Pritchard moves up to fifth all-time in career scoring at Oregon as the Ducks breeze past Utah, 80-62

Payton Pritchard’s ascent into the record books makes another notation in Sunday’s blowout performance over the Utah Utes. The now fifth all-time leading scorer in Duck’s history, made history on perhaps Oregon’s best three-point shooting night of the season.

The words unconscious and lights-out come to mind when thinking about the three-point shooting by Oregon in the first half. Pritchard started the game 5/6 from beyond the arch as he extending the Ducks lead to 16 with a dagger from way deep.

No. 17 Oregon’s 9-0 run capped off by the corner three gave the Ducks a 16 point lead, the largest of the night. Will Richardson joined in on the fun from deep hitting three of his first three triples en route to a 44-30 lead heading into halftime. The guard’s combined for 30 points in the first half and set the tone at home in Matthew Knight Arena.

It was cruise-control from the blow of the whistle. The second quarter was merely a formality, but the Utes showed some life closing Oregon’s lead to single digits with an Alfonso Plummer layup. Richardson was quick to push the lead back to double-digits with yet another three from the wing.

Oregon was back in the driver seat after a momentary laps in the second half closing the game with a 7-0 run and a 80-62 lead. Three Ducks finished with double-digits in the scoring column. Pritchard led all Ducks in scoring with 25 hitting 5/9 from three and 8-13 from the field. Richardson was much more the facilitating type with six assists. The sophomore guard from Hinesville, GA filled up the boxscore adding 18 points and six rebounds to his day. Shakur Juiston is the final of three Ducks to Score double-figures. Juiston ended his night with 11 points, and a respectable five rebounds and four assists.

As a unit, Oregon might have put together one of their best shooting performances of the season hitting 12-24 from three-point range, shooting 57.7% from the field. The win at home also extends Oregon’s win streak at home as they’re 14-0 in games at Matthew Knight Arena. With the victory Oregon is back atop the Pac-12 standing advancing to 20-6 and 9-4 in the conference.

Bouncing back from a two-game losing streak to a two-game winning streak, Oregon will head out to Arizona for a, you guessed it, two-game road trip against Arizona and Arizona State. Oregon and Colorado’s records are identical and they split the conference series 1-1 so these final five games of the season hold a lot of power and position come tournament-time and most importantly, March.