Arizona proved it is the best team in the Pac-12.
The Wildcats dominated Oregon 80-52 in the Pac-12 Championship on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in front of a deafening clad-red crowd.
Right off the bat, it was clear that it was going to be Arizona’s night. The Wildcats won the tipoff, then collected back-to-back offensive rebounds to score the first basket of the game.
Dillon Brooks and Joseph Young responded with five points a piece in a 10-2 run, but that would be the final time Oregon enjoyed any success.
Arizona turned around, got its defense set and went on a 28-7 run that buried the Ducks for good.
“We didn’t maintain,” Young said. “We weren’t stable on the defensive end and we weren’t rebounding.”
At halftime, Arizona had 25 rebounds – eight of which came on the offensive end – and a 48 percent clip from the field. Oregon had 13 rebounds and a 28 percent shooting mark.
Arizona finished the game out-rebounding Oregon 37-20.
“We all needed to battle on the boards,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “As I look at the stats, none of our guys mixed it up on the boards.”
The Pac-12 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, Brandon Ashley, led all scorers with 20 points on 6-8 shooting. In addition, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Stanley Johnson, seemed to score from everywhere on the floor and finished with 14 points.
On the other side, Joseph Young went 2-10 from the field in the first half, but finished with 19 points after making four consecutive baskets in the second.
Outside of Young, Brooks was the only other Duck that could find room against Arizona’s defense. The freshman finished with 13 points on 3-5 shooting, but was mostly uninvolved during the second half.
The last time the Ducks got beat down by Arizona, they responded with an 11-1 run that catapulted them into the NCAA Tournament discussion.
After validating themselves as a legitimate contender in the Pac-12, the Ducks were reminded tonight just how far behind their program really is.
Follow Josh Schlichter on Twitter @joshschlichter