CORVALLIS — The Oregon Ducks are Pac-12 champions, again.
“I’m extremely happy for our players and the work they put in,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “To be able to win it back-to-back. … I think the guys will really realize the significance of it when they bring their kids back to Oregon one day.”
Junior guard Casey Benson added: “It’s extremely special to do it two years in a row. It’s what we play for. … To win championships — it’s a lot of work we put in during the offseason coming to fruition.”
Thanks to the efforts of Dillon Brooks, Benson and Jordan Bell, Oregon surged in the second half to leave Gill Coliseum with an 80-59 victory — and the Pac-12 title shared with Arizona.
“In the second half, we got it going,” Altman said. “I think we hit 11 of our first 12 shots and kind of popped the game open.”
While most stories might end there, the Ducks are hoping Saturday is just the beginning. After winning last year’s Pac-12 regular season and tournament championships, Oregon saw its season end in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Now the Ducks look forward to next week’s Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
“We are going to take the same approach we always do — swing away and see what happens,” Altman said. “The guys have handled the pressure well all year after being picked to win the league.”
Bell said Saturday’s title was just the first piece of the postseason puzzle.
“We’ve reached one of our goals — which was to win league,” Bell said. “Our next goal is to win the Pac-12 Tournament. And then we will try to go as far as possible in the NCAA Tournament.”
Just a week ago, the Ducks looked unstable on the court. They needed last-minute buckets at Cal and Stanford to keep pace with Arizona. But the Ducks engineered a complete second half, which might be a good omen of things to come.
With Brooks — a national player of the year candidate — leading the way, the Ducks have a variety of ways to win a game. Oregon is the only team in the conference to be ranked in the top-three of offensive and defensive scoring — and second in scoring margin.
“They’re a good team so they’ve got a pretty good chance to make a run,” Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle said. “They defend well. They’ve got shot blockers.
“They’ve got weapons offensively so they should have a good shot.”
In Las Vegas, the Ducks will also play to earn a seed in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.
The Ducks are battling No. 3 UCLA, No 4 Gonzaga and No. 7 Arizona. Should they land in the West Region, the Ducks’ road to the Final Four becomes easier.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka