Ernie Kent's 200th career win at Oregon was a game his team had to "grind through" according to the coach. Held to fewer than 80 points for the first time this season, Oregon's 75-64 victory over Utah in the 2007 Pape` Jam.
Bryce Taylor's 20 points paced the Ducks, followed by Tajuan Porter's 16 and 11 each from Maarty Leunen and Joevan Catron.
"We came out a little slow in the first half after the nine day break," said Kent, "but I thought we played a little better in the second half."
Utah offered a challenge to the Ducks with 7 foot 1 inch center Luke Nevil bring size in the paint that Oregon couldn't counter. Mitch Platt did give five minutes of good play, offering something of a break from the defensive rotations that had Oregon mostly fronting the big guy and offering strong weakside help when he got the ball in his hands.
Utah guard Tyler Kepkay found that vacated court space and he was a 9/16 (4/9 3pt), 23 point thorn in the side of Oregon.
Neither team could fashion a lead larger than five points in the first half. A Tajuan Porter lay-up two minutes into the second half gave the Ducks a seven point lead and Bryce Taylor's five minutes later pushed the lead to 11.
Had Oregon been able to improve upon their 13/22 effort from the free throw line, the final margin of victory would have been more in line w/ the Ducks 18th national ranking - but Kent held the win to be a solid one for his team. "It was a good win to get out of the way, even though we didn't play our best basketball," he said.
"If we started the Pac-10 season today we'd be ready," was Bryce Taylor's take, "but we'll use every game, every practice and every opportunity to get better."
