Jermaine Couisnard torches former team to send Oregon to round of 32
Oregon guard Jermaine Couisnard waited five seasons to make his NCAA Tournament debut. On Thursday, he made up for lost time with a game for the Oregon record books against his former team, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Couisnard scored a season-high 40 points in Oregon's 87-73 win, which sent the Ducks to the Round of 32. They'll play Creighton on Saturday.
His 40 points are the most by an Oregon player in NCAA Tournament history.
Per ESPN, Couisnard is the first player since Stephen Curry (2008 Davidson) to score 40 points for a team seeded 10th or lower in the NCAA Tournament.
Oregon shot a blistering 59.6% from the field. Couisnard was 14-of-22 from the court, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. Center N'Faly Dante added 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Oregon has now won five in a row. On Sunday, it clinched the Pac-12's automatic qualifying berth by winning the conference championship game over Colorado, 75-68.
Couisnard scored 39 points earlier this month in a 79-75 regular season loss to the Buffaloes but had struggled entering the Round of 64.
In the Pac-12 Tournament, he averaged 14.7 points on 18.3 field goal attempts per game and shot 29.1% from the field.
He leads the Ducks in scoring (15.4 points per game) in his second year at the university. Last season, Oregon went 21-15 and missed the NCAA Tournament.
Couisnard redshirted at South Carolina during the 2018-19 seasons and played for the Gamecocks from 2019-20 through 2021-22.
South Carolina never made the tournament with Couisnard, who entered the transfer portal following former head coach Frank Martin's firing in March 2022.
Couisnard looked like he had been on this stage before based on his performance against his former team. Because of his record-setting day, he gets to do it at least one more time.
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