Bell Backstops Elite Defensive Effort

KANSAS CITY — From the very first meeting, the very first practice, back in the fall, Dana Altman was relentless in his message: The 2016-17 Oregon men's basketball team would go only as far as its defense and rebounding could take it.

The college basketball landscape is littered with talented scorers. If you want to play for trophies, you gotta guard.

Early Sunday morning, the UO men returned to Eugene with a big, shiny trophy of wood and metal. It was awarded to the Ducks for being champions of the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Region, thanks to a 74-60 victory Saturday over Kansas. And it came about due to defense — most notably the rim protection of post Jordan Bell, but also a pack of perimeter players who hounded the Jayhawks relentlessly at the three-point line.

With the UO guards dogging Kansas into a 20 percent three-point shooting night, and Bell manhandling the Jayhawks into submission with eight blocks, Oregon trailed for all of 32 seconds Saturday. The Ducks advanced to a Final Four matchup with North Carolina, following a 3 p.m. PT tip between Gonzaga and South Carolina on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz.

"We're going to score the ball; everyone knows that," senior guard Dylan Ennis said. "But it's playing defense that makes us special."

Bell set the tone from the outset Saturday, blocking a shot on the game's opening possession. Only national player of the year candidate Frank Mason III had any luck consistently attacking the Ducks, mostly during a run of 15 straight Jayhawks points he scored to keep them in the game late in the first half. Otherwise, it was a whole lot of tentative layup attempts as Bell bullied Kansas just as badly as he had Michigan two days earlier.

For most of this season, the Ducks had relied on a similar formula — aggressively defend the three-point line, knowing that either Bell or Chris Boucher would be there to protect the rim if an opponent drove the ball. After Boucher injured his knee in the Pac-12 Tournament, Bell stopped hunting for blocked shots for the sake of avoiding foul trouble. On Saturday, he reverted to form.

"Ain't no point in saving anything," the Midwest Region MVP said after being the last man to cut down one of the nets, which he then hung around his neck. "I just wanted to be as aggressive as possible."

That was the tone Altman set Friday, as the Ducks put their Sweet Sixteen win over Michigan in the rearview mirror and turned their attention to the top-seeded and third-ranked Jayhawks. Kansas came into the game 31-4, with only two losses in regulation all season. The Jayhawks would be playing in front of a Sprint Center crowd of 18,643, of which perhaps 95 percent would be in their blue and red colors.

The challenge was immense. But the Ducks were going to take their shot.

"Let's swing away fellas, swing away," Altman said Friday, during Oregon's private practice session in the downtown arena.

Offensively, the Ducks felt good about the matchup. Guard Tyler Dorsey was on a torrid shooting stretch that didn't seem inclined to stop any time soon. Pac-12 player of the year Dillon Brooks had yet to truly break out in the tournament, but he'd been a steady contributor. Oregon was going to score.

But could the Ducks stop Kansas? The plan was to lag back defensively so as not to give Mason and the other athletic Kansas wings easy paths to the basket, picking them up no earlier than about 22 feet from the hoop. Then, the Ducks would hound them with hands in their faces, to disrupt passing lanes and three-point chances. If somebody did get by Oregon's wings, Bell would be there waiting.

Except for Mason's outburst late in the first half, it worked to perfection over the first 20 minutes. The Jayhawks were a reasonable 4-of-10 from three-point range, but just 12-of-28 overall — 42.9 percent — and Oregon had a 16-11 edge in rebounds. Dorsey hit four three-pointers on his way to 14 points — the last three banked in at the buzzer — sending the Ducks into their halftime locker room with a 44-33 lead and surging confidence.

"Good first half," Brooks told his teammates, as they waited for coaches to finish meeting in an office off the locker room. "Calm deep; keep composure."

When Altman entered the locker room, his message was similar. "Heck, they're gonna make a shot or two," he said. "We've just got to keep fighting."

None of Oregon's current players were involved in the Ducks' 2014 second-round tournament game, but several team staff members couldn't help but think back, at halftime Saturday, to that game. Oregon went into halftime up 12 against Wisconsin in Milwaukee — playing before a crowd just as partisan as Saturday's — before wilting under a barrage composed of equal parts three-pointers and crowd noise.

The Jayhawks themselves had used a similar formula Thursday to blow open their Sweet Sixteen matchup with Purdue, outscoring the Boilermakers by 25 in the second half. Surely they'd be champing at the bit to repeat that performance in the Elite Eight.

As Oregon's players huddled in the tunnel before taking the floor to warm up for the second half, Brooks reminded them of the formula that had taken them that far — not just on this night but this entire season. "Same focus," he said. "Defense and rebounding."

The Ducks found points harder to come by in the second half, as fatigue hampered Brooks and Dorsey. But they never let up on the defensive end. Kansas shot 28.1 percent in the second half, on its way to a season-low 60 points. Only once the entire rest of the 2016-17 season did the Jayhawks shoot worse than they did Saturday, 35 percent.

Entering the evening, Kansas had the higher seed, and the favorite for national player of the year, and essentially a home crowd. They'd been cruising through the tournament by an average margin of more than 30 points. Oregon advanced through the second and third rounds by a combined four points — but became battled tested in the process.

That was shown right off the bat Saturday, when Bell blocked that opening shot, and Oregon kept the crowd largely out of the game by taking a 12-5 lead.

"We had to set the tone," Ennis said. "16,000 people against you, you have to set the tone."

The fact that the tone had been set, by Bell in particular, was no more evident than midway through the second half, with the Ducks protecting a 59-46 lead. Bell blocked the shot of Kansas big man Landen Lucas — who finished with three rebounds, after averaging 8.4 this season. Kansas collected the offensive rebound, but Devonte Graham, presumably aware of Bell's dominant presence, put up a soft shot that fell way short.

Yeah, the Ducks had set the tone.

"I think we're just as tough as anyone in the country," Bell said. "I think we proved that tonight."

Now it's on to Glendale, and the Final Four. The Ducks will travel by bus and plane. But it's Altman's favorite elements of the game — defense and rebounding — that truly got them there.

Fans seeking Final Four travel and ticket information can visit goduckstravel.com to book travel accommodations and book tickets to see the Ducks take on North Carolina on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz.

University of Oregon Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jordan Bell

Chris Boucher

Dillon Brooks

Tyler Dorsey

Dylan Ennis

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