N’Faly Dante scored 17 points and collected 12 rebounds to lead Oregon to a 70-60 victory over Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
Will Richardson tallied 11 points. Jermaine Couisnard and Kel’el Ware added 10 apiece for the Ducks.
Oregon (9-7, 3-2 Pac-12) scored 20 points off 14 Utah turnovers and bounced back from its worst offensive performance of the season — a 68-41 loss to Colorado on Thursday.
The Ducks have won 10 straight against the Utes and 19 of the last 20 in the series overall. Utah has not beaten Oregon in Salt Lake City since 2013. The Ducks are 22-2 against the Utes dating back to the 2011-12 season.
Marco Anthony tallied 15 points and collected 10 rebounds to lead the Utes. Lazar Stefanovic scored 12 of his 13 points after halftime, and Branden Carlson chipped in 10 points and nine boards.
Utah (12-5, 5-1) suffered his first loss in league play after shooting just 35.7 percent from the field.
Oregon sizzled on offense in the early minutes and quickly ran away from Utah. The Ducks ripped off a 12-2 run capped by a dunk from Dante and took a 20-8 lead midway through the first half. They shot 56.3 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes while holding the Utes to just three baskets.
Utah trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before closing the gap early in the second. Stefanovic missed his first nine shots from the field before making back-to-back baskets to cap a 10-2 run that trimmed Oregon’s lead to 43-41.
The Ducks withstood the rally and rebuilt a double-digit cushion. Richardson and Couisnard each made a 3-pointer to fuel a 13-3 surge that put Oregon up 56-44 with 7:04 remaining.
Utah made one last rally. Anthony capped a 7-0 run with a pair of free throws, cutting the deficit to 63-58 with 2:07 remaining. Quincy Guerrier made a 3-pointer with 59 seconds left to keep the Utes from drawing closer.
