EUGENE, Oreg.—The Oregon Ducks swept the regular season series with the Utah Utes, led by a dominating performance by conference Player of the Year hopeful Dillon Brooks. 14 turnovers were a woe for Utah, leading to 19 Oregon points.
Along with Utah’s struggle to establish rhythm offensively and defensively, Brooks netted a career-high 30 points on 12-of-22 shooting, as well as nine assists and six rebounds.
With the Utes leading 17-14 with 11:24 to play in the first half, Jakob Poeltl received his second foul, igniting Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak, leading to a technical foul. Poeltl sat out for four minutes, but returned for five minutes to stable the defensive ship for Utah.
Kyle Kuzma likewise picked up an early second foul and sat on the bench the final 8:44 of the first half. Despite the two most impactful Utes sitting out for a significant time, Utah held the game within six points at halftime with a 41-35 score.
But, immediately after halftime, Poeltl and Kuzma each picked up a quick foul, forcing a tentative and softer defensive effort to avoid further foul trouble.
The Utes trailed by double-digits for most of the second half until Kuzma scored a layup to cut the Duck lead to 9 with 4:32 to play, forcing an Oregon timeout. But Oregon stepped on the gas again from there, snatching momentum and extinguishing Utah’s hope of a comeback.
Utah heads back to the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night to try for a regular season sweep against the Washington Huskies. Tipoff will be at 7:00 with pregame coverage starting at 5:00.
DeMarlo Slocum Postgame:
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