SEATTLE (AP) — Nate Bittle scored a career-high 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Oregon hit 6 of 10 from the line in overtime to get past Washington 80-73 on Sunday in a regular-season finale.
The Ducks (23-8, 12-8 Big Ten) closed out the regular season with seven straight wins and completed a season-sweep of the rival Huskies (13-18, 4-16). Oregon advances to the second round as the No. 8 seed and faces ninth-seeded Indiana in the conference tournament on Thursday. Washington joins Penn State and Nebraska in falling short of reaching the 15-team tournament.
A finalist for the Kareem-Abdul Jabbar Award given to the nation’s best center, Bittle scored 21 points in the first half and his 3-pointer a minute into the second gave him 26 to set a career high. He was 13 of 20 from the floor and knocked down 3 of 4 3-pointers while converting 7 of 8 at the line. He led Oregon with 12 rebounds.
Great Osobor hit the second of two free throws in the final minute of regulation to tie it at 68 and force overtime. The Huskies did not score again until Osobor hit the first of two from the line with two minutes left to play in overtime, making it 75-71. Mekhi Mason’s layup with 31 seconds left was Washington’s only field goal in the extra period.
