Yeah, Luke Jackson admitted, he was a little bit worried about the outcome of Oregon’s game against Southern California Thursday.
After a start to the game that saw the Trojans pull ahead by as much as 10, the Ducks looked flat, uninspired and on a straight shot to lose their fifth game in a row.
So much for that.
Oregon eventually caught its rhythm, tied the game and dominated the second half en route to a 75-70 victory over USC in front of a sold-out 9,087 at McArthur Court.
“It took us a little while to get in our rhythm” Jackson said. “We’re a tough team to beat when we have confidence at home.”
The win is a sigh of relief for the Ducks, whose four-game slide in the last two weeks gave the impression Oregon would miss the postseason all together.
That would have meant the NCAA, NIT and Pacific-10 Conference tournaments. Not any more. Oregon can now at least book its flight to Los Angeles next week. The win over USC (12-14 overall, 7-10 Pac-10) gave the team its eighth win of the season, enough to clinch a berth in the tournament.
The eighth win that has teased the Ducks during the team’s last four games, all losses.
“It definitely feels good,” Oregon guard James Davis said. “Me and ‘Dre (Andre Joseph) were talking in the locker room and (said), ‘Man, it feels good to win,’ and that isn’t a good feeling to have because since I’ve been here and ‘Dre has been here we’ve been on a successful basketball team. We’re definitely not used to consecutive losses like that.”
The laundry list of issues the Ducks faced during the four-game losing streak were pushed to the side when they faced the Trojans.
Davis found his shot again and Oregon (13-11, 8-9) learned it has to play some semblance of defense — especially down the stretch — to win games.

Davis, who came into the game having scored in double-digits just once in Oregon’s last seven games, started slow but warmed up as the game went on. He was 5 of 8 from beyond the three-point line, moving him into second place on Oregon’s career three-pointers list.
He now has 226 in four seasons with the Ducks.
“When you’ve got your coaches and teammates constantly telling you to keep shooting it, that gives you all the confidence in the world,” Davis said. “And tonight, it was a relief to finally hit some.”
While Davis warmed up from the outside, USC’s Desmon Farmer did not. The guard scored 16 points in the first half, but connected for nine in the second. He was 4 of 11 from the field in the second half and 1 for 5 from the three-point line.
“I tried to limit his touches as much as possible,” Joseph said. “You know he’ll shoot it about 99 percent of the time he gets it, so you’ve got to get up on him and hope he doesn’t get the ball. When he does get it, try to play the best defense you can.”
The Ducks learned against the Trojans that sharing the ball leads to points, balance and less turnovers. Oregon gave it away nine times while earning 18 assists.
Key fact: Those nine turnovers came a game after Oregon turned the ball over nine times against Stanford. That’s the first time the Ducks have had single-digit turnovers in two consecutive games under head coach Ernie Kent.
“A bigger thing you need to look at in the game is our ability to share the ball,” Kent said.
Jackson was the biggest beneficiary of Oregon’s spread-out offense. The forward scored just two points in the first half but scored 18 in the second on the strength of 6 off 11 shooting from the field. He also hit three three-pointers in the second half.
Those 20 points gave him 1,833 for his career, bumping him past Greg Ballard for third on Oregon’s all-time list.
“It’s kind of a special weekend, but at the same time, I know my days at Mac Court are over so I try to approach every game like its my last,” Jackson said.

Oregon controlled the second half, but the game’s fate wasn’t sealed until the final seconds ticked off the clock. The Ducks led by six, 71-65, with a little more than two minutes to play.
That’s before Jeff McMillan pulled the Trojans to within four after a put-back off a missed shot. Jackson countered with his final two points on a layup half a minute later.
USC scored its final points of the game when Derrick Craven hit a three-pointer with 49 seconds left.
So the win over the Trojans seals the Ducks’ destination next week. Oregon players said after the game that it’s a nice feeling, but not the most important thing right now. UCLA visits McArthur Court Saturday in the team’s final regular season game.
Win that and momentum, the Ducks said, will carry Oregon into the Pac-10 Tournament.
“It’s so important for a team to have confidence, especially going into the Pac-10 Tournament,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to go out on a bad note at Mac Court.”