The Ducks earned an important milestone victory on Sunday night, earning their 20th win of the season as they continue to battle Colorado for control of the Pac-12. The 80-62 win capped off a successful two-game homestand against the mountain schools.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday night’s win.
Pritchard and Richardson are Oregon’s most dynamic guard duo
Payton Pritchard was cooking on Sunday night, putting up 25 points on 8-13 shooting. This is not new territory for the senior, as he has been one of college basketball’s most consistent stars this season. Pritchard’s best play of the night was when he pulled up from midrange, freezing his defender as he hit a jump shot in the waning moments in the first half. His offensive bag of tricks, deep threes, drives to the basket and midrange shots make him indispensable for Oregon. Pritchard shot a solid 5-9 from three.
After being a sixth man for most of the season, Will Richardson has emerged in the last few weeks as a go-to scorer. Richardson was especially electric in the first half, where he scored 13 of his 18 points. He went 4-4 from the 3-point line. The sophomore has the ability to not only shoot threes, but he is excellent at driving to the basket and shooting floaters.
As Oregon heads closer to the tournament season, it will be interesting to see if head coach Dana Altman decides to keep Pritchard and Richardson as his starting guard duo.
Bench steps up
At times this season, Oregon’s supporting cast has been a consistent unit on offense, but on Sunday, a variety of role players got it done on both ends of the floor.
Three-point specialist Anthony Mathis had nine points as he went 3-5 from 3-point land. Mathis is Oregon’s best pure 3-point shooter and he provides a huge boost to the team when he is on target.
Addison Patterson had a nice game as well scoring 10 points, two rebounds, three assists and two blocks. While not eye-popping numbers, Patterson carried himself with confidence against Utah.
“His work ethic, coming into the gym earlier, I think that’s the recipe for success,” Pritchard said of the freshman Patterson.
Oregon’s big men have had offensive ups and downs all season, but on the whole, the frontcourt had a good night. Shakur Juiston had 11 points and five rebounds and Francis Okoro had six points and four rebounds. Okoro, who missed the Oregon State game and only played six minutes Colorado, showed that Sunday was a step in the right direction.
“After the game tonight I feel confident, I feel comfortable. I have to keep the same energy next week,” Okoro said.
Oregon reaches 20th win, jockeys for NCAA tournament seeding
After dropping back-to-back road games against Stanford and Oregon State, the Ducks had slid back to No. 17 in the AP Poll. That is a hard fall from grace after being ranked No. 4 earlier in the season. But Oregon took care of business against a mediocre Utah team.
Beating the Utes was especially important considering the Ducks have a tough road trip this week against the Arizona schools, with both of them only a half game behind Oregon in the conference standings.
“We haven’t played well on the road. We’ve won a couple but we haven’t played well. No sense dancing around it,” Altman said.
The Ducks are a perfect 14-0 at home this season but are only 4-4 in true road games.
“We have to play with tremendous energy on the road and, to be honest, we haven’t done that. If you look up and down college basketball, it’s a home-court sport. Numbers don’t lie,” Altman said.
Oregon will take on Arizona State in Tempe on Thursday.
