Pac-12 Tournament Championship: Ducks Steamroll Utes for Fourth Tournament Win

After being thoroughly picked apart in last year’s Pac-12 Tournament Championship game, the Oregon Ducks returned the favor, steamrolling the Utah Utes to claim their fourth tournament victory.

After long days on Friday for both of the top-seeded teams in the Pac-12 Tournament, they were back at it again on Saturday looking to claim the Pac-12 Tournament Championship. The number-one seeded Oregon Ducks blew a four-point lead in the final second of regulation against the Arizona Wildcats, but were able to make amends in overtime and come away with a 95-89 win. Second-seeded Utah, whose game’s start was pushed back to 9:20 PT because of the overtime in the early game, also needed overtime to overcome the Cal Bears, and weren’t finished on the court until nearly midnight.

Both teams came out fast and furious, giving no indication that they each battled for 45 minutes the night before just to get to this point. They combined for 15 points in the first four minutes, with Oregon scoring eight to Utah’s seven. The pace slowed heavily after the torrid start, and the Ducks and Utes combined for just six points, four from Utah, in the proceeding five minutes.

Oregon’s defense kept the Utes at bay, and after the game was tied at 13 with 10:26 to play in the first, Utah went scoreless for over four and a half minutes – and without a field goal for over eight minutes – as the Ducks forged ahead by 11. The run stretched to 18-3, putting the Ducks up by 15 with over three minutes to play, and 17 with about 90 seconds to go. That’s how the first half would end, as Oregon took a 38-21 advantage into the locker room.

The Ducks wouldn’t let up after the break, starting the final half of the Pac-12 season on a 17-6 run to push the lead all the way up to 28. That advantage would reach 30 as the Ducks doubled up the Utes, 60-30, and didn’t stop growing. Oregon’s biggest lead of the game would be 36, which they hit for the first time around the four-minutes-to-go mark.

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When the final buzzer sounded, the Ducks’ Tournament Championship was sealed with an 88-57 win. Oregon’s 31 point-win in the Conference Tournament championship game marks the most lopsided defeat in the game’s history, surpassing last year’s 28-point win by Arizona.

Oregon forced 20 Utah turnovers, and turned it into 28 points. They also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, and turned those into 23 second-chance points. The Utes entered the day as the 10th-best team in the nation in field goal percentage at 49 percent, but were held to 43.2 percent shooting while the Ducks shot 51.6 percent.

Freshman Tyler Dorsey, a conference All-Freshman Team selection, led the way with 23 points while also grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Dillon Brooks contributed 18 points while adding three steals, and senior Chris Boucher scored 15, grabbed seven rebounds, and blockeed two shots.