Pac-12 Tournament: Oregon Ducks Upset the Utah Utes, 68-66

Day two of the Pac-12 Tournament almost held to form in terms of the top seeds taking care of the lower seeds. That was until the last game of the night, which also turned into the best game of the day.

Arizona Wildcats

Number one seeded Arizona Wildcats beat the eighth-seeded Colorado Buffaloes 83-67 to start off day two of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament. This game was actually close for the first half, with the Wildcats leading 35-33 at halftime. However, the Wildcats, and specifically Allonzo Trier and Dusan Ristic helped propel the Wildcats in the second half and outscored the Buffaloes 48-34 in the second half.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

The Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, Deandre Ayton actually struggled all game. Ayton had 10 points on 4-14 shooting and eventually fouled out of the game.

The Wildcats will now move on to play the UCLA Bruins in the semifinals on Friday at 6:00 pm PT.

UCLA Bruins

The second game was the always interesting four versus five seed game. Not to mention the game was slated at an interesting and horrible time of the day for the West Coast working class. While some general observers had UCLA as an underdog, Vegas had UCLA favored to win the game, and of course Vegas was right as the Bruins took care of the Cardinal 88-77.

The game was generally close, but never that close as Stanford never had a lead in the game. The Bruins were paced by their superstar point guard Aaron Holiday who had 34 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in 40 minutes. Senior, Thomas Welsh played a fabulous game with 18 points and 11 rebounds, Mr. Double-Double himself. While the Bruins did not have another player score in double digits, they got enough support by the reserve and roll players to secure the win and set up Friday’s semifinal game against the Arizona Wildcats.

Somebody from any SB nation tell me another PG better than him right now. How about these Holiday facts.

Southern Cal

The second seeded Southern Cal Trojans took care of business and beat the tenth seeded Oregon State Beavers for the sixth straight time in an easy 61-48 victory.

Southern Cal held the Beavers to 30% shooting from the field for the game and 25% from behind the arc. Oregon State’s offensive efficiency was definitely affected by the Tres Tinkle injury. Tinkle was limping heavily at the end of the Beavers’ victory against Washington onThursday, and he was not the same player in this game.

Southern Cal was led by Chimezie Metu’s 22 points on 10-15 shooting, with 11 points.

The Trojans will now play the late Pac-12 Conference Tournament Semifinal game against the six-seeded Oregon Ducks.

Oregon Ducks

The Pac-12 saved the most competitive game of the day for the last game as the number three seed Utah Utes took on the six seed Oregon Ducks. The Ducks erased an 11 point second half deficit to come back and upset Utah 68-66.

The game got really interesting in the closing minutes as MiKyle McIntosh hit the shot of the night as he drove to the basket and threw up a circus shot. McIntosh hit the shot and was fouled. He converted the three point play, and at the 1:02 mark Oregon went up 68-66. On Utah’s next possession, Oregon forced a Sedrick Barefiled three point miss. The Ducks then dribbled the clock down, and Payton Pritchard drove to the basket with a few seconds on the shot clock and threw up an air ball. Utah got the ball back with 9.7 seconds, setting up one of those March Madness moments. Utah in-bounded the ball full-court, and Barefield ended up getting the ball, drove baseline and shot a reverse layup. Oregon’s Kenny Wooten blocked the shot as time expired, and they walked away with the 68-66 upset of Utah.

The Oregon Ducks were led in scoring by Elijah Brown’s 21 points. The Ducks will now play the number two seed Trojans in the late game tomorrow night.

Pac-12 Tournament Bracket