March Madness: Previewing Saturday’s Elite 8 Matchups
Oregon (3) vs. Kansas (1)
So, Kansas is really good at basketball. If there was any doubt in your mind, their 32-point victory over Purdue in the Sweet 16 is pretty good proof.
It didn't look great for Oregon after losing Chris Boucher for the season in the Pac-12 tournament, but the Ducks have rallied by winning their last two games over Rhode Island and Michigan by a total of just four points.
In their three tournament games without Boucher, Oregon is averaging 79 per contest while out-rebounding opponents 36-27.
The biggest advantage for the Ducks is that they're averaging 21.3 free throws per game, compared to just 10.3 attempts for their opponents. They'll look to take more advantage of that moving forward, though, since Oregon is shooting just 64.1% from the charity stripe thus far in the big dance.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Mason | Kansas | 20.8 | 4.1 | 0.568 |
| Josh Jackson | Kansas | 16.6 | 7.1 | 0.556 |
| Devonte' Graham | Kansas | 13.3 | 3.2 | 0.564 |
| Dillon Brooks | Oregon | 16.4 | 3.1 | 0.574 |
| Tyler Dorsey | Oregon | 14.0 | 3.4 | 0.566 |
| Jordan Bell | Oregon | 10.8 | 8.3 | 0.632 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| School | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TOV% | D Rtg | Opp eFG% | Opp TOV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Kansas | 18.86 | 115.3 | 0.563 | 53.1 | 15.3 | 99.5 | 0.477 | 16.0 |
| #3 Oregon | 16.29 | 114.8 | 0.557 | 53.0 | 14.7 | 94.9 | 0.464 | 17.0 |
