Arizona vs. Oregon: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

Sending a loud statement to the rest of the Pac-12, the No. 13 Oregon Ducks steamrolled the No. 5 Arizona Wildcats 85-58 on Saturday to improve to 21-3 overall and 10-1 in conference play.

What seemed like one of the best matchups of the college basketball season turned out to be a one-sided destruction.

After Arizona got a basket from Lauri Markkanen that cut its deficit to 19-11 with 11:31 remaining in the first half, the Wildcats went ice-cold with no made field goals for the next nine minutes.

Oregon, meanwhile, took advantage with a 19-0 run that extended its lead to 38-11 before Markkanen finally stopped the bleeding with two field goals. The Ducks went 10-of-14 from three-point range in the first half.

ESPN College Basketball put Oregon's shooting touch in the opening 20 minutes into perspective:

"

Oregon has made 10 3s.

Arizona has 11 points.



— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) February 4, 2017"

ESPN's Jay Bilas summed up what happened in the only way he could:

Elegant and complex analysis can be fun, but as Bilas showed, sometimes just saying things as they are is good enough.

This was a stunning display by Arizona, which came into the huge Pac-12 showdown riding a 15-game winning streak and was 10-0 in conference play.

Defense has been the Wildcats' calling card all year. They entered play ranked 16th nationally with 62.7 points allowed per game. Oregon surpassed that point total with more than 11 minutes remaining in the second half.

Two players caused most of the problems: Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey. That duo combined for 41 points on 14-of-19 shooting. The rest of Oregon's roster had 44 points on 16-of-27 shooting.

The Wildcats couldn't get their shots going, and Oregon's attacking defense kept them off-balance throughout the game. They shot 42.6 percent overall (5-of-17 from three-point range).

As Tyson Alger of The Oregonian noted, Arizona wasn't even able to take advantage when Brooks wasn't on the court:

Ken Goe of The Oregonian had never seen such a performance from Arizona before:

It was especially surprising considering how well Arizona had been playing. At 21-2 coming into Saturday's game, the Wildcats were on the short list of the best teams in the nation and had already defeated the other Pac-12 power, UCLA, two weeks ago.

Arizona head coach Sean Miller kept trying to find ways to stop the bleeding for his team, per Alger:

On the bright side, with Miller out of timeouts, it was impossible for him to prolong the inevitable outcome. He can just turn the page and get his team ready for Stanford on Wednesday.

This was the performance Oregon needed, especially after an ugly loss to Colorado last week and a narrow victory over Arizona State on Thursday, and it gives the team necessary momentum with a road game at UCLA on tap Thursday.

Postgame Reaction

Oregon head coach Dana Altman didn't try to come up with any fancy explanation for his team's hot-shooting ways. 

"Today was a day where the ball just went in," he said, per Kristen Rodgers of KEZI 9. 

One thing Altman did address was what he told the Ducks before the game about the importance of winning as it pertains to winning a Pac-12 title. 

"I told the fellas today, we had to win today or it was over," Altman said, per Matt Prehm of 247Sports.

Brooks, who was coming off a 27-point game against Arizona State, believes this is a high point in his tenure at Oregon. 

"That’s the best game I ever played in three years here," Brooks said, per Rob Moseley of GoDucks.com. "Guys were focused and guys were confident in their shots."

Sean Miller, who suffered the second-worst loss of his career as Arizona head coach, is hopeful Oregon doesn't get any better than what it showed on Saturday.

"I hope for everybody's sake, that's the best they can play," he said, per Anthony Gimino of TusconNewsNow.com.