No. 12 seed Liberty (28-6, 13-5 CUSA) currently trails No. 5 seed Oregon (24-9, 12-8 Big Ten) at halftime, 44-20, in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena.

In the first ever meeting between the two programs, Oregon came out on fire, hitting their first three shots to take an early 8-2 advantage. It would extend to 13-2 by the first media timeout as Liberty opened 1 of 6 from the floor and the Ducks were 5 of 7. The onslaught would continue as Oregon went on a 13-0 run and Liberty was held without any points for over 5 minutes, missing five straight field goals. The lead grew to 18-2 Oregon, the largest deficit Liberty has faced all season.

Liberty started attacking the bucket as Oregon was overplaying the Flames on the three point line, getting Zach Cleveland in the pick and roll. He scored two at the cup and got to the line for two free throws as the Flames started to find something on the offensive end, trailing 22-8 at the under 12 media timeout. The Flames struggled offensively throughout the first half, shooting just 25% from the field and 2 of 15 from three. Liberty, one of the more efficient shooting teams in the country entering the Big Dance, won’t be able to beat a team the caliber of Oregon with those numbers.

Jackson Shelstad has 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field and 3 of 4 from three.

This is Liberty’s first trip back to the NCAA Tournament since 2021 when the Flames were a No. 13 seed and fell to No. 4 seed Oklahoma State in the first round.

Liberty is in search of its second ever win in the NCAA Tournament, picking up its first and only win to this point back in 2019, the only other time the Flames were a No. 12 seed in this event. That year, Liberty defeated the No. 5 seed Mississippi State, 80-76, behind 30 points from Caleb Homesley.

This is the first ever meeting for the Flames against a Big Ten foe in the NCAA Tournament. Liberty is 0-7 all-time against the Big Ten. The last time facing a Big Ten foe was in the 2023 NIT second round a 75-71 setback at Wisconsin. Prior to that, Liberty faced Northwestern at the 2022 Cancun Challenge, a 66-52 loss.

The Liberty-Oregon winner will advance to take on Arizona in Sunday’s second round.