EUGENE, Ore. — Sophomore big man Nate Bittle finished with 21 points along with 13 rebounds as host Oregon rolled to a 68-54 victory over UCF (19-15) in the second round of the NIT on Sunday night.
Bittle sank 7 of 14 shots from the floor for the top-seeded Ducks (21-14), who advance to play No. 2 seed Wisconsin (19-14) in the quarterfinals. It was the second career double-double for Bittle. Quincy Guerrier contributed 14 points and 6 boards. Kel’el Ware pitched in with 11 points off the bench while Rivaldo Soares scored 10.
“Give them a lot of credit; their length definitely bothered us,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “When we were making shots, we were fine, but when we started missing it made it difficult as they were able to take advantage on the other end.”
C.J. Kelly led the Knights (19-15) with 13 points. Taylor Hendricks had 9 points and 9 rebounds.
The Knights got out to a 15-9 start through the first 10 minutes before the Ducks went on a 22-9 run for a 33-24 halftime edge.
Kelly had 9 first-half points for the Knights, who shot just 29% from the floor in the first half (9 of 31). UCF hit just 4 of 17 shots from 3-point range before intermission (23.5%).
“I thought we had some good looks that we just didn’t hit,” Dawkins said. “Then I feel like we started pressing and forced a few shots because we were trying to play catch-up. They feed off that. They get to run out on a bad shot and start their transition, so that hurt us some.”
The Ducks began the second half with a 16-10 run, putting them up 15. The Oregon lead swelled to as much as 51-30 with 12:11 to go.
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