Oregon soars past Iowa 95-80 into Sweet 16

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Chris Duarte scored 23 points and Oregon showed no signs of rust in beating No. 2 seed Iowa 95-80 to reach the Sweet 16.

The seventh-seed Ducks were put in an unprecedented spot by advancing to the West Region’s second round without playing a game. Virginia Commonwealth’s multiple positive COVID-19 tests took care of that and left the Ducks with a nine-day gap since losing in the Pac-12 Tournament title game.

Oregon’s offense hummed like it was fresh off the line once the ball went up. It kicked off the NCAA Tournament’s first Monday of second-round games with a masterpiece.

Iowa’s Luka Garza scored 36 points and gathered in 9 rebounds. Joe Wieskamp added 17, while the three remaining starters for the Hawkeyes were scoreless.

Iowa finishes the season 22-9.

Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.