EUGENE, Ore. β The Oregon Ducks pulled into a first-place tie with Arizona on Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena atop the Pac-12, but that was a formality of sorts.
The Ducks left no doubt who was the better team, hitting 16 3-pointers while destroying the Wildcats on both sides of the court in a 85-58 victory. Oregon shot 65.2 percent from the field including a 16-for-25 mark from 3-point territory.
It was the Wildcatsβ second-worst loss ever in the Sean Miller Era, trailing only their 30-point loss to BYU in 2009-10 at McKale Center, when Cougar sharpshooter Jimmer Fredette scored 49 points.
Worse, a former UA commit led the way for the Ducks: Tyler Dorsey led the Ducks with 23 points while hitting all six 3-pointers he took. Dillon Brooks added 18 while making 4 of 7.
After the Ducks hit 10 of 14 3s in the first half to take a 38-18 halftime lead, the early second half was much the same as the first. Rawle Alkins and Dusan Ristic scored around the basket after halftime but Payton Pritchard stole the ball from Kadeem Allen and fed it to Tyler Dorsey for a 3 and the Ducks were off again.
Alkins wound up UA's leading scorer with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while Dusan Ristic and Allonzo Trier each had 12.
Through the first 16 minutes of the second half, Oregon hit 6 of 10 3-pointers and shot 73.7 percent overall, making UAβs improved shooting of 596. percent in the second half almost meaningless. UA finished shooting 42.6 percent overall.
In the first half, Oregon hit 10 3-pointers while taking a 38-18 halftime lead.
Dorsey led the Ducks with 14 points in the first half while hitting all four 3s he took. Brooks added 10 points while making 2 of 4 3s, while Casey Benson had nine points on three 3s.
The only positive for the UA defense was the fact that the Wildcats did not allow a single point in the final 4:23 before halftime, while the Ducks actually missed a 3-pointer, but UA still trailed by 20 at halftime.
Arizona's offense was equally unsuccessful as its defense in the first half. The Wildcats shot just 25.9 percent and hit just 2 of 11 3-pointers.
Arizona went successfully early to Ristic for two baskets, taking an early 4-2 lead, but things unraveled from there for Arizona.
Brooks hit his first 3-pointer with 16:45 left to give Oregon a 5-4 lead and 10 minutes later, the Ducks had a 27-11 lead while hitting 7 of 10 threes.
Bensen, a product of Tempeβs Corona Del Sol, hit one of those first seven and then added two more, the last from the right corner to give the Ducks a 33-11 lead. Chris Boucher then hit another from the right wing to make it 38-11, and so on.
By the final media timeout of the half, Oregon was leading 38-13, having shot 65 percent from the field and making 10 of 13 3-pointers. Arizona was shooting 21.7 percent and made just 1 of 8 3-pointers.
The win extended Oregon's homecourt win streak to 40 games, while Arizona snapped a 15-game winning streak. UA is now 21-3 overall and 10-1 in the Pac-12 while Oregon is 21-3 and 10-1.
The Ducks will hold the tiebreaker with Arizona for Pac-12 Tournament seeding since the two teams only played once this season because of the conference's unbalanced schedule.
