ANAHEIM, California — No. 2 Oklahoma defeated No. 1 Oregon 80-68 on Saturday to advance to the program’s first Final Four since 2002. The Sooners did so with the regular contributions from Buddy Hield, but also with the help of their bigs.
The Ducks were expected to control the boards in this Elite Eight battle, but it was the Sooners who finished with 38 rebounds to Oregon’s 32.
“They just killed us on the boards,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “They were much quicker to the ball, much more active.”
Altman said OU’s 15 second-chance points in the first half is what helped the Sooners open up a big lead.
“The first half, I thought them getting those second opportunities for 15 points really put us in a hole that we could never recover from,” Altman said. “I’m not sure if it was the energy that was produced by them hitting threes, but they just did a tremendous job on the boards."
Oklahoma’s 11 first-half offensive rebounds is a rarity for an Oregon opponent. The Ducks out-rebounded their opponent in nine of its last 11 games, all wins for Oregon.
It was also only the third time since February that the Ducks have permitted double-digit offensive rebounds.
“That was the real disappointing thing for our coaches and for our players,” Altman said. “If you just even that number up a little bit, and usually that's a number we're up on. But points off turnovers and points off second-chance points have been what we've kind of lived on; we didn't get either in that stretch.”
For the second consecutive game, it was a guard who led the Sooners’ charge in rebounding. Freshman Christian James corralled 10 boards, a career high. Hield also grabbed 10 rebounds in OU’s win over Texas A&M.
Isaiah Cousins and Ryan Spangler also contributed five and six rebounds, respectively.
Oklahoma will now turn its attention to No. 2 Villanova in the Final Four. Rebounding will be a big key against the Wildcats if the Sooners want to reach the National Championship.
“We're always trying to improve defensively, offensively, move the ball better, block out better. Every club can keep getting better,” OU coach Lon Kruger said. “I know they'll work. That's one thing. They love coming to the gym. They love coming to practice. They're there early, they stay late. They love playing for one another.”
