What to know about Oregon, South Carolina’s first-round NCAA Tournament opponent

At long last, South Carolina is dancing again.

Since the Gamecocks made history advancing to the Final Four in 2017, they had not been back to the NCAA Tournament — until this year. Until coach Lamont Paris and Meechie Johnson and B.J. Mack helped lead the Gamecocks to a 26-7 record and a stress-free Selection Sunday.

The Gamecocks earned a 6-seed and will face off in the first round against 11-seed Oregon on Thursday in Pittsburgh. The winner of that will take on the victor of 3-seed Creighton and 14-seed Akron in the Round of 32.

But first let’s take a deeper look at South Carolina’s first-round opponent.

Oregon Ducks

Location: Eugene, Oregon

Enrollment: 23,834

Coach: Dana Altman (14th season at Oregon // 495-344 record)

Record: 23-11, 12-8 Pac-12

Last NCAA Tournament appearance: 2021 // Lost to Southern California in Sweet Sixteen

How they got here: The Ducks won the Pac-12 Tournament, defeating top-seeded Arizona in the semifinals and Colorado in the final.

Three players to watch for:

— Center N’Faly Dante // The rare fifth-year senior who never transferred, the 6-foot-11, 210-pound center is the Ducks’ leading scorer (16.2 ppg), leading rebounder (8.8 reg) and Oregon’s leader in steals (1.7 per game) and blocks (1.9)

— Guard Jermaine Couisnard // The former South Carolina Gamecock, who transferred to Oregon when coach Frank Martin was fired, is having the best season of his career. The Indiana native is averaging 15 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game and scored 44 points in the Pac-12 Tournament.

— Guard Jackson Shelstad // The five-star freshman from West Linn, Oregon, has needed no time to get acclimated to the college game. Despite just a 6-foot, 170-pound frame, Shelstad is averaging over 13 points and nearly three points a game.

Three storylines:

1. Couisnard playing against his former team.

— He left South Carolina just days after Paris was hired at South Carolina, so there shouldn’t be any bad blood between Couisnard and his former team. Heck, only two current Gamecocks — Jacobi Wright and Josh Gray — played with him in Columbia. After choosing Oregon over Gonzaga, Houston, Ohio State and others, Couisnard has played well at Oregon.

2. This won’t be Altman’s last stand

— Some people thought Altman would retire after this season. ESPN reported in February that the buzz about Altman’s possible retirement at the end of the season was “getting louder” around Eugene. The longtime Ducks coach had to shut down those rumors two weeks ago, making it known that he wasn’t leaving just yet. “I’m not going anywhere unless this school tells me to,” he told reporters. “I’m not retiring, that’s for sure.”

3. Memories of the 2017 Final Four

— If you asked South Carolina and Oregon fans their favorite season of the past 80 years, they’d give you the same answer: 2017. Defying all odds seven years ago, the Gamecocks and Ducks made miraculous runs through the bracket and earned spots in the Final Four. There was a chance they could have matched up for the national championship, but USC fell to Gonzaga and Oregon was edged out by eventual champion North Carolina.