On Saturday afternoon, the Oregon men’s basketball team violently shoved Southern California out of the passenger’s seat.
The Ducks are driving the conference bus solo.
In a game that had the atmosphere of a championship contest, Oregon beat USC 73-69 in front of 9,087 rowdy fans at McArthur Court. With the win, the Ducks moved into the conference lead and knocked the Trojans into second place.
“I don’t know how much better it can get for Oregon right now,” Ducks head coach Ernie Kent said after the game.
On the court, Oregon survived its first close home game of the season to fend off USC. The game wasn’t decided until the final seconds; when the Trojans failed to hit their shots, the Ducks made their huge buckets and rode the tide of Mac Court emotion to the win.
With 38 seconds left and Oregon down by one point, Duck forward Luke Jackson drove the lane, hit a floating jump shot and was fouled by Sam Clancy. Jackson’s free throw made the score 71-69.
On the Trojans’ next possession, the Ducks’ defense and a rocking crowd forced USC to wait for an open shot. Finally, Trojan forward David Bluthenthal found himself alone at the top of the key with five seconds left in the game and two seconds on the shot clock.
“He’s such a good shooter that you couldn’t tell when it left his hand if it was off or not,” Kent said.
Bluthenthal’s shot bounced off the rim, the Ducks collected the rebound, and James Davis hit two free throws with one second left in the game to seal the Oregon win.

Bluthenthal, who averages 11.3 points per contest, struggled all game and ended with just four points. Clancy led the Trojans with 25 points, but never touched the ball in the final 50 seconds.
“I wasn’t disappointed,” Clancy said about not getting the ball in the clutch. “I had faith in my teammates to hit the big shot.”
Clancy seemed to be one of the few USC players who was unfazed by the Mac Court Pit Crew. He hit two jump shots in the final three minutes that temporarily silenced the crazy crowd.
Many Oregon players gave the fans partial credit for the win.
“The atmosphere tonight was crazy,” Ducks guard Luke Ridnour said. “That’s what we all came to Oregon for — to play in an environment like that.”
Those fans saw a hard-fought game. There were six lead changes in the second half, 13 in the entire game. Neither team held a lead of more than six points, a lead that the Trojans held twice and the Ducks never held.

USC had one of those six-point leads with 5:54 left in the contest, but Freddie Jones hit a three-pointer to pull the score to 63-60.
“We knew it was going to come down to us hitting shots down the stretch,” Ridnour said.
Ridnour led Oregon with 15 points and hit two threes late in the contest. Jones added 14 points for the Ducks, who also got 13 from Jackson, nine from Chris Christoffersen and nine from Robert Johnson.
With the win, the Ducks are in sole possession of first place in the conference with seven games left. USC and Arizona are tied for second, while UCLA is in fourth.
Oregon travels to Stanford and California, both 6-4 in the Pac-10, next weekend.