university of oregon ducks mens womens basketball

With both Oregon Basketball teams heading into the home stretch of the season with March Madness on the horizon, the most important thing to do on Sunday was simply to win. Both teams got that done, though in different fashions.

On the women’s side, Oregon had to gut out a tough win over Minnesota on the road 76-70. The Ducks actually trailed by as many as nine early in the first half, but surged ahead and held a four point lead at halftime.

Building on that momentum, Oregon’s lead grew. But the Golden Gophers clawed their way back to again make it a four point deficit as the fourth quarter wound down. But key defensive stops and clutch free throws allowed the Ducks to escape with the win.

Star guard Deja Kelly led Oregon again with 20 points. Elisa Mevius tallied 19 points, and Alexis Whitfield added 13.

Kelly Graves’ squad has rebounded from three disheartening losses to win two in a row. With 18 wins on the season and three games remaining until the conference tournament, the UO women sit on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament appearance after a monumental collapse to finish last year.

The Men’s side has also rebounded from a frustrating losing streak to claim two in a row themselves, and like the women, secured win 18 on Sunday with a 75-57 thumping of Rutgers.

With a visit from last year’s leader N’Faly Dante before the game, Oregon came out and played as well as they had in quite some time, bottling up Rutgers defensively while shooting nearly 60 percent from 3-point range.

Methodically, the Ducks turned a five point halftime lead into a 20 point advantage. Jackson Shelstad had 19 points to lead Oregon, Nate Bittle contributed 15, and TJ Bamba tallied 11.

With a rich history of strong finishes, Dana Altman may have his team primed for another as the Ducks head to Iowa to face the Hawkeyes. On Saturday, they will get their final Top 25 matchup of the regular season against Wisconsin. That game will be very telling of what this team is capable of leading into March.

Altman, who has never failed to win at least 20 games in a season since he arrived at Oregon, is now two victories away from the feat once again.