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Oregon 73, UC Irvine 54: Ducks advance to Sweet 16! Box score and stats

Oregon is on a 10-game winning streak and will play in the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons.

Men’s NCAA Tournament, Round of 32

No. 12 Oregon Ducks 73, No. 13 UC Irvine Anteaters 54

Ehab Amin sparked Oregon out of a long drought to start the second half and the Ducks became the lone double-digit seed to advance to the Sweet 16 by beating UC Irvine 73-54 on Sunday night.

Payton Pritchard led 12th-seeded Oregon (25-12) with 18 points, Louis King added 16 and Amin had 12 points and three steals. The Ducks have won 10 straight after a lackluster start to the season and will play top-seeded Virginia in the South Regional semifinal on Thursday.

After going more than seven minutes without scoring to start the second half and squandering all of a 12-point lead, Oregon used a 15-3 run to take control and end a 17-game winning streak for the 13th-seeded Anteaters (31-6).

Amin started it with a 3-pointer and caused two turnovers. Pritchard scored seven points in the spurt, and the game quickly turned into a laugher with Kenny Wooten getting a block on one end and an alley-oop on the other to make it 68-49 with just more than two minutes to play.

Robert Cartwright scored 14 points and Evan Leonard added 11 for UC Irvine, which came into the game with longest active winning streak in the nation.

The Anteaters looked like an entirely different team coming out of halftime starting with a 3-pointer by Cartwright on the opening possession. That started a run of 14 points in a row that put UC Irvine ahead 37-35 on a layup by Cartwright.

The Ducks missed their first 11 shots from the field and committed four turnovers before finally breaking through on Amin's 3-pointer that ended a drought of 7:32. Amin then drew a charge, and King followed with another 3 that put Oregon up 41-37 midway through the half.

Wooten capped the 15-3 burst with an emphatic dunk that made it 50-40.

The Ducks jumped on top early and used a 10-1 run featuring an emphatic slam by Wooten to take a 27-16 lead. They led 35-23 at the break.

Box score

Click here to see box score and stats

Big Picture

UC Irvine: The most successful season in Anteaters history has come to an end. They set a school record for wins, won the Big West Tournament title and got the first NCAA Tournament win in school history. They put up a good fight against the more talented Ducks but ultimately fell short.

Oregon: After stumbling along at 15-12 late last month following a three-game losing streak, the Ducks look like the team ranked 14th in the preseason poll. With Pritchard as the floor leader, Amin providing energy and Wooten patrolling the inside, they are back in the Sweet 16 two years after making a Final Four run.

Block Party

About the only thing going well for the Ducks during that second-half drought was Wooten's defense. He had two impressive blocks at the rim against Jonathan Galloway and Cartwright to prevent Oregon from falling even further behind. He finished the game with six blocks and had 10 overall on the weekend.

Up next

Oregon advances to play Virginia on Thursday in the Sweet 16 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Odds

As of Saturday afternoon, the Ducks were a 4.5-point favorite against the Anteaters, according to the line from Bovada

Pregame Preview

BOTTOM LINE: UC Irvine and Oregon will go at it, with the winner punching its ticket to the Sweet 16. Oregon earned a 72-54 win over Wisconsin in its most recent game, while UC Irvine walked away with a 70-64 win against Kansas State in its last outing.

TEAM LEADERSHIP: The Anteaters are led by Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard. Hazzard is averaging 12.7 points while Leonard is putting up 11.3 points per game. The Ducks have been anchored by Payton Pritchard and Louis King. Pritchard has produced 12.9 points and 4.6 assists while King has averaged 13.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Pritchard has either made or assisted on 60 percent of all Oregon field goals over the last three games. The junior guard has accounted for 23 field goals and 23 assists in those games.

PASSING FOR POINTS: The Ducks have recently used assists to create baskets more often than the Anteaters. Oregon has 36 assists on 77 field goals (46.8 percent) over its past three contests while UC Irvine has assists on 34 of 84 field goals (40.5 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The UC Irvine defense has allowed only 63.3 points per game to opponents, which is the 19th-best mark in the country. The Oregon offense has averaged just 70.5 points through 36 games (ranked 222nd among Division I teams).

RELATED: Reporter notebook: Oregon Ducks at NCAA Tournament

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