EUGENE, Ore. -- Larry Krystkowiak had a simple diagnosis for what ailed No. 9 Utah on Sunday.
His Utes suffered from a lack of an inside presence, subpar three-point shooting and a dearth of second-half rebounds in their 69-58 loss to Oregon.
"There were a lot of 50-50 balls that didn't go our way," Krystkowiak said. "We just need to play harder."
Dillon Brooks scored 11 consecutive points late in the second half and finished with 19 to help the Ducks (20-8, 10-5 Pac-12) enhance their own NCAA Tournament chances.
Joseph Young added 14 points and Elgin Cook had 12 for Oregon, which sits comfortably in third place in the Pac-12 after its first victory over a Top 10 team since beating then-No. 3 Arizona last year in the regular-season finale.
Delon Wright scored 20 points for Utah (21-5, 11-3). The Utes dropped a game behind Arizona in the conference race with a showdown against the No. 7 Wildcats set for next Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Utah attempted more three-pointers (29) than shots from inside the arc (23) for the first time this season, though many of the long-range tries came in catch-up mode late.
"Guys get up in us on defense and we've got to be able to make some plays and feed the post," Krystkowiak said. "I thought we were miserable at getting the ball inside.
"Then when we did get the ball inside, we didn't finish very strong. That's something we've got to polish up this week."
Brooks, a freshman, scored seven consecutive points to put the Ducks up by 10 with 4:58 to play. After Utah had a 5-0 run to pull within three again, Brooks added four more points -- the last two on a driving dunk -- to give the Ducks a 59-52 cushion.
"I thought he hit big buckets for us," Oregon Coach Dana Altman said. "He really was aggressive taking the ball to the hole.
"We ran a couple things for him late because he did have the hot hand, and he responded pretty well."
Young's final shot brought the biggest roar from the season-best crowd of 10,725. After a video review gave the Ducks possession under their basket with 1:53 left, Young inbounded the ball and ran to the right corner.
Two quick passes and 4 seconds later, the ball was out of Young's hands, and his three-pointer made it 62-55.
"He hit a huge one when we needed it," Altman said.
Oregon sealed the victory by hitting 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:09. The Ducks were 15 of 18 overall from the foul line.
Utah made just 10 of 31 shots (32.3 percent) in the second half and finished 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) from three-point range after coming in as the Pac-12's best beyond the arc at 40.6 percent.
NO. 2 VIRGINIA 51,
FLORIDA STATE 41
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Anthony Gill scored 13 points, Darion Atkins had 11 and No. 2 Virginia overcame a frightening collision of two of its players and beat Florida State.
The game took a frightening turn for Virginia (25-1, 13-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) with just under 15 minutes to play when Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes, the starting backcourt, collided on defense.
Perrantes stayed on the floor for a few minutes with a gash on his face as he and Brogdon were both attended to on the court. They both eventually left the court and headed to the locker room for further attention.
Brogdon returned a short time later, running into the bench area to wild applause with a bandage over his left eye. He quickly checked back in, while Perrantes' return to the bench came several minutes later. He was in a different jersey, which he quickly covered with a warmup shirt, and he did not return to the game.
NO. 13 WICHITA STATE 62, EVANSVILLE 43
WICHITA, Kan. -- Fred VanVleet scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half to lead No. 13 Wichita State to a 62-43 victory over Evansville.
Ron Baker added 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Shockers (25-3, 15-1 Missouri Valley). Evan Wessel had 11 points for Wichita State, which led for 32 or more minutes in 12 of its last 13 games.
Egidijus Mockevicius scored 15 points to lead Evansville (19-9, 9-7). Mockevicius was 5 of 7 from the floor while the rest of the Aces were 10 of 41.
Evansville entered the game averaging 70.9 points, tied with Wichita State for the conference lead.
But the Aces could not generate any offense in the first half. After D.J. Balentine's basket pulled Evansville within 9-6 with 13:10 remaining in the half, the Aces made just one goal the rest of the half.
MICHIGAN 64,
NO. 24 OHIO STATE 57
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Spike Albrecht scored 16 points to help Michigan upset No. 24th-ranked Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (19-8, 8-6 Big Ten) trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half before closing to 49-46 with seven minutes left with a 14-0 run. Zak Irvin answered with a three-pointer a minute later and Ohio State never got closer than four points the rest of the day.
D'Angelo Russell had 16 points and Keita Bates-Diop scored 12 as the Buckeyes lost their second consecutive.
Irvin added 15 and seven rebounds for the Wolverines (14-13, 7-8), who defeated a top-25 opponent for the first time this season.
Sports on 02/23/2015