Wisconsin vs. Oregon: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2015

The top-seeded Wisconsin Badgers withstood a furious effort from No. 8 seed Oregon in Sunday's 2015 NCAA tournament affair, toppling the Ducks 72-65 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons.

While held in check for much of the contest, Badgers center Frank Kaminsky peaked late with 16 points and seven rebounds. Wisconsin's Sam Dekker added a team-high 17 points, including a personal 5-0 run with the game tied that helped put the game away late.

Like last season, when the Ducks held a 12-point second-half lead over Wisconsin in the round of 32 before collapsing late, Oregon gave the Badgers all they could handle in the early exchanges. But after evening the score at 52-52 with five minutes left, Wisconsin went on a 18-10 run to shut the door on Oregon's season.

Ducks star guard Joseph Young exploded for 30 points on 12-of-25 shooting, but the rest of his teammates couldn't follow suit and mount the upset, as ESPN's Jeff Goodman quipped:

It was far from a dominating performance by Wisconsin, but one that folks should be used to by now, as CBS Sports' Seth Davis pointed out:

Wisconsin's win means it advances to Los Angeles to face fourth-seeded North Carolina in the Sweet 16. It also guarantees a loaded quartet of teams in L.A., as CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein noted:

As for taking care of business in the round of 32, nobody should be surprised that Wisconsin did it again. ESPN Stats & Info noted just how dominant the Badgers have been in the NCAA tourney third round:

Approaching Sunday's game, the Badgers knew they would have to slow Young down to beat Oregon. He exploded for 29 points when these two met last March, and came in averaging 20.4 per game. 

“Obviously, Joseph Young is an incredible scorer," Badgers guard Josh Gasser told Wisconsin State Journal's Jim Polzin. "You’re not going to shut him down, he’s going to get his. But just try to make it tough on him, try to make it an inefficient game.”

Wisconsin proved able to do just that early. Young missed his first five shots, allowing the Badgers to pull out to a 20-9 lead in the opening 10 minutes.

But as Young began to hit, the Ducks started to march back into the game. The Badgers missed five out of six shots to close the half, and Oregon cut the deficit to just 31-28 at halftime. Polzin noted Young's hot-and-cold half:

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Not that his team didn't need him to take over, but every made and missed shot of Young's left Oregon's season in the balance, as The Oregonian's Andrew Nemec noted:

Young's eye-popping first half did nothing to overshadow an invisible early performance from Wisconsin's Kaminsky, who scored five of the Badgers' first 10 points before only adding two for the rest of the opening half. 

It took a big first half in the frontcourt from Nigel Hayes to keep Wisconsin in front, as WTMJ.com's Doug Russell noticed:

As if the first half—and that game last March—didn't prove Wisconsin was in for a dog fight, the Ducks made that apparent early on in the second period. The Badgers missed eight of their first 10 three-point attempts in the second half, while Young's emergence opened up space for his fellow Ducks.

Oregon went on an 11-4 run to knot it up at 52-52 with just over five minutes left, and what had felt like an inevitable Badgers win was suddenly up in the air. CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli noted how the Badgers couldn't find a way to put Oregon away for good:

Apparently, seeing the Ducks draw level was all Dekker needed to really get going.

After Bronson Koenig made a free throw to put Wisconsin up 53-52, Dekker exploded for a contested layup followed by a huge three-pointer to extend the Badgers' lead to six at the four-minute media timeout. Those were the biggest points of the game, as Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde observed:

"

I keep waiting for Wisconsin to bury Oregon, and then I wait some more, but it’s just not happening.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) March 23, 2015"

A couple of heroic shots by Young allowed the Ducks to make something of the final few minutes, but the Badgers made their final six free throws to seal the deal.

Wisconsin was far from perfect on Sunday—in fact, Oregon (44.1 percent) shot at a better clip than the Badgers (43.1 percent) and also won the paint battle. But the Badgers' defensive grit became too much for the Ducks to overcome, as it has been for almost every team Wisconsin has played over the last two seasons.

The Badgers will go on to face a similar offensive dynamo—albeit a more well-oiled one—in No. 4 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16, but they proved Sunday that they can play such a team and still assert their strengths. The Tar Heels will be hard-pressed to score 87 points against Wisconsin like they did on Arkansas in the third round.

Wisconsin still has to potentially deal with trendy Final Four and championship pick in No. 2 seed Arizona in the Elite Eight; the Badgers look to be on a collision course with the Wildcats after Sunday's outing.