No. 8 Oregon rushes past Utah in an 88-57 blowout to win Pac-12 tournament title

Tyler Dorsey scored 23 points, Dillon Brooks had 18 and No. 8 Oregon quickly turned the Pac-12 championship game into a rout, rolling over No. 12 Utah, 88-57, on Saturday night.

Oregon and Utah were the Pac-12’s top two teams during the regular season and held up through the conference tournament, setting up a matchup worthy of a neon marquee on the Strip.

Oregon turned it into a Duck dynasty, putting on a defensive show to sweep conference regular-season and tournament titles for the first time. The Ducks had 13 steals and scored 28 points off the Utes’ 20 turnovers to win their fourth Pac-12 tournament title.

The dominating performance gave Oregon (28-6) its best record after 34 games since 1938-39 and put it in position for a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Chris Boucher had 15 points for the Ducks, who scored 23 points off 17 offensive rebounds in the second-most lopsided game in tournament history.

Jakob Poeltl had 13 points to lead the Utes (26-8).

After a surprising run to last year’s title game, the Ducks have become the Pac-12’s dominant force, their flock of beat-you-off-the-dribble high-flyers causing matchup problems for anyone who tries to stop them. They easily won the two regular-season meetings with Utah, including a 10-point victory in Salt Lake City.

Saturday night, Oregon was at its disruptive best in the first half, flustering the Utes into a string of mistakes.

The Ducks scored 19 points off of Utah’s 13 turnovers and converted nine offensive rebounds into 11 more points. Oregon had nine steals in the half — several of those on weak passes by the Utes — and took 20 more shots (35-15) to lead 38-21 at halftime.

Little changed in the second half. Oregon kept jumping in passing lanes for steals and kept hounding the Utes into missed shots, stretching the lead to 21 in the first two minutes, and the rout was on.