That extra day of rest the Ducks had by virtue of earning a first round bye looked to have made a big difference on Friday night. Utah played its third game in as many days, and Oregon pounced, taking advantage of the exhausted team en route to the 64-45 victory in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.

Oregon held Utah to just 15 points in the first 10 minutes and dominated on the glass, keeping them to just 10 total rebounds in the first half — and zero offensive boards. It was the best first half of the season for Oregon defensively, and it included scoring droughts of five, three and two minutes for Utah.

“I thought we played really well in the first half defensively,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We didn’t want to give up easy baskets.”

The Ducks also played a remarkably clean first half and kept the Utes away from the free throw line for the first twenty minutes — or maybe it was just the referees swallowing their whistles as Oregon, too, did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

The Ducks stumbled early on in the second half and allowed the Utes to get back into the game. But once they were within eight points, Oregon went on another run and won the game in blowout fashion.

“We had some bad turnovers in the second half,” E.J. Singler said. “But down the stretch, our guys were really tough and fought, and we just got the job done.”

For the game, Oregon held Utah to less than 30 percent on 15-of-51 shooting. Most noticeably, Utah’s leading scorer, Jarred DuBois — the same DuBois who’s buzzer-beating three sent the Utes to overtime Thursday night — was held scoreless on eight field goal attempts.

Oregon also forced 17 Utah turnovers on the night, eight coming by steals.