It all came down to two old rivals. Oregon and Washington are two schools that grimace at each other when they meet up, so meeting with the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Championship on the line only added to the drama at T-Mobile Arena.
Getting the automatic bid for Oregon would erase any doubt about getting to the NCAA Tournament. For Washington, getting the automatic bid helps with their seeding in The Big Dance.
The rivalry between these two schools is heated. The teams exchanged some trash talking during the first half of play, the teams exchanged some pushing and shoving, but nothing that escalated out of control.