There would be no buzzer-beaters or last-minute collapses for Oregon this time. 

When the Ducks (16-7, 9-3 Pac-12) last met Stanford (14-10, 7-7 Pac-12) in California on Dec. 12, a Jaden DeLaire 3-point buzzer-beater dropped them to 5-5. Oregon has since rattled off 11 wins in its last 13 games — the 11th coming in a 68-60 win against the Cardinal in Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday. 

On a night when the Ducks’ leading scorer Will Richardson (15.3) was held to 12 points on 3-of-14 from the field, his backcourt mate De’Vion Harmon picked up the slack with a season-high 21 points. 

“I can put the ball in the cup,” Harmon said. “Tonight was my night, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s nothing new to me.”

Dante, whose last double-digit scoring night came six games ago in Oregon’s Jan. 15 win at USC, found success against the Stanford frontline. The center added 12 points and seven rebounds.

“I thought N’Faly gave us a big lift tonight and was much more active,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said.

Harmon, Dante and Jacob Young scored 27 of the Ducks’ first 29 points and Oregon carried a 32-24 lead into halftime. 

Featuring four players over 6-foot-7, the Cardinal starting lineup gave Oregon’s three-guard lineup issues on the glass. It was the Ducks’ frenetic and steadily improving defense — which forced 13 turnovers in the half alone — that buoyed them. 

The Ducks took their largest lead of the night, 40-26, with 16:37 to go in the second half. A four-minute scoring drought from the Ducks ensued. Stanford responded with a 10-1 run over the game’s next six minutes. 

After starting the second half a measly 4-of-18 from the field, the Ducks ended the half 12-of-31 in large part due to Richardson’s 12 second-half points. Richardson dished out six assists without a turnover.   

“I thought [Richardson] did a good job of staying with it,” Altman said. “Didn’t score in the first half, struggled early in the second half, but when you’ve got that much experience, you just gotta keep playing… Although he didn’t shoot the ball well, he did a lot of other things.” 

A midrange fadeaway from Harmon extended Oregon’s lead to 9 with just under 3 minutes to go and nearly extinguished Stanford’s hopes of a comeback. A pair of late 3’s gave the Cardinal a chance, but it was short lived.

“We messed up a couple of switches which gave them a few 3’s, but I thought we did a good job [defensively],” Altman said. 

The Ducks closed out the game from the free throw line, a place where they’ve so often struggled this season. They went 13-of-15 from the line Thursday.

“It doesn’t matter who is having the best night, it doesn’t matter who is having an off-night,” Harmon said. “As long as we’re winning, that’s all that matters.”

With March quickly approaching, Oregon still has work to do to position itself for the postseason. The Ducks now face a string of four games in the next nine days. Game one of that stretch, a matinee matchup with Cal, tips off at 1 p.m. PST Saturday in Matthew Knight Arena.