Oregon Holds on to Beat Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Oregon led by double-digits for most of the contest, but Utah battled back to make it a close one. The Ducks were able to pull off the road win in the final seconds, defeating the Utes 80-77. 

How It Happened: Utah jumped out to an early lead 9-3, scoring its first nine points of the game with three three-pointers. The Ducks started to find their stride and went on a 13-2 run midway through the half. Oregon got in its own way after the run, turning the ball over on three straight possessions to let Utah close the deficit to 33-24 with four minutes to play in the half. UO got back on track and closed out the half with a 43-31 advantage. 
 
Oregon came out flat in the second half, letting Utah get good looks with slow defensive rotations. At the 15:52 mark, Utah had cut the lead to nine, 48-39. The trend continued, as Utah cut the lead to four points at the 10-minute mark. The Ducks immediately went on a run with a pair of threes from Quincy Guerrier and Will Richardson. Richardson's triple was his fifth of the game and put him at 22 points on the night. After pushing the lead back to double-digits, Utah clawed back to within within five points with 1:17 to play. The Utes forced a turnover to get themselves an easy layup that made it a one-point game with 20 seconds to play. The Ducks converted a long in-bound pass and got a breakaway layup from Jacob Young to clinch the victory.

Who Stood Out: Richardson led the team with 25 points, and Young scored 14. De'Vion Harmon added 12 points with three steals. Eric Williams Jr. came up huge on the boards with 10 rebounds and also contributed seven points.

What It Means: The Ducks move to 15-7 and 8-3 in the conference, putting them in third place with a stretch of three home games in six days on the horizon. Oregon has now won nine games in a row against Utah. 

Up Next: Oregon is back home next weekend as hosts to Stanford on Thursday, Feb. 10 (6 p.m. PT) and Cal on Saturday, Feb. 12 (1 p.m. PT).