#13 UC Irvine v. #12 Oregon

Who will WIN this matchup?

#13 UC Irvine Anteaters (31-5)

#12 Oregon Ducks (24-12)

Current odds:

UC Irvine Anteaters: (+200)

Oregon Ducks: (-240)

• The line for this game is Oregon by 5 points.

• Eight double-digit seeds have crashed the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32. And there will be at least one in the Sweet 16 as 13th-seeded UC Irvine takes on 12th-seeded Oregon on Sunday night in a second-round South Regional game in San Jose, Calif. The Big West Conference regular-season and tournament-champion Anteaters are riding high after beating Big 12 regular-season co-champion Kansas State, the region’s fourth seed, 70-64 in Friday’s opening round to notch the program’s first NCAA tourney victory. “I’m really happy for these players to be able to work so hard for something everybody can see and then accomplish it,” UC Irvine coach Russell Turner said following the first round’s biggest upset by seed. “I’m also really excited for the fans of our program who also … have endured feeling like little brothers. You know, we need to stick our chests out a little right now.”

• The Pac-12 Tournament-champion Ducks can do so as well after dominating the second half of their 72-54 first-round win over fifth-seeded Wisconsin, outscoring the Badgers 47-29 over the final 20 minutes to notch their ninth straight victory overall. “We were pleased with our play but not satisfied,” Oregon senior point guard Payton Pritchard said afterward. “And we’re still not satisfied. We’re not done yet.”

• The Anteaters trailed Kansas State 51-47 with 9:21 remaining Friday but scored the game’s next 12 points to take a lead they would never relinquish en route to their 17th straight win overall. Guards Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard, the team’s only players with double-digit averages on the season, scored 19 points apiece, including a combined seven 3-pointers, and totaled 10 rebounds in Friday’s win. Leonard hit all nine of his free-throw attempts and also had four of UC Irvine’s nine steals as the Anteaters forced the Wildcats into 13 turnovers and limited them to 37.3 percent shooting.

• The Ducks have allowed an average of only 54.2 points per outing during their current nine-game win streak and were right on point against the Badgers, holding them below 30 points in each half and limiting them to 33.3 percent shooting for the game. Forward Kenny Wooten, one of four Oregon starters 6-9 or taller, had four blocks against Wisconsin as the Ducks held leading scorer Ethan Happ to 12 points and forced him into five turnovers. On the offensive end, Pritchard scored a game-high 19 points and dished out eight assists while freshman forward Louis King added 17 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.

• Oregon has won six of the eight meetings with UC Irvine with the most recent a 78-63 home victory on Dec. 15, 2015.

• Leonard (41.2 percent) and Hazzard (39.7) are both potent from 3-point range and have combined to account for 148 of the Anteaters’ 238 made treys this season.

• The Oregon-UC Irvine winner will face the survivor of the game between top-seeded Virginia and ninth-seeded Oklahoma in Thursday’s regional semifinals in Louisville.