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Oregon’s furious comeback vs. Colorado sees Ducks seize control of wide-open Pac-12

By Patrick Schmidt

EUGENE, OREGON - FEBRUARY 13: Payton Pritchard #3 of the Oregon Ducks reacts after hitting a shot during the second half against the Colorado Buffaloes at Matthew Knight Arena on February 13, 2020 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won 68-60. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
EUGENE, OREGON - FEBRUARY 13: Payton Pritchard #3 of the Oregon Ducks reacts after hitting a shot during the second half against the Colorado Buffaloes at Matthew Knight Arena on February 13, 2020 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won 68-60. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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Oregon overcame another double-digit deficit to get a win and this latest comeback has the Ducks in control of the Pac-12 down the homestretch.

Oregon hasn’t faced a deficit that hasn’t been too much for them to overcome. The Ducks overcame a double-digit deficit to win for the fifth time this year in their 68-60 win over Colorado on Thursday night in Eugene.

Colorado took a 41-30 lead with 16:26 left in the second half after D’Shawn Schwartz made a 3-pointer but were outscored by 19 the rest of the game. Oregon trailed by as many as 14 at one point. The Ducks went on a 15-2 blitz to finish the game and seize control of the Pac-12.

Will Richardson matched his career-high with a game-high 21 points and set a new career-high with nine rebounds to help move Oregon into a first-place tie with Colorado in a wide-open Pac-12 race.

In a conference with Arizona, Arizona State and USC within one game of first place, the team to beat is Oregon.

The Ducks have the best roster with Payton Pritchard the driving force behind their success. Pritchard finished with 15 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and six rebounds vs. Colorado as the Ducks improved to 13-0 at home.

Oregon’s remaining schedule has four of their remaining six games at home. If they are going to win the regular-season title, it’ll likely come down to back-to-back road games at Arizona and Arizona State.

If Oregon sweeps the road games, they’ll likely be the Pac-12 champions. If they split, they leave Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and USC alive to move to the top of the standings.

Both Arizona and Arizona State have a game in hand on Oregon so if one of those two holds serve on their home court next week and beats Oregon, they could have the momentum to finish on top.

Colorado may have the easiest schedule strength but finish with three straight road games at Cal, Stanford and Utah. The Buffaloes are 3-4 on the road. Blowing a double-digit second-half lead vs. Oregon will be looked back as the game that cost them a conference championship.

USC is the dark horse in the Pac-12. The Trojans staged their own second-half comeback on Thursday night vs. the Washington Huskies to keep their conference title hopes alive. USC has to beat Colorado on the road next Thursday to move from pretender to contender.

The schedule works in USC’s favor with Arizona, Arizona State and coming to Galen Center to finish the season. If the other contenders stumble on the road or lose a game they should otherwise win, USC could pull off the comeback.

No matter how the final order is sorted by the end of the regular season, this quintet figures to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.

The top five teams are all good but only Oregon has the potential to be great.

Oregon is the team to beat in the Pac-12.

Next. 15 best home-court advantages. dark

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