It was a matchup of who would tire out first.
Washington applied the full-court press for most of the game and both teams are known for their high-powered run-and-gun type of offense.
The Husky defense forced Oregon into 21 turnovers, but in the end Oregon prevailed for an 84-74 victory in front of 9,087 at McArthur Court.
It was Oregon’s first game at McArthur Court in 29 days, the longest streak in seven years. It was good to be back home.
“I think some guys and even myself felt a little bit of nerve not having played here in so long,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “And that crowd comes back so it took them a little bit of time to settle down and get into the rhythm.”
Oregon (7-4 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) found its rhythm again in many areas. The Ducks played unselfish basketball and earned 19 assists on 26 baskets.
Oregon crashed the boards and outrebounded the Huskies 33 to 23. It was the Ducks’ second-largest rebounding margin of the season and best in a Pacific-10 Conference game.
Washington (5-8, 0-5) gave Oregon trouble from the beginning with the full-court defense.
“They play high-pressure defense and got up the lanes and made us run our offense a little further out,” forward Ian Crosswhite said. “It took us a while to get used to their offense and how to stop it.”
The Ducks jumped out to an early 10-8 lead before the Huskies’ defense began to cause Oregon problems. After a timeout, Washington had three straight steals and earned four straight baskets.
Then Oregon began to do what Oregon does best.
And senior guard James Davis began to do what James Davis does best — make three-point field goals.
Oregon’s next five possessions were all scores from beyond the three-point line. Davis got hot and hit three straight, senior guard Andre Joseph drained one and then Davis hit again.
It became a three-point shootout as the Huskies were able to keep it close and answer with threes of their own. At the 7:50 mark in the first half, Oregon led by one, 27-26.
“We give the Ducks a lot of credit,” Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Their ability to hit the three-point shot just continued to put the pressure on us.”
Oregon ran the point guard spot with different variations. Nearly every Oregon player brought the ball up at one point. The Ducks are continuing to learn how to deal without having freshman Aaron Brooks on the shelf with an injury and how to run different forms of the offense.
“The encouraging thing was we were able to get back on our game at times tonight and look pretty smooth and do some things,” Kent said. “I’m happy that we got here and got the win.”
Washington got itself in foul trouble late in the first half, allowing Oregon to capitalize. Crosswhite became automatic, going 8 for 8 from the free-throw line in the first half. As a team, Oregon was 23 for 32 from the foul line.
By the second half, Oregon had learned how to manage the Husky offense and defense. Both teams stayed evenly matched until the halfway mark of the second half.
Coming out of a timeout, senior Luke Jackson made one of two free-throws and on the next possession, converted a three-point play off a foul. Jackson’s three-point play gave Oregon a 64-56 lead.
“Tonight when we went on our runs we made stops, we got blockouts and we created turnovers,” Jackson said. “That was a big difference in the game.”

Jackson led all scorers with 24 points, which moves him into seventh all-time at Oregon with 1,566, passing Blair Rasmussen. Jackson also had seven assists, which ties a season-high.
Oregon went on a 14-2 run and never looked back. Oregon’s largest lead was 17 with less than four minutes left in the game.
The Ducks shot 52 percent from the field on the night and were 45 percent from the three-point line. Davis had 19 points, Crosswhite had 14 and Joseph contributed with 11.
Sophomore guard Brandon Roy led Washington with 18 points and sophomore Nate Robinson came off the bench to score 16. Washington was 47 percent from the field.
Oregon plays host to Washington State at 5:15 p.m. at McArthur Court Saturday. It will be a much different style of play as the Cougars like to execute a strong half-court offense and wear their opponents down.