– The No. 16 ranked Oregon men’s basketball team (21-6, 10-4 Pac-12) put its recent two-game skid behind them and comfortably beat in-state rival Oregon State 91-81 in front of a sold out Matthew Knight Arena Crowd. It was the first sell out of the season.

– Snapping out of his recent slump, freshman guard Tyler Dorsey tied his career-high of 25 points against Oregon State, helping Oregon even the Civil War series to one a piece this season.

– Here are the photos from men’s Civil War basketball game Saturday night.

– The No. 14 ranked Oregon baseball team put the finishing touches on its sweep of San Diego State with a 4-3 win on Sunday.

– On senior night, Oregon women’s basketball (20-7, 9-7 Pac-12) was able bolster its NCAA Tournament resume by defeating USC 69-60 on Sunday afternoon. They have two games remaining on the season against California and Stanford.

– Oregon women’s basketball sent its senior class off with a win over USC. Here’s the story.

– In its final game of the 30th Louisiana Classic, Oregon softball delivered a beatdown of Central Arkansas for the second time in two days with a final score of 19-3 on Sunday.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

In a highly anticipated Civil War matchup, the No. 16 ranked Oregon men’s basketball team (21-6, 10-4 Pac-12) put its recent two-game skid to bed and got back to playing its up-tempo, transition-flourishing, defense-driven game.

Flipping the script on its conference opener, Oregon cruised to a 91-81 win over Pac-12 rival Oregon State (15-10, 6-8), finishing with an advantage in every major statistical category.

This lopsided result was heavily influenced by the stellar play of freshman Tyler Dorsey who tied his career-high of 25 points (set against Western Oregon) on 9-of-16 shooting in front of a sold-out Matthew Knight Arena crowd. It was his fourth 20-point game of the season as Oregon extended its school-best home winning streak to 23.

Having struggled recently, the team felt like it was important for Dorsey to have this slump-snapping type of performance.

“I think Tyler needed that game,” senior Chris Boucher, who finished with 14 points and three blocks, said. “Today, he was fired up. When he plays like that, it really helps the team.”

This season, sophomore Dillon Brooks has been the alpha dog for highly touted Oregon — leading the team in points (17.2 per game) and minutes (33.1 per game). He finished with 17 points in 29 minutes Saturday night.

But during the game, it wasn’t about him. It was about his freshman co-star who notched a late season breakout performance in an all-important rivalry game. Dorsey outplayed Oregon State All-American guard Gary Payton II, who finished with just 11 points, in the process.

“Tyler is very confident,” senior Elgin Cook, who finished with 16 points, said. “He played well. I’m glad he had this type of game too, and it helps our team a lot.”

For a game this late in the season, with a lot riding on the line, it’s usually the seniors that rise to the occasion. But Dorsey went against that sentiment on Feb. 20. He exploited the Beavers’ zone with strong finishes at the rim and knockdown threes.

“They were in that zone most of the time and he’s our best shooter, so I thought he made some good plays,” head coach Dana Altman said. “I really liked how he got to the basket.”

It was a timely win for Oregon. With four games remaining – two at home – Oregon was able to keep hopes alive for winning its first Pac-12 regular season title since 2002.

As it stands, it will likely be a two-team race to the finish with Arizona, who’s tied with the Ducks atop the Pac-12.

But if players like Dorsey can hit their stride in the coming month, it will be hard to keep this team from achieving its ultimate goal of making a deep post-season run in March.

“Tyler is a pretty confident young man,” Altman said. “He’s scored a lot of points in his career. You got a scorer like that, they just know it’s a matter of time. I think Tyler felt that way [season].”

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

For the first time this season, No. 16 ranked Oregon men’s basketball (20-6, 9-4 Pac-12) dropped two straight games. The losses came at the hands of California (83-63) and Stanford (76-72).

“We were all pretty disappointed,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Hopefully we’ll be ready to go Saturday.”

After looking at the film, both Altman and his players could see what went wrong: Unforced turnovers and mishaps on defense.

Their plan is simple now: Avoid this style of basketball and make one last push heading into the upcoming Pac-12 tournament in early March.

“We got to focus on the details and the little things,” sophomore guard Dillon Brooks said. “It’s a couple bad losses, but we’re still in the hunt and we can still do what we set out to do from the beginning.

Three out of the last five remaining games will be at home for Oregon: Oregon State (15-9, 6-7), Washington State (9-17, 1-13) and Washington (15-11, 7-7). It will finish out the year with two road games at USC (19-7, 8-5) and UCLA (14-12, 5-8).

As it currently stands, Oregon and Arizona will be fighting to claim the regular season conference title, a feat the Ducks haven’t achieved since 2002.

The last time Oregon faced in-state rival Oregon State, it was the conference opener in nearby Corvallis. It didn’t take very long for the Beavers to take full control of the game, ultimately resulting in a 70-57 loss for the Ducks.

“They just outplayed us and out-toughed us,” freshman guard Tyler Dorsey said. “Nothing (is) different. We just (need) to focus on ourselves and knowing the formula of what we need to do. If we do our job and listen to coach, I don’t think we need to worry about what they’re doing. We scouted them and we know what they’re going to do.”

This time around, Oregon doesn’t expect a different Oregon State opponent, but rather a sold out environment that will, according to Altman, “take on a personality of its own.”

“We know we’re a good team and we know what we got to do to win the game,” Brooks said. “It’s the Civil War, everyone wants to see this game, so it’s going to be great. They’re going to have us fired up. Can’t wait for it.”

Players to watch

Oregon

Dillon Brooks: 17.2 (PPG), 48.6 (FG%)

Chris Boucher: 12.3 (PPG), 7.5 (RPG), 55 (FG%)

Tyler Dorsey: 12. 7 (PPG), 41 (3P%)

Oregon State

Gary Payton II: 16.1 (PPG), 49.7 (FG%), 5.3 (APG)

Tres Tinkle: 12.5 (PPG), 5.3 (RPG), 44 (FG%)

— ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still has Oregon as a N0. 5 seed in his most recent bracket. Oregon is also still the third ranked team in the RPI standings.

Tipoff is set for a 7 p.m. PST start and will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

The No. 11 ranked Oregon men’s basketball team (20-6, 9-4 Pac-12) dropped its second straight game on the road to Stanford (12-11, 5-7) 76-72. On Thursday, Oregon lost to California 83-63.

With the loss, Oregon is now just 0.5 games ahead of Arizona for the top spot in the Pac-12 standings.

Leading the way for the Cardinal was senior Roscoe Allen who finished with a game-high 25 points on a very efficient 9-of-12 shooting. He also added seven rebounds. On the season, he is averaging 15.0 points and 6.2 rebounds.

For the Ducks, it was Dillon Brooks who led the way with 24 points and five rebounds.

Despite trailing the entire game, Oregon tied the game up with 52 seconds left following a pair of Brooks free throws. Brooks would go on to miss two straight jumpers – one that would have taken the lead, the other that would have tied the game up with seven seconds to go – giving the Cardinal its first win in five games.

It was a forgettable game for Dana Altman and his players. In addition to shooting 69 percent from the line, Oregon also coughed up the ball 12 times.

Comparatively, Stanford went 9-of-13 from deep and shot 55.3 percent on the game, making it difficult for Oregon to keep up.

Stanford also did a great job of keeping Chris Boucher out of the game. Boucher, who eventually fouled out late in the second half, was held to just six points on 1-of-2 shooting and two rebounds.

Oregon will return home for a two-game home stand against Oregon State on Saturday and Washington State on Wednesday. The Ducks have just five total games remaining on their schedule before they prepare for the yearly Pac-12 tournament and NCAA tournament later in March.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

The last time Oregon men’s basketball played California, it was coming off a crushing road defeat to Oregon State. In their Pac-12 opener, the Ducks fell 70-57 to their in-state rivals in convincing fashion.

Looking back now, that game served as a wake up call.

“Losing to Oregon State was pretty bad to start the conference season,” Casey Benson said. “The bounce back was huge for us (though). It gave us some momentum as we got into the conference season, so we just have to build on that and come out and play with the same type of energy, same type of intensity like our backs are against the wall.”

Soon after, the now No. 11 ranked Ducks (20-4, 9-2 Pac-12) which were recently projected to make the Final Four by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg, returned home to beat a talented Golden Bears team by three points. This momentum and regained confidence eventually parlayed into a 9-1 record in conference play over this last month, giving Oregon sole possession of the Pac-12 lead.

“It was a big win because they’re a good team,” Dwayne Benjamin said. “We knew we had to just get that win for us to pick it up.”

Now, with seven games remaining on the season, Oregon will hit the road to play the very team that helped it get back on its feet back in early January.

Heading into the game, California (15-8, 5-5) is riding a 15-game home winning streak. Similar to when they headed to Arizona last week, which was riding a nation-best 49-game winning streak at the McKale Center before the Ducks snapped it, the Golden Bears are currently one of the toughest teams to play on the road on paper.

“Winning on the road in conference is obviously extremely tough, so we got to have the same focus as we did at Arizona, have the same intensity, approach it the same way defensively and rebounding,” Benson said.

Featuring projected NBA lottery pick Ivan Rabb (12.4 PPG), Jaylen Brown (15.8 PPG) and Jordan Matthews (13.4 PPG) – who Dwayne Benjamin says is “one of the best shooters in the conference” – Oregon will have its hands particularly full with one of the most talented trios in the country.

Guard Tyrone Wallace, who broke his hand last month and will be out for this game, expects to learn when he will back on floor after his Thursday appointment.

After taking a look at the tape of the first meeting, Altman saw how far his team has come. The ball movement has gotten better, the turnovers have been cut down – Oregon has been averaging 8.6 for the last five games – and the overall execution has taken consistent leaps forward.

Still, Altman expects another dogfight on the road.

“They’re very good at home,” Altman said. “They beat people pretty soundly over there, so we hope to get some things going, but they’ve done a great in their building of keeping people out of what they want to do.”

Both teams have improved since their first meeting and it will show when they meet tonight.

Oregon will be looking to extend its lead in the conference standings.

California will be looking to climb its way up the standings before the Pac-12 tournament.

Benjamin said after watching the tape, Oregon has gotten much better and added that is “what it’s all about: it’s about getting better each day that we come to practice, each game that we play and that’s what talk about everyday. We’re a lot better now.”

The game will air on ESPN 2 at 6 p.m.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKIm

Back in late October, I wrote about my early impressions of this season’s Oregon men’s basketball team.

As I sat courtside, watching the team go through routine drills, I saw a talented team that had a mixture of athleticism, seasoned returners and a highly touted freshman in Tyler Dorsey.

Even after losing reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Joseph Young, it really didn’t feel like this team, which was projected to finish fourth in the conference by the media, was going to take a step backwards.

Villanova graduate transfer Dylan Ennis confirmed that sentiment, saying, “People should be excited about Oregon basketball this season,” before the season began.

Fast forward to now.

It’s early February and Oregon is ranked No. 11 in the country, has sole possession of the Pac-12 conference standings lead, is third on ESPN’s RPI rankings and is currently projected as a No. 2 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Like Ennis predicted, there was good reason to believe this team would be exciting to watch.

I have to admit though, that even I wasn’t this sold on the Ducks, especially after losing Ennis to a season-ending injury in January. But all this team has done is win games with its unforgiving defense and step up when the pressure is highest.

Currently, Oregon ranks second in the Pac-12 in points allowed at 67.4 and scoring margin at plus-10.7 per game.

You can question the early season road losses to UNLV (80-69), Boise State (74-72) and Oregon State (70-57), but don’t forget that Oregon snapped Arizona’s 49-game home winning streak at the McKale Center on national television, swept both the Wildcats and Arizona State on a road trip for the third time in program history and beat an NCAA tournament-caliber Utah team twice.

If it wasn’t already apparent, this team is for real.

What makes this Oregon team special is quite simple: Its defense consistently takes opponents out of their element and they feed the hot hand. Most nights that’s sophomore Dillon Brooks (16.9 ppg), and others it’s Elgin Cook (13.6 ppg) or junior college transfer Chris Boucher (12.7 ppg). Every night though, Oregon head coach Dana Altman has managed to get this talent-littered team to share the ball and play harder than its opponents.

Since Altman arrived in 2010, he’s done nothing but succeed. He has coached the Ducks to six straight 20-plus win seasons, a school-best three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and one Pac-12 title. He’s elevated this program to national heights that only former head coach Ernie Kent could rival.

Regardless of whether Oregon goes on to the win the Pac-12 tournament, regardless of how it fares in March, this team has exceeded expectations. So, with just seven games remaining on the conference schedule, enjoy what this team has to offer because teams with this type of talent don’t come around often.

“This year [has been] fun,” Altman said. “I’ve really enjoyed the group. We’ve got a long ways to go, but it’s a good group.”

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Dillon Brooks fell just short of a triple-double, but his efforts were more than enough to lift No. 16 ranked Oregon (20-4, 9-2 Pac-12) past Utah (17-7, 6-5).

The Ducks have now won six straight games, remaining atop of the conference standings.

For the second time this season, Brooks, who finished with a game-high 30 points, career-high nine assists and six rebounds against the Utes, stepped up when it mattered most. With his perfected mid-range jumpers and multitude of drive-and-dish creations, Brooks looked and played like the best player on the floor.

In the last five games, Brooks has averaged 21.4 points on 51 percent shooting.

“Dillon was confident, made a lot of shots, and did a lot of good things,” Elgin Cook said. “He’s been a leader on and off the court. That’s what we need from him.”

Dana Altman agreed with his players and media members that this was one of, if not his best game of his career.

“I don’t know if it was his best – he’s had some great ones – but it ranks right up there,” Altman said. “It was a good performance.”

As long as Oregon “finishes strong,” Altman believes Brooks should be in the conversation for Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Just this past week, Brooks not only grabbed his first career Pac-12 and National Player of the Week honors, but he was also named a finalist for the Julius Erving Award, which is given to the nation’s top small forward. Brooks joined LSU’s Ben Simmons, Duke’s Brandon Ingram, Kansas’ Wayne Selden and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine.

Late in the second half, the Utes pushed for one last run. Hovering around a 10-point deficit for the last six minutes, the game was still very much in reach. But when the possessions got tighter and the pressure ramped up, Oregon wisely reverted to Brooks who had the obvious hot hand.

Multiple times down the final stretch, Brooks was handed the ball with the shot clock running down.

The first time, he delivered with a seamless spin move that led to an easy finish at the rim. The second time, he calmly splashed home a three-pointer that put a dagger on the game. Both times, Brooks made sure the Utes couldn’t creep back into the game.

“He’s playing defense better, his body looks a lot better, he’s confident, shooting the ball a lot better and his feel for the game is just better,” Elgin Cook said.

From a game plan standpoint, Oregon was sound all across the board. Limiting projected NBA lottery pick Jakob Poeltl to 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting and the Utes to just 19 points outside of Jordan Loveridge (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Kyle Kuzma (18 points, six rebounds), the Ducks proved once more that their defense wins games. Boucher and Bell both finished with three blocks.

Offensively, the Ducks had four players finish in double figures: Chris Boucher with 15 points, Cook with 12 and Bell with 10.

With seven games remaining on the conference schedule and an NCAA tournament in sight, this team knows it still has room to grow. For a team that has played without Villanova graduate-transfer Dylan Ennis, they like where they’re at and where they’re headed.

“In our mind, we’re playing like we’re last in the Pac-12,” Jordan Bell said. “We’re playing hungry, aggressive (like) we’re going to go out there and prove something every single night, regardless of who we’re playing.”

Next, Oregon will travel back down to the Bay Area schools to face California on Thursday and Stanford on Saturday.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

Drake recently dropped a new track called “Summer Sixteen” on his OVO Sound Radio. The hook of this already widespread song starts with the line: “Looking for revenge.”

Dillon Brooks, who has was named the Pac-12 and National Player of the Week, said at Wednesday’s practice that the song has been playing in the Oregon locker room in preparation for Colorado (17-5, 6-3 Pac-12) Thursday.

The last time the two teams met, the Ducks fell on the road 91-87.

“Colorado is a great team,” Brooks said. “All we want is revenge. We listened to some Drake, ‘Revenge,’ so it’s been on our mind the whole time and we got to come out there, outrebound them and solidify our home court.”

This is going to be another highly anticipated stretch of games for No. 16 ranked Oregon, who currently holds sole possession of first place in the conference standings. If things holds up, this team could capture its first regular season conference title in 14 years.

“As a team, we’ve been talking about that a lot,” Brooks said. “We can really separate ourselves from the pack. It’s going to be really tough games to pull out a 2-0 sweep.”

But with Colorado and Utah (17-5, 6-3) coming to town – two teams currently just one game back and in a four-way tie for second place – Oregon knows it will have to keep focused, especially at home where they’ve been a perfect 14-0 this season.

“Obviously they (Colorado) got us over there, so it’s a big game for us,” Casey Benson said. “We know they’re going to come in ready to go. Just got to match that intensity and set the tone.”

The Buffaloes enter this Thursday night matchup riding a three-game winning streak. The Utes are even hotter having won its last five games.

Both of their star big men have also been on a tear.

Just in the past three games, Josh Scott has put up an average of 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds, while Jakob Poeltl has boasted an even more impressive streak of 24.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. Oregon’s focus will once again be on these two skilled post players.

In regards to slowing down Scott specifically, Brooks said the team will have to try and “attack him on offense because the more he has to move his feet, he’ll wear and tear and get tired.”

This is both a crucial and interesting time for Oregon. With just seven conference games remaining after this weekend, the pressure really is on to prove that the national hype won’t become a distraction. But if Oregon can manage to take care of its business and continue its success, the notion of this team winning the Pac-12 tournament and receiving as high as a No. 2 seed in March may actually become reality.

‘Things can change so quickly because anytime you have a bad weekend and it’s done,” Dana Altman said. “Conference race, lot of good teams involved, so it should be a really fun February.”

Like always though, the team’s focus will be on the game at hand, however hard that may be.

The Colorado game will air tonight on Fox Sports 1 at 6 p.m. and the Utah game will air Sunday on ESPN 2 at 1 p.m.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

Just a day after grabbing his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, Oregon forward Dillon Brooks was honored by three organizations as their national player of the week: The U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Naismith Trophy and NCAA.com.

Officially, the honor, which is run by USBWA and presented by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, is called the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week.

Brooks led the No. 16 ranked Ducks to the first sweep of the Arizona schools since 2012 and averaged 21 points on 50 percent shooting in those two games.

The 18-4 Ducks, who have sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 standings, are set to face Colorado on Thursday (6 p.m., FS1) and Utah on Sunday (1 p.m., ESPN2). Both schools are just one game behind in the standings.

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Sunday night, reigning national junior college player of the year Chris Boucher scored a career-high 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds and seven blocks, as then-ranked No. 23 Oregon knocked off Arizona State 91-74 on the road. Not only did Boucher help lead the Ducks to their third sweep of the Arizona schools in program history, he also weaved together his best game at the Division I level with his sixth double-double of the season.

Much of that can be attributed to his understanding of the game. Even before conference play started, Boucher knew what his role on this team was going to be and he’s stuck to it ever since.

“Rebounding, I knew that I could do a lot of work in there,” Boucher said after the Ducks’ win over Long Beach State. “Scoring is just secondary. My primary role is to take down rebounds and block shots.”

Boucher, a junior college transfer, who currently ranks in the top three for blocks in the country, is, without a doubt, Oregon’s most valuable new addition. He’s currently on pace to not only break Jordan Bell’s single-season record of 94 blocks set last year, but also Oregon’s program-best 116, set by Blair Rasmussen.

On the season, Boucher is averaging 12.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks.

“Chris is continuing to get better,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “He’s just a unique player. His feet and his balance are really good. He doesn’t get knocked off easy and he’s wiry strong.”

The first impressions are consistent with Boucher: he’s lanky, skinny, deceivingly skilled and athletic. Like Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg put it in a December article: “Boucher was thin as a sapling, all slender arms and spindly legs,” with a narrow frame that “suggested he might not ever grow big and strong enough to avoid being pushed around near the basket.”

But, more like bamboo than a sapling, Boucher is strong, and most importantly, flexible.

For a player who grew up playing soccer and hockey, it’s nothing short of surprising to see him consistently influence the game at a high level, handling much heavier, NBA-bound big men with ease.

“Chris is a different animal,” Bell said. “He gets shots I don’t think I could even get.”

Already, Boucher has more than held his own against Baylor’s Rico Gathers (6-foot-8, 275 lbs), California’s Ivan Rabb (6-foot-10, 220 lbs), Utah’s Jakob Poeltl (7-foot, 248 lbs) and most recently, Arizona’s Kaleb Tarczewski (7-foot, 256 lbs). All are much bigger, physical post players. But Boucher uses his athleticism to his advantage. In those matchups alone, he had 12 combined blocks.

“It’s just my mindset of not giving up,” Boucher said. “I know they’re bigger than me and I can’t really do anything about it, so the best thing I can do is just work hard and run the floor: stuff that they can’t do, that I can do.”

Few times has this program been fortunate enough to feature a game-changing post player. And with Boucher, things really are different.

“His frame scared me when I saw him a year ago in the summer,” Altman said. “I was excited about how he ran and everything, but in my mind, I’m like ‘too thin.’ But he’s fearless and he’s been a lot of fun to work with. I just hope he can continue to do what he’s been doing because he’s a game changer.”

In a few months – Oregon will presumably be NCAA tournament bound – ESPN’s Joe Lunardi recently projected the Ducks as high as a No. 4 seed and picked them to win the Pac-12. If this team, which ranks No. 3 in the ESPN’s RPI standings, wants to make a deep run in March, Boucher will have to continue his dominant play. Because when he’s on, this team is at its best.

“It’s new, coming from junior college,” Boucher said. “I know that I’m at a bigger level now, so everything counts. I’m trying to give my 100 percent every time and enjoy the most of it.”

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim