket, the Louisville Cardinals.
When asked if his team could beat the favored Cardinals, Loyd responded with a resounding, “Definitely.”