Oregon vs. South Carolina March Madness Preview and Prediction
In the No. 11 vs. No. 6 matchup in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region, the Oregon Ducks face the South Carolina Gamecocks in first-round action.
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How to Watch Oregon vs. South Carolina
When: 4:00 pm ET on Thursday, March 21st
Where: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Watch: TNT
Odds for Oregon vs. South Carolina
(odds current at time of publish)
Spread: South Carolina -1.5
Total: 133
DraftKings Betting Splits | Live College Basketball Odds | Oregon vs. South Carolina Matchup
Midwest Region No. 11 Oregon Ducks
Oregon is coming off an impressive championship run in the Pac-12 tournament, which included a semi-final win over Arizona. The Ducks are now going to be a team that nobody wants to face in the dance. Oregon is always a well-coached team, with Dana Altman being one of the best coaches in the country. And this team has quite a bit of talent. N’Faly Dante has emerged as one of the best bigs in the entire country, and he has taken his game to new heights over the last few weeks. He’ll be a load to handle around the basket. And Oregon has plenty of guards that can do their part on the perimeter. But keep an eye on Jermaine Couisnard and Jackson Shelstad. Couisnard has been doing a great job of getting his teammates good looks, while also knowing when to be aggressive as a scorer. And Shelstad is just a dynamic backcourt talent, and he has saved his best stuff for the biggest games.
Midwest Region No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks
The advanced stats suggest South Carolina is a good team on both ends of the floor, not a great one. You’d expect a little more from a team that went 26-7 heading into the tournament. But finding a way to win games is a crucial skill, and the Gamecocks were able to do that. And head coach Lamont Paris did such a good job with this group that he earned himself a big contract extension a few days before the NCAA tournament. South Carolina will be an interesting team in the tournament, as the Gamecocks have a deep group of contributors and can be tough against smaller opponents. But South Carolina can run into trouble with teams with size. The Gamecocks have an undersized rotation and that’s part of the reason South Carolina lost two games by a combined 71 points against Auburn.
Oregon vs. South Carolina Preview & Prediction
It almost doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season because Dana Altman is going to make noise in the conference tournament. That may be tougher next season with the Ducks in the Big Ten, but Oregon rolled through the final Pac-12 Tournament to draw a matchup with South Carolina in Pittsburgh.
The Gamecocks were one of this season’s biggest surprises, as they were picked to finish last in the SEC by a lot of people, but here they are favored in an NCAA Tournament game. This feels like it will be a popular upset pick, though, as the Gamecocks went 11-3 in games decided by six or fewer points and don’t stand out a whole lot in most metrics. Regression seems to be lurking.
Of course, a week ago, Oregon wasn’t even in the tournament. And it’s not like they shot well in Vegas. They just took really good care of the ball and their opponents did not. They may not force a lot of turnovers here against the Gamecocks and then this becomes a battle of two pretty mediocre offensive teams going at it. South Carolina does actively force teams off the 3-point line and they do take a lot of 3s on offense, so that’s the key to the game.
That’s especially true given that the Gamecocks play at one of the 10 slowest tempos in the nation. The game basically hinges on how SC shoots from deep. That makes it a legitimate toss-up in my eyes. I also think both teams could ugly it up enough against Creighton to make the Sweet 16, so we’ll see who emerges.
Estimated Score: South Carolina 67, Oregon 66
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