Cal hung with second-seeded Utah for 40 minutes in Friday night’s Pac-12 tournament semifinal game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
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OR blasted Utah out of a cannon into the sun to earn the Pac-12 championship.
ABOUT UTAH (26-7): Poeltl, a 7-footer looking to become the league’s first player of the year to win the tournament title since UCLA’s Kevin Love in 2008, was held to seven points and seven boards in the Utes’ 77-59 home loss to OR on January 14.
Having built a 17-point halftime lead by forcing 13 first-half Utah turnovers and dominating the offensive glass, OR could easily have lifted its foot off the accelerator the way it did in the semifinals against Arizona.
The Ducks did not start out with the same fierce intensity as playing Arizona, (they learned how intense they could get in the first half of that game) and then realized about halfway through the first half that yes, they can drive easily on Utah’s big men.
The Kansas Jayhawks pose for a team photo after winning an NCAA college basketball game against West Virginia in the finals of the Big 12 conference tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, March 12, 2016.
– 5 Purdue vs 12 Little Rock: The Trojans are deep, experienced and have one of the best defenses in the country, but can they deal with the size of the Boilermakers’ A.J. Hammons and Caleb Swanigan?
After that, the Sooners may face some familiar foes, with three other Big 12 teams and former Big 12 member Texas A&M playing in the West Region.
They open Friday in Spokane against the victor of Holy Cross/Southern.
Cal: Raab suffered a cut after falling into a couple of cameramen in the second half but stayed in the game after being treated…. Utah would have just four assists in that first half. The Utes’ 21 first-half points were their second-lowest output in a half this season. “Not the game we anticipated, but we just got on a roll and that happens”.
By nearly every measure Saturday night, the Ducks looked like a team that could win the NCAA tournament come April.
“They had the look of a top 10 team”, said Rice, the former UNLV coach who was sacked about a month after that victory.
Freshman Tyler Dorsey, a conference All-Freshman Team selection, led the way with 23 points while also grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
Anyway, let’s flush that game and move on to Selection Sunday, tomorrow.
This is the biggest championship in Pac-12 Tournament or Pac-10 Tournament final history.
OR now has won four conference tournament championships.
OR also won the rebounding battle 36-25, with Dorsey leading the team with nine.
With Denver being such a close distance to Utah, the players said they hope to see some “familiar faces in the crowd” and to have a strong support base.
The Beavers boosted their NCAA Tournament chances in the opening round by holding off Arizona State 75-66.
The Utes are one of seven Pac-12 teams invited to the tournament.
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Being a No. 1 seed in March Madness is about more than just bragging rights. In addition, the Ducks’ group features Atlantic 10 champion Saint Joseph’s and at-large bid Cincinnati, both of which could pose certain threats to Oregon’s path.
