Little went wrong as the Oregon men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 94-48 win over Utah in front of 10,444 fans Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=235&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205391292@@ @@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/MBasketball/2011-12-stats/HTML/ORE.HTM@@
The Ducks (22-8, 13-5 Pac-12) claimed their fourth-straight victory in dominant fashion to earn the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament that begins at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. @@http://pac-12.org/SPORTS/BasketballM/Standings.aspx@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=235&SPSID=4294@@
Using a 34-2 run to open the game, Oregon eventually built a 52-14 halftime lead and was never seriously threatened as it held the Utes to just one field goal through the first 13 minutes of play.
Utah (6-24, 3-15) dropped its 10th game in 11 tries to end the regular season and will match up with Colorado in the first round of the conference tournament. @@http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/utah-m-baskbl-sched.html@@
“It was a good game for us,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We played well offensively, and I thought our activity defensively was pretty good. We couldn’t have shot it much better that first half.”

The Utes missed 17 of their 22 field goal attempts in the opening half, while Oregon poured in a 65.6 percent shooting clip and went 10-for-15 from behind the three-point line. Senior guard Devoe Joseph, who scored 24 points against Colorado on Thursday night, went 6-for-6 from the field to score 14 of his team-high 21 points in the first half. @@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/829816.pdf?ATCLID=205391292&SPSID=4297&SPID=235&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=235&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205390083@@
Joseph was quick to point to Oregon’s pestering defensive effort, which turned 14 Utah turnovers into 23 points for the Ducks.
“The defense was just amazing,” Joseph said. “We rebounded the ball well and got out and ended up getting good looks in transition for open threes and layups and dunks.”
Junior Carlos Emory also scored in double figures in the first half, going 4-for-4 from the field for 10 points in just seven minutes. He finished with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds.
E.J. Singler (12 points, 10 rebounds), Garrett Sim (13 points) and Olu Ashaolu (12 points, eight rebounds) also reached double-digit scoring. Ashaolu provided yet another highlight-reel slam dunk when he jumped over Utah’s Javon Dawson midway through the second half and emphatically finished with one hand. The play eventually made its way to SportsCenter’s coveted Top 10 on Sunday night. @@http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/utah-m-baskbl-mtt.html@@
“We were just making plays for each other and playing unselfishly,” Sim said. “It seemed like they were always leaving someone open, and we would find that guy.”
Utah center Jason Washburn led all scorers with 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and two blocks. No other Utah player scored more than five points in the loss.
Seniors Sim, Joseph, Ashaolu, Tyrone Nared and Jeremy Jacob were honored after the game as a part of Senior Night. Each player was pulled out of the game to a standing ovation and the majority of fans stuck around to hear a few words from each of the five after the game.
Few were more heartfelt than Sim’s farewell, as he thanked the fans, his teammates and gave an emotional thank you to his family as the day drew to a close.
In the postgame press conference, both Sim and Joseph reiterated there’s still a lot of season left to be played.
“It’s been a great season,” Sim said. “And I think the main thing is that the guys that we have, we like playing with each other, and we like each other on and off the court. That translates into wins.”
Joseph and junior Tony Woods are the only Oregon players with NCAA Tournament experience, and Joseph believes this Oregon team has the right pieces to continue its strong play well into March. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4295&SPID=235&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205185549&Q_SEASON=2011@@ @@http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/m-baskbl-sched-08-09.html@@
“We definitely have the talent to do it and the motivation,” Joseph said. “That’s the main thing. When you have that motivation and that desire and you want really want to make that run to get to the postseason, that takes over everything.”