Sweet 16 Open Thread: 2) Louisville vs. 6) Oregon

2) Louisville Cardinals (25-3, 14-2) vs. 6) Oregon Ducks (15-8, 10-7)

NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Game Time: 7 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Announcers: Beth Mowins(play-by-play), Debbie Antonelli (analyst) and LaChina Robinson (reporter)

Location: Alamodome: San Antonio, TX

Favorite: Oregon by 2

Probable Starting Lineup:

Statistics:

About Oregon:

With a 57-50 upset win over 3-seed Georgia on Wednesday, Oregon advanced to its fourth straight Sweet 16. Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally combined for 37 points as UO held Georgia to 35-percent shooting. The Ducks were 8-0 in 2020, but lost eight of 13 games in 2021 prior to winning two straight in the NCAA Tournament. They entered the Big Dance with losses in five of their last six games.

The Ducks ranked second in the Pac-12 and 16th in the country with a 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio. They also ranked second in the Pac-12 with 72.1 points per game, 12.6 turnovers per game and 364 assists. They feature five players averaging more than 9.6 points per game with Sabally (12.9), Erin Boley (10.7), Prince (10.4), Te-Hina Paopao (10.2) and Taylor Mikesell (9.6). Boley, from Hodgenville, Ky., and Maddie Scherr, from Florence, Ky., were both named Miss Kentucky Basketball.

Louisville is 6-1 all-time against 6-seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Under Walz, the Cards are 12-2 overall against the Pac-12, 8-0 in neutral site games and 4-0 in NCAA tournament games. They beat Stanford and Oregon State (W, 76-43) to get to the Final Four in 2018 and in 2019 they beat Oregon State in the Sweet 16. They also beat Cal in the Final Four in 2013 (W, 64-57).

Louisville is 5-4 all-time in the Sweet 16, and has won each of its last two games in the round.

Jeff Walz loves playing the disrespect card, but he won’t have to work too hard to make that happen in a game where his team is an underdog to a team seeded four lines below them.

Let’s go Cards.