THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2021 B3
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NCAA TOURNAMENT
Ducks prep for VCU star Hyland in 1st round
BY JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
INDIANAPOLIS —
Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland may
not be a household name to
those in the Pacific Northwest,
but if Oregon is going to ad-
vance in the NCAA Tourna-
ment it’ll likely depend on how
well it contains the VCU star.
The Atlantic 10 Player of the
Year, Hyland enters Saturday’s
first-round game averaging
19.5 points and 4.7 rebounds
for the No. 10 seed Rams (19-
7).
“He’s a great scorer and he
scores from different places on
the court,” Oregon coach Dana
Altman said. “He can get to
the rim, he can get to the free
throw line, he shoots 3s. He’ll
play with the ball out there and
pull one from deep. I think to
give our fans a little (compari-
Oregon State
Continued from B1
Tennessee could have used
the extra shooting help from its
fifth-year senior — or anyone,
really — as the Vols finished
5 for 26 from the arc while
shooting 33% overall.
The Vols caused Oregon
State some problems with their
press and hit a few shots down
the stretch to pull within 10,
but started the rally too late.
Now, a team ranked in the
top-10 earlier this season is
headed home early in a sur-
prise between two programs
that started the year on op-
posite ends of the projection
spectrum.
“That was the problem with
our team, if you look at our
team all year, it was the incon-
sistency, not really knowing
from game to game what we
were going to get,” Vols coach
Rick Barnes said.
“That’s the most disap-
pointing thing because to be
a championship-caliber team
you’ve got to be more consis-
tent.”
son), he’s Remy Martin but he’s
bigger.”
Oregon (20-6) may have the
perfect counter to Hyland’s
abilities though.
The 6-foot-3 guard com-
mitted a pair of offensive fouls
during the first half of the A-10
tournament final, when VCU
lost to St. Bonaventure, and he
sat for more than 13 minutes
before halftime. Hyland said
he has to be smarter in recog-
nizing how defenses are play-
ing him.
“Teams will try to throw
anything at me, whether it’s on
the defensive end or the offen-
sive end,” Hyland said. “Me be-
ing a smarter player honestly.
They did a great job. Just trying
to see what I think the defense
is going to throw at me. Just
being smarter about where I
pick and choose when to attack
and when to not.”
Taking charges in the paint
is a specialty of UO’s Eugene
Omoruyi, who has taken over
25 charges on the season.
“I’m always willing to
step up and take a charge,”
Omoruyi said. “Anything I can
do to help the guys get uplifted
and get the team going. I’m
willing to help my team win.”
Omoruyi (16.7 points, 5.2
rebounds) takes pride in his
willingness to take contact.
If he can draw a charge on
Hyland or Hason Ward, VCU’s
top shot blocker, it will have a
significant impact on how the
Rams play offensively.
“It’s going to be important
that we fight the dribble, stay
between them and the basket,”
Altman said. “But anytime that
you can take a charge it puts a
thought in their mind and that’s
Tennessee was picked to win
the SEC and looked like the fa-
vorites while winning its first
seven games. The Vols had an
uneven rest of the season, end-
ing with a loss to No. 6 Ala-
bama in the SEC Tournament
semifinals without Fulkerson.
Oregon State was picked to
finish last in the Pac-12 and ex-
ceeded expectations by finish-
ing sixth in the regular season.
The Beavers took it a step far-
ther by beating rival Oregon to
win their first conference title.
Oregon State rolled its un-
derdog role right into Bank-
ers Life Fieldhouse, throwing
the Vols into an offensive funk
while building a 19-point lead.
Tennessee had little flow to
its offense, its half-court sets
filled with lots of dribbling and
casting up 3-pointers — mak-
ing few.
The Vols shot 8 of 31 over-
all and 2 for 13 from 3 in the
first half, pulling within 33-19
on Keon Johnson’s off-balance
layup at the buzzer.
“I was really surprised, the
freshmen especially,” Barnes
said of Tennessee’s start. “The
NCAA Tournament is proba-
bly something they’ve grown
up watching. They were out of
character in terms of you could
tell they were skittish, no doubt
about it.”
Tennessee shot marginally
better in the second half, but
Oregon State went 7 for 13
from the arc to stifle the come-
back bid.
Johnson led the Vols with 14
points.
why Eugene has been import-
ant to us and valuable on the
defensive end because guys are
always looking where he is at. It
takes away some aggressiveness
going to the rim. If he picks up
an early charge it definitely will
put a thought in their head.”
It’s not as though teams hav-
en’t tried to neutralize Hyland
before. He’s been remarkably
effective and consistent in
the A-10, but Oregon pres-
ents a unique challenge in its
matchup zone, longer guards
and Omoruyi inside.
“You’re going to get two or
three guys or five guys to col-
lapse on you, you sit down and
make the right read,” VCU
coach Mike Rhoades said.
“(Hyland)’s been doing that
throughout the year. He’ll be
ready to go; I’m not worried
about him.”
Al Powers via Pac-12 file
Oregon’s Eugene Omoruyi (2) looks to drive around Arizona State’s
Kimani Lawrence (4) during the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Conference
tournament on March 11 in Las Vegas. Omoruyi leads the Ducks in tak-
ing charges, a tactic that might come in handy against VCU, Oregon’s
first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament.
Inequities
women’s tournament that ev-
ery game is being played on
neutral sites. In the past, cam-
puses would host the opening
rounds so teams would be
able to schedule weight-room
times in those on-campus
sites.
Gavitt said that the NCAA
will use this opportunity for
better collaboration of men’s
and women’s basketball.
“What we pull together in
months and years, we tried to
do in weeks and days,” he said.
“That’s meant some short-
comings. I apologize and feel
terrible about anything that
falls short of our lofty expec-
tations. Some of those short-
comings we’ve seen in India-
napolis as well.”
A discussion has already
started amongst the confer-
ence commissioners and the
NCAA on how to not have
this happen in the future.
“I hope it opens a broader
examination of how we invest,
support and make decisions
in the sport of basketball at
all levels within our system,”
America East Commissioner
Continued from B1
Oregon State senior Aleah
Goodman said it’s dishearten-
ing to see the inequity.
“It’s upsetting. But I know
the people in the background
are working really hard to
improve it, make it better,”
Goodman said Friday.
“We fell short this year in
what we have been doing to
prepare in the last 60 days for
64 teams to be in San Anto-
nio. We acknowledge that,”
said NCAA Senior Vice Pres-
ident of women’s basketball
Lynn Holzman, who is a for-
mer college basketball player.
“Last night we did have a call
with our coaches and team
administrators in a way to so-
licit feedback and their expe-
rience thus far.
Players raised questions
about the gift bags that they
received compared to the
ones that the men were given.
The NCAA told The AP that
the value of the bags was eq-
uitable.
This is the first time in the
Beavers sharing
Oregon State had a good
flow to its offense — at least
until Tennessee went to a full-
court press late — moving the
ball well to get open shots.
The Beavers shot 48%
against the athletic Vols and
had 20 assists on 27 field goals.
“We really have come to-
gether as a team and you saw it
on display,” Tinkle said.
Up next
Oregon State will play Okla-
homa State on Sunday.
Tennessee heads home early
from what was expected to be a
deep March run.
Amy Huchthausen said.
“There are complexities and
tensions to be sure, but mo-
ments like this should force
us to re-examine how we
got here. This isn’t just about
dumbbells or swag bags. This
is about our fundamental ex-
pectations for fairness and
equity and ensuring the out-
comes of our decisions can
meet those standards to de-
liver a quality experience for
our student-athletes.”
South Carolina coach
Dawn Staley said it’s unac-
ceptable for anything to fall
short for just the women.
“There’s a miscommunica-
tion at the highest level of the
NCAA. Either it’s miscommu-
nication, no communication
or just not downright caring
if people know what’s hap-
pening on our (women’s) side
of things,” Staley said. “And
that must stop. … The NCAA
owns March Madness in all
it’s luxury. Then it should feel
luxurious to every student
athlete, man or woman.”
e e
The Albany Democrat-Herald
contributed to this story.
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