It wasn’t duck hunting season on Thursday.
The 11th-seeded Oregon Ducks upset the No. 6 seed South Carolina Gamecocks in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with an 87-73 win that came on the back of a 40-point performance by guard Jermaine Couisnard.
The victory was the second upset on the tournament’s opening round after Duquesne toppled BYU earlier in the day.
The Ducks’ win set them up for a date with No. 3 Creighton on Saturday.
Despite having only one player available who had been in the NCAA Tournament, the Pac-12 champion Ducks handled the Gamecocks like a battle-tested group after falling behind in the first half, rallying back and taking a 34-29 lead into halftime, which they never relinquished.
Couisnard’s monster effort saw the most points by a Duck in the NCAA Tournament in program history and he finished the afternoon with six assists and four rebounds on 14 of 22 shooting and 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
The impact by Couisnard was even more notable considering he had played for South Carolina in the past and transferred to Oregon after the 2021-22 season.
“My teammates man, I wouldn’t be here without them guys,” Couisnard said about his performance. “For the last month, the last week these guys put the ball in my hands to make plays and I feel like the coaches were willing to keep making plays for me man. I wouldn’t be nothing without those guys in that locker room.”
This is Oregon’s first trip to the tournament since 2021 when it advanced to the Sweet 16 and lost to USC, 82-68.
Oregon hasn’t made it past the Sweet 16 since 2017, and getting closer to doing that starts with beating Creighton on Saturday, which Couisnard felt confident they could do.
“Just compete, man,” he said. “I feel like we gotta play defense and defend every game. Once we defend, like tonight, I feel like we give ourselves a chance.”