Oregon advances to semifinals with 83-77 win over Washington

LAS VEGAS – Similar to their last meeting, Washington came out firing and top-seeded Oregon came out slow. Up as much as 12 in the first half, it was the younger, lower-seeded Huskies doing the punching early in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament.

It wasn’t thanks to its senior leader Andrew Andrews, though, who finished with just two points in that first half.

It was Marquese Chriss and David Crisp doing the beating. The two were scorching from deep early, combining 5-for-9 and 25 total points in the first half. Around the 12-minute mark, Crisp hit three straight threes at the peak of Washington’s run.

Everything seemed to be going Washington’s way.

“We didn’t get off to a good start,” Dana Altman said. “Washington came out and hit us pretty good. They got out to that big lead and that was very concerning.”

That was until Chris Boucher snapped Oregon out of its funk in front of a rowdy MGM Grand Garden Arena.

With just under five minutes to go in the first half, Boucher knocked down an open three on the wing to bring the game back to single digits. The next possession, he snagged an offensive rebound off of a Dillon Brooks miss and put it back in. To top it all off, Boucher then followed with a momentum-shifting block that led to breakaway layup.

“Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Elgin, sometimes it’s Dwayne, everybody can play,” Boucher said. “Today, it was my turn.”

By the end of it all, Oregon had rallied behind Boucher and unloaded with a crucial 13-0 run late in the half that saw Washington hit a four-minute dry spell.

Boucher finished with a team-high 19 points, 11 rebounds, and had all three of his team’s blocks.

“He just did his job,” Brooks said.

At the half, Oregon edged Washington by just one point.

Anyone not named Boucher struggled in the first half. That includes freshman Tyler Dorsey who posted just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.

But like his team, he started to get into his groove in the second half.

On three separate occasions, Dorsey splashed home a critical three in the second half when the game was within four points. He ended with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting.

Eventually, Dillon Brooks and Elgin Cook, Oregon’s seasoned starters, got it going, too. Scoring 12 of Oregon’s last 19 points, the two returners with tournament experience, took over when the game slowed down and possessions got tighter.

Brooks finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Cook added 19 points.

With 41 seconds left and Oregon holding a 79-77 edge, Dorsey ultimately ended the game, pulling down a crucial offensive rebound that forced Washington to foul.

“I knew it was going up, my man didn’t box me out,” Dorsey said. “I just went to the glass and snatched the rebound. It came right into my hands.”

Afterwards, he knocked down a pair of free-throws to give Oregon just enough cushion to grind out the win.

“No pressure,” Dorsey said about heading to the line with just a two-point lead. “I want to be at the line at the end of the game. I knew I was going to knock them down. I told the Washington players I wasn’t going to miss.”

All season, Dana Altman and his players have been embracing not having a traditional go-to superstar. Most of the time this approach has worked. A few times, it’s resulted in blowout losses. But today, it was one of those many games that reminded why Oregon is the No. 8 ranked team and top seed in this year’s conference tournament.

“It’s great, especially for tournaments like this,” Dylan Ennis said about Oregon’s balanced approach. “All year, you have a week to get prepared for a team. But here, it’s day-to-day. When you have so many guys, it gives you so much more options to go to somebody that gets it going.”

Oregon’s biggest woe this game came in an area where its been rock solid all year long: turnovers. Finishing with 14 turnovers to nine assists, Oregon knows it will have to take better care of the ball in the next round.

“We got to take care of the ball,” Ennis said. “If we can take of the ball, share the ball more, we’ll be fine.”

Oregon’s semifinal matchup with Arizona is scheduled for a 6:15 p.m. tip and will be aired on the Pac-12 Network. Arizona is coming off an 82-78 win over Colorado.

“They needed that win bad and we needed it as well to keep playing,” Dorsey said. “It got a little chippy, but that’s how every game is going to be. We just have to be the tougher team.”

With a little bit of Tylenol and will, Dwayne Benjamin keeps Oregon’s title hopes alive

LAS VEGAS – Dana Altman was focused on getting top-seeded Oregon mentally prepared for an overtime nail biter against fourth seeded Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.

After going 2-for-7 at the charity stripe the last few minutes in front of a deafening MGM Grand Garden Arena crowd, Oregon had a meltdown and crept the door open just enough for lefty big man Mark Tollefsen to get fouled and have the game in his hands with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

Tollefsen, who logged all of five total minutes, walked up to the line with Arizona trailing 77-76.

Behind him, a red sea of rejuvenated Wildcats fans lost their mind and voices as the Oregon bench helplessly watched from the sidelines. They couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“I’ve never been in a situation at the end of regulation like that,” Tyler Dorsey, who finished with 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep, said. “It was a crazy situation, but we know we couldn’t hang our heads.”

A nerve-racking silence blanketed the arena.

The first one rimmed out, the second swooshed through.

“He missed a free throw for us, so we knew we had to jump on them,” Dorsey said.

Overtime.

“We really made that tough on ourselves,” Dana Altman said. “They hit shots, they did a great job. But we hurt ourself.”

Let’s back up to the nine-minute mark in the second half when Oregon forward Dwayne Benjamin took a hard fall and landed awkwardly on his left foot. Slow to get up, a gingerly Benjamin limped through one more possession before hobbling to the locker room for examination. Based on Benjamin’s grimacing look on his face, it didn’t look good.

Even Benjamin said he didn’t think “at first” that he would return.

Awaiting a definite answer, Pac-12 Network Sideline Reporter Jill Savage initially reported Benjamin would be unlikely to return.

She was dead wrong.

“I know Dwayne, he’s tough,” Dylan Ennis said. “I knew he was going to come back and that’s what he did. He put that injury behind him, he came out and hit some big shots.”

All of five minutes on the game clock had ticked off before the Lafayette, Louisiana native, with the help of some Tylenol — two to be exact — and good taping, willed his way back to the Oregon bench.

“I took some Tylenol, I just decided that I’d try to play for my teammates,” Benjamin said. “Clay (Jamieson) taped me up right and he felt like I was good enough to go. I went back in.”

At the 3:09 mark in overtime, the second coming of Willis Reed took the form of a banged up Benjamin as the senior forward quickly changed back into playing attire before checking in at the scorers table.

In Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Knicks center Reed returned to the floor from “the bowels” of the locker room after tearing his right thigh muscle two games before, igniting the Knicks to its first title.

This wasn’t the NBA Finals. But this was Oregon’s most anticipated game of the year with title hopes on the line.

On his first offensive possession back, Benjamin caught a pass from Jordan Bell on the right corner, and without hesitation, knocked down a three that gave Oregon an 83-80 lead with 2:47 to play.

“My teammates did a good job of continuing to fight when one of went down,” an exhausted Benjamin said. “I just felt like I wanted to make a play for my teammates and Jordan got the ball to me. I just made the shot for him.”

The rest is history.

“It was ecstatic,” Dillon Brooks, who finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, said. “We were ready to play defense, ready to grab rebounds. When people hit big shots, it gets the whole team going.”

Before Oregon escaped its 9-of-20 shooting at the line in regulation and advanced to the conference tournament final via a 95-89 overtime win, Altman was planning to play without Benjamin. Then, Benjamin returned. Then, with the game on the line, he checked in with Altman just seconds before cementing himself in the minds of every present fan.

“It’s crazy man,” Ennis said. “If you could see of the sideline … it was wild when he hit that shot.”

As the buzzer echoed throughout an Arizona-dominated arena, all Benjamin could do was flash his million dollar smile and throw up an “O” to the small section of Oregon fans across the court. His teammates were right there with him to celebrate.

“It’s whatever,” Benjamin said about coming back from his toe injury. “It’s for these guys. I just put the team before myself and said anything I can do, I was going to do for them.”

Tyler Dorsey riding hot streak heading into title game

LAS VEGAS – Before top-seeded Oregon advanced to tonight’s Pac-12 tournament title game against Utah, surviving Arizona in an semifinal overtime thriller, Dylan Ennis rode around his scooter during pre-game warm ups like usual.

What did he see?

He saw freshman Tyler Dorsey with a look in his eye that ensured Ennis that his freshman starter was primed for a big game.

“I knew from the start, he had the look in his eyes that he wanted to go out there and do everything for our team,” Ennis said.

Dorsey had just that.

For the second straight game, Dorsey, who finished with 19 points, rose to the occasion and hit shots — threes to be specific — at the most opportune times, making it difficult for Arizona to claw back into the game. He ended up 4-for-6 from deep.

Even if he wasn’t willing to admit it, Dorsey had some extra motivation to play well against the Wildcats: despite giving a verbal commit to Sean miller and Arizona before the ninth grade, Dorsey ultimately withdrew, choosing Oregon after getting cut by Miller’s Team USA U18 roster.

“I knew he was prepped for a big game when Arizona was on that ticket,” Ennis said. “Obviously, him committing to Arizona and decommitting to come here, it’s a personal game. You can’t get around that. But he didn’t allow that to take over his mind.”

Against Washington in the second round, Dorsey did much of the same, posting 17 points, and splashing home critical threes in the second half on three separate occasions when the game was within four points.

It’s rare you see Dorsey smiling in a game. A reserved player, Dorsey isn’t one to show express much emotion. But last night, in front of a red sea of rowdy Arizona fans, Dorsey couldn’t help but show his vibrant smile as he watched shot after shot splash through.

With 38 seconds remaining in overtime, Dorsey turned to Tony Stubblefield — the coached that helped recruit him to Oregon — and simply uttered the words “Oh my God.”

Moments later, the two were roughing around like two middle schoolers counting down the final seconds before summer break.

In the past two games, Dorsey has shot 7-for-13 from three for a combined 36 points. Oregon can only hope its freshman standout can continue this recent hot streak.

“It was just another win man,” Dorsey said after the Arizona game. “They were in the way, got to get the win, and that’s what we did.”

Like Dillon Brooks envisioned, Oregon wins title and makes history

One by one, Oregon players and coaches carefully stepped up the ladder at the south end of MGM Grand Garden Arena to cut themselves a piece of history.

“It was the greatest feeling in my life,” Chris Boucher, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, said.

Casey Benson let out a roar.

Dillon Brooks lifted an “O” to the remaining fans.

Dylan Ennis, boot and all, crawled up and let out a big smile.

“It was weird,” Ennis said about stepping up the ladder with a cast on his foot. “You don’t think that your senior year, you’re going to be cutting down Pac-12 tourney nets with a cast on your foot. But being able to share that with them, besides my injury, it was the moment that I’m never going to forget.”

Last, but not least, three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year Dana Altman cut his piece before turning to family, friends and fans, thanking them for their support throughout the year.

Selfies were taken. Dwayne Benjamin and Jordan Bell made confetti angels at center court.

Single strings of net were tied around the plastic snaps of the Pac-12 branded hats.

“I didn’t want to put it in my pocket and forget about it,” Ennis joked.

Top-seeded, No. 8 ranked, NCAA tournament-bound Oregon (28-6) made history on March 12 by winning both the outright regular season and tournament title. Oregon ran Utah out of the gym 88-57 at Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The margin of victory was the largest in Pac-12 Tournament Championship game history, breaking the mark set by Arizona in its win over Oregon a year ago.

Turnovers were forced — 20 to be exact. Points were scored off those turnovers — 28 to be exact. Team defense was unforgiving — Utah finished the game 19-of-44 from the floor (43.2 percent). The ball was shared — Tyler Dorsey (23 points), Brooks (18 points), Boucher (15 points) and Elgin Cook (11 points) all finished in double figures.

“It was really just teamwork,” Boucher said. “We won as champions. We’re champions as a team.”

Most notable, Oregon limited Pac-12 Player of the Year Jakob Poeltl to 13 points on six shot attempts. Poeltl, Utah’s leading scorer and only player in double figures, also coughed up the ball five times.

“We lost this game basically in the first half, at the end of the first half,” said Poeltl. “We didn’t have the energy or focus to come back from those easy baskets we gave them from the mistakes we made.”

Cliché or not, Oregon realized the simple importance of playing for one another heading into the season, and turned that mentality into a memorable finish to the conference season in March.

There is a reason why Cook was named Pac-12 Tournament MVP. There is a reason why four of Oregon’s five starters were named to the All-Tournament team: Dorsey, Cook, Boucher and Brooks.

“It means we’re a good team, and when we work together, we can do great things,” Boucher said. “We always said that from the beginning.”

This team utilized its many weapons — Boucher’s blocking, Dorsey’s three-point shooting, Brooks’ mastery of the mid-range game, Cook’s finishing touch at the rim — and manipulated its opponents all season.

These diverse skills made them difficult to guard and allowed them to win their second conference tournament title in four years.

“Everybody works together and everybody is talented,” Boucher said

The day before the game, Brooks told a small circle of media members that he wanted to make history. After all the confetti had fallen, Brooks’ wishes had come true.

“It means so much,” said Brooks. “My name being in Oregon’s history is a beautiful thing. I can look back and I’ll remember every single one of these players, and every single one of the managers, and every single one of the coaching staff because this season was special.”

After losing in the semifinals, Arizona’s Sean Miller called Oregon “one of college basketball’s best teams” because of how well they play together.

For those that have been around the game, that is the ultimate compliment.

“What we did as a whole collective group, it’s a special thing,” Brooks said.