The Oregon men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 94-48 win over Utah in front of 10,444 Saturday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks (22-8, 13-5 Pac-12) claimed their fourth straight victory in dominant fashion. Using a 34-2 run to open the game, Oregon was never seriously threatened as they held the Utes to just one field goal through the first 13 minutes of play.
Utah (6-24, 3-15) dropped its 10^th game in 11 tries to end the regular season.
“It was a good game for us,” Oregon 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.
Joseph was quick to point to Oregon’s defensive effort, which turned 14 Utah turnovers into 23 points.
“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 on senior night.
“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.
With the win, the Ducks secured their third-place finish in the inaugural Pac-12 season. Most importantly, Oregon will have a bye in the first round of the conference tournament that begins in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The team will face the winner of the first round matchup between Colorado and Utah.
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.
“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 wanna make that run to get to the postseason, that takes over everything.”