Ducks Rally to Defeat Utes
Oregon-Utah Box Score | Boxscore
SALT LAKE CITY – Chris Duarte scored 25 points with a season-high six steals as No. 17 Oregon rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Utah 79-73 on Saturday at the Huntsman Center.
"We knew we had to do better in the second half and get stops," said Duarte. "We were active, rotated good and played hard."
How it Happened: Oregon (9-2, 4-1) opened the second half on a 14-5 run to close to 48-47 with 14:58 to go. Eric Williams Jr. had five of his season-high 19 points during that run.
The Ducks then took their first lead of the half, 50-48, on an Amauri Hardy three-point play with 13:28 remaining.
The teams then traded the lead four times before LJ Figueroa's three-pointer put the Ducks ahead for good, 61-59, with 7:41 to play.
The first half was a game of runs. The Utes (4-4, 1-3) were hot early, sprinting out to a 12-4 lead four minutes into the game.
The Ducks then went on an 11-2 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Duarte to take a 15-14 lead with 12:21 remaining. Another Duarte three made it 25-22 Ducks with 5:41 left in the half.
But the Utes closed the period on a 21-8 run to take a 43-33 lead at the break.
Duarte led Oregon in the first half with 12 points and three steals, while Figueroa added 10 points.
Who Stood Out: Figueroa scored 15 points with two steals before leaving the game with 7:17 to play due to a left ankle injury. Hardy scored a season-high 13 points with four assists.
Notable: Oregon scored 25 points off 18 Ute turnovers. ... Freshman Franck Kepnang, who reclassified from the 2021 class and joined the team at the end of the quarter break, made his Oregon debut on Saturday. ... Freshman Jalen Terry was unavailable for Saturday's game.
Quotable:
Head coach Dana Altman:
"We had seven turnovers and they had 18, and Utah is a team that was only turning it over nine times a game, so that was a pretty big factor in the outcome."
Up Next: Oregon starts a four-game homestand with Arizona State on Thursday at 6 p.m. (ESPN).