Bittle leads Oregon to 68-54 victory over UCF in NIT

Mar 20, 2023, 01:44 am

EUGENE, Ore. -- — Sophomore Nate Bittle finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds and Oregon rolled to a 68-54 victory over UCF in the second round of the NIT on Sunday night.

Bittle sank 7 of 14 shots from the floor with a 3-pointer for the top-seeded Ducks (21-14), who advance to play No. 2 seed Wisconsin (19-14) in the quarterfinals. It was the second career double-double for Bittle. Quincy Guerrier contributed 14 points and six boards. Kel’el Ware pitched in with 11 points off the bench, while Rivaldo Soares scored 10.

C.J. Kelly led the Knights (19-15) with 13 points. Taylor Hendricks had nine points and nine rebounds.

Bittle had 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Oregon to a 33-24 lead at halftime. Kelly had nine points for the Knights, who shot just 29% from the floor in the first half (9 of 31). UCF hit just 4 of 17 shots from 3-point range before intermission (23.5%).

Oregon pushed its lead to 47-26 on a three-point play by Kel'el Ware with 15:48 remaining and cruised from there.

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