Every March, before the start of the NCAA Tournament, you hear the same question posed over and over again, “Is this the year a 16 knocks off a 1?”. Well this year it came true, in the hostile environment that was the quarter full Cox Pavilion on a Thursday night.
Despite 31 points, six rebounds and three assists from Fred VanVleet, the Raps were unable to overcome a well balanced showing from the Blazers squad, who shot just under 49% as a team and played sound, composed basketball down the stretch under the lead of Caleb “Biggie” Swanigan, who finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 boards.