Through all the bustle and all the commotion, it’s hard to remember Thursday’s game was a Pacific-10 Conference regular season contest.
But it was, and a game the Ducks desperately needed to win to remain alive in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament.
Fourteenth-ranked Arizona came with guns ablazin’ and defeated Oregon, 100-87, in front of a sold-out 9,087 at McArthur Court.
“You have to give Arizona credit,” Oregon forward Luke Jackson said. “They are a dangerous offensive team. Every guy has a weapon.”
Those weapons gave the Ducks fits. Salim Stoudamire finished with a career-high 37 points and Hassan Adams had 26. Combined, the duo made seven three-pointers and connected on 19 of 30 shots attempted from the floor.
That overshadowed an incredible offensive night from Jackson, who posted 27 points in the second half for a career-high 42. He had 10 rebounds to go with the 42 and was 6 of 9 from beyond the three-point line.
“I did not want to lose this game without the ball in my hands,” he said. “I only have so many games left here. I want the ball in my hands in situations like that.”
The emotion of the game got to the coaches and benches of both teams. Oregon head coach Ernie Kent was slapped with a technical in the first half, and Arizona head coach Lute Olson was charged with one midway through the second.
That’s when things began to boil over. Olson had been arguing a foul call on Adams and was charged in the technical. In a mini melee, Olson began moving to the center of the court and even got close to Kent.
Jackson, who had been fouled on the play, sank all four free throws awarded to him.
After the game, both Kent and Olson made a point to downplay the incident.

It was “nothing,” Olson said. “I was saying something to the official over there. I didn’t have words with coach Kent, I had words with the referee. I was a little bit irritated by that call.”
“The bottom line is, the officiating had very little to do with the outcome of that ball game,” Kent said. “I felt I had to do that to protect my team.
“Officials have a tough job. You can’t blame anything on them.”
When it was all said and done, a huge finger could be pointed at Oregon’s start to the game. The Ducks (12-8 overall, 7-6 Pac-10) allowed Arizona to jump out to a 6-0 lead before Jackson made a three-pointer three minutes into the game.
Before Oregon knew it, Arizona (16-7, 9-5) had jumped out to a 17-5 lead with 13:44 left to play in the first half.
“I thought the difference in the ball game was our start,” Kent said. “We were never able to get that momentum back.”
The Ducks tried, getting to within 10, 38-28, with less than five minutes left to play. But Stoudamire, who scored 20 in the first frame, took over the final part of the half along with Andre Iguodala and Adams.
The trio combined to score 14 of Arizona’s last 16 points of the half as the Wildcats took a 54-38 lead into the break.
“Stoudamire was explosive, like he has been his last three or four games,” Kent said. “Adams plays like he’s 6-foot-10 because of his athleticism. And he really took advantage of that, giving us trouble going baseline and using that ability.”
Jackson was his usual consistent self, buoying the Ducks offensively. At one point during the second half, he scored 12 points in a row, pulling the Ducks to within seven.
He took 21 shots, connecting on 14, and scored the most points at McArthur Court by an Oregon player in the arena’s history.

“There is no question that Luke Jackson is the best player in this league because he plays on both ends with great intensity,” Olson said. “I have great respect for him, he’s a very special player and person. You never see him lose it on the court.”
Oregon received some momentum midway through the second half by the return of freshman point guard Aaron Brooks to the floor. He had been cleared shortly before the game, but said he really wasn’t expecting to play.
Well, he didn’t really even know what to expect.
“I felt good,” Brooks said. “(Kent) said to be ready just in case. He put me in and I was excited. I just wanted to get out there and distribute the ball. I was not tentative at all.”
Brooks played 12 minutes and scored one point — a free throw. He had three assists in the loss.
For the record, the Ducks gave up more than 76 points for the eighth time this season. And for the eighth time this season, Oregon fell in the loss column.
The eighth one hurts a lot.