Though No. 1 Virginia and No. 12 Oregon both rank in the bottom 45 in the country in pace of play, with Virginia having the fewest possessions per game of any team in the country, the point total of 119 in tonight’s NCAA Sweet 16 matchup (9:59 p.m. ET, TBS) is overblown to the under. Despite playing a very slow brand of basketball, Virginia ranks fourth in the country in points scored per possession on offense. As a team, the Cavaliers convert 40.2 percent of their 3s. While the Ducks rank sixth in the country in opponents’ 3-point shooting defense, the Cavaliers have four rotation players that hit at least 40 percent of their 3s. Oregon also gives up a lot of points with the clock stopped as Oregon is 227th in opponent free-throw attempts per field goal attempt. And with the Cavaliers shooting 74 percent at the line as a team, it should put a lot of free points on the board. As for Oregon, the Ducks have scored 66 or more points in nine of their last 10 games despite more than 61 points twice in that span, with one of those games going to overtime. The Ducks rank 21st in the country in steals per possession while on defense, which lends itself to fast break opportunities on offense. Though both teams certainly play tremendous defense, this is a total that seems to be too low and presents a lot of value to the over, especially if the 8.5-point spread is a sharp one, as that will cause for end-of-game fouling. The pick: Take the over in Oregon vs. Virginia.<doc-sep>The Virginia Cavaliers know the game time of their Sweet 16 tilt. UVA will face the Oregon Ducks, who defeated UC-Irvine to advance to the Sweet 16, on Thursday night. Game time has been announced as 10:00 p.m. in Louisville, Kentucky. The game will be televised on TBS. The Wahoos advanced to the Sweet 16 by defeating the Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday night in Columbia, South Carolina. Below is our game story from Sunday night: It was UVA that got off to a hot start with De’Andre Hunter hitting a three on the first possession of the game. Ty Jerome followed with back to back buckets to give UVA a quick 7-0 lead before Oklahoma called timeout to reset. Brady Manek hit a three to cut Virginia’s lead to 7-3. Mamadi Diakite, who got the start over Jack Salt, pushed the lead to 9-3 before Manek hit his second three and Kristian Doolittle followed with a bucket to make it a 9-8 game. Jamal Bieniemy followed with a three and Doolittle made it a 10-0 run to give the Sooners a 13-9 lead with 11:37 to play in the half. UVA answered with a run of its own. Mamadi Diakite and Kyle Guy each scored four on an 8-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. Brady Manek ended the run with a bucket for the Sooners, but Jay Huff hit a three on the return trip down the floor to put Virginia ahead, 20-15 with 6:44 left in the half. Huff followed that three with a thunderous dunk and Braxton Key hit a three to give UVA a 25-15 lead at the half’s final media timeout. After a pair of Kihei Clark free throws pushed the Virginia lead to 12, Brady Manek’s third three of the game, cut the lead to 27-18. Clark and Key scored the next four points to put the Wahoos up 31-18. Oklahoma closed the half on a 4-0 run to cut the UVA lead to 31-22 at the break. Mamadi Diakite led UVA in scoring at halftime with six points and added five rebounds, three blocks, and a steal. Kihei Clark opened scoring in the second half and De’Andre Hunter followed with a bucket to give UVA a 35-22 lead early. For the next three minutes, Oklahoma would score eight points with Mamadi Diakite answering each bucket with one of his own, including a powerful dunk, to keep UVA ahead 41-30 at the first media timeout of the half. Coming out of the timeout, Braxton Key and Ty Jerome scored on consecutive possessions to put UVA ahead 45-30. Miles Reynolds cut the lead to 45-32 before Jerome answered with a three. With 11:58 to play in the contest, UVA led the Sooners, 48-35. After the two teams went without a field goal for four minutes, Mamadi Diakite put UVA ahead 50-37 with another dunk. De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome both hit threes which were answered by the Sooners but with 5:06 left, UVA led 58-45. Kristian James cut the Virginia lead to 10 with 3:34 to play, but Kihei Clark responded with a three of his own to give UVA a 61-48 lead with 2:57 to play. The Wahoos won the game, 63-51, punching their ticket to the Sweet 16. UVA was paced in scoring by Mamadi Diakite, who finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Ty Jerome followed with 12 points and De’Andre Hunter finished with 10 points.<doc-sep>The Ducks are one of the hottest teams in the country and will now play in the Sweet 16 after beating No. 13 seed UC Irvine on Sunday night in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Ducks opened the second half scoreless for seven minutes but turned it on and went on a massive run that ended in a 73-54 victory for the Ducks. Junior Payton Pritchard led the Ducks on Sunday with 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting while adding seven assists and four rebounds. In the win against UC Irvine, Dana Altman tied former Oregon coach Ernie Kent as the most winningest coach in program history. The head coach, who is in his ninth season at Oregon will look to become the winningest coach against Virginia and get his 236th victory as a Duck. This is Oregon's seventh time in the Sweet Sixteen as a program and the third under Dana Altman. Oregon previously made the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 12 seed in 2013 where the Ducks lost to eventual champion Louisville. Here's a look at what fans and media had to say on twitter:<doc-sep>The NCAA tournament is about cinderella runs and buzzer-beaters. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. But this year the NCAA tournament is about the top programs in each region advancing. Some suffered some close calls, like Duke against UCF and Kentucky against Wofford. Some double-digit seeds, such as No. 12 Oregon, No. 12 Murray State and No. 13 UC Irvine, even advanced to the Second Round. But only No. 12 Oregon managed to win its way past the first weekend and into the Sweet 16. TRACKING PERFECTION: See how many brackets are still 100 percent right Here’s how the Ducks survived: Defense Oregon held No. 5 Wisconsin to just 54 points when it beat the Badgers in the First Round. Then it hounded UC Irvine to the point the Anteaters only scored 54, too. That's less than the Ducks allowed on average during the regular season and less than No. 1 Virginia, Oregon’s opponent in the Sweet 16, managed to score against its first two opponents in the NCAA tournament. SCORES: Don't miss any of the action the rest of the tournament Wisconsin only managed to shoot 33.3 percent from the field and 20 percent on 3s. UC Irvine shot 39.2 percent from the field and 27.8 percent on 3s. And the Ducks don’t even need to dominate the rebounding battle or force opponents to turn the ball over at an alarming rate in order to record noteworthy defensive performances. Back when Oregon won the Pac-12 tournament title it held Washington to 48 points. Balanced scoring THE DUCKS SOAR INTO THE #SWEET16! 🦆 (12) Oregon flies past (13) UC Irvine into a matchup with Virginia! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/er6WkmH2Vx — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 25, 2019 Having a star who can light up the scoreboard is important, but there are teams that have recently been bounced from the NCAA tournament that are prime examples of how sometimes even that isn’t enough. Oregon is advancing because a number of players are hitting their shots and teams have to watch out for more than just one player. Payton Pritchard, Louis King and Paul White all scored at least 14 points, hit at least two 3s and shot at least 44.4 percent from the field in the win against Wisconsin. Pritchard, King, Kenny Wooten and Ehab Amin then all scored in double figures against UC Irvine. SO CLOSE: How UCF nearly upset Duke Virginia is a talented defensive team. Oregon is going to need all the scorers it can to win and clinch a spot in the Elite Eight. Resilience DUCKS WIN! ! Oregon takes down UC Irvine, 73-54, and the Ducks are dancing into the SWEET 16!! #GoDucks #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/r0OHVK8hBm — Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) March 25, 2019 Oregon wouldn’t have entered its game against UC Irvine on a nine-game winning streak if it didn’t know how to overcome adversity. It wouldn’t have won its conference tournament if it couldn’t do that. And it wouldn’t have been able to bounce back from a blistering UC Irvine run during the second half of their Second Round game if it couldn’t do that. Of course, some luck plays into this, too. It’s the NCAA tournament, after all. But teams that aren’t mentally tough or able to avoid getting rattled when the game starts to tumble away from them don’t put themselves in position for that luck to benefit them. CINDERELLA: America likes picking the Ducks The Ducks are on a run that make them a dangerous opponent for any team they might face the rest of the tournament if they beat the Cavaliers and advance again. Remember, Oregon advanced to the Final Four two years ago and Elite Eight the year before that.<doc-sep>
The opening point spread is set for Thursday night’s Sweet 16 matchup between the Virginia Cavaliers and Oregon Ducks. According to the oddsmakers at Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, UVA opens as a 7.5-point favorite over the Ducks. Oregon advanced to Thursday night’s game by defeating UC-Irvine, 73-54, to complete the Sweet 16 field. Virginia defeated the Oklahoma Sooners, 63-51, earlier in the evening on Sunday, to punch its ticket to Louisville, Kentucky. Following the victory, Ty Jerome talked about how much the trip to the Sweet 16 means to him. “It means everything to me, honestly,” said Jerome. "It's my first time in the Sweet 16, like I said. After last game, I told you I've never been to a Sweet 16. Everyone is talking about a Final Four, but I've never been to a Sweet 16. Just the opportunity to play with this group again for a whole 'nother week and practicing with this group and traveling with this group, that's what means the most, I think. Just to keep playing with this group of guys. “But we're nowhere near relaxed, nowhere near satisfied. We're not even close to our end goal. Just got to come day by day and get ready to practice on Monday.” At the time of the post-game press conference, Virginia’s opponent had yet to be revealed. Tony Bennett was asked about returning to Louisville’s YUM! Center, where the Wahoos have shown plenty of success. “Just survive and advance,” said Bennett. “Now we go and play there. I'm not even sure who we play, if that game's over or not. So we'll get to all that stuff. But we will enjoy the pursuit of what we're doing.” Below are the postgame notes from VirginiaSports: Team Notes • Virginia (31-3) will play Oregon in its 10th NCAA Sweet 16 appearance on Thursday, March 28 at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. Tipoff is set for approximately 10 p.m. on TBS • UVA tied a school record with its 31st win • The Cavaliers improved to 3-0 at Colonial Life Arena this season, including wins against South Carolina (69-52), Gardner-Webb (71-56) and Oklahoma (63-51) • Virginia is 3-1 record against Oklahoma, including a 2-0 mark in the NCAA Tournament • UVA is 4-0 record against the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament. • Virginia went on an 18-2 en route to a 31-22 lead at intermission • Virginia is 15-18 all-time vs. Big 12 foes NCAA Tournament Notes • UVA a 31-22 all-time in the NCAA Tournament • UVA recorded its 10th win in the NCAA round of 32 • UVA is 14-6 as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament • Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is 12-8 in nine NCAA tournaments, including a 9-6 record at UVA. Player Notes • Double-figure scorers: Mamadi Diakite (14), Ty Jerome (12), De’Andre Hunter (10) • Diakite matched a career high with nine rebounds • Jerome (3 assists) moved into sixth on UVA’s single-season assist list 175 • Diakite (3 blocks) moved into seventh on UVA’s single-season blocks list with 50 • Braxton Key (9 points) matched a season high with nine rebounds