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EUGENE, Ore. — Utah was 20 minutes away from making history — a potential first-time sweep over Oregon — in the final game of the regular season, coming in the final season of the Pac-12.
The Runnin' Utes controlled a near double-digit lead against a Ducks team that couldn't get a shot to fall at a consistent rate. But in an instant, the game changed.
Early in the second half, Branden Carlson got tangled up with Oregon defender N'Faly Dante under the basket, and Dante appeared to pull away while holding Carlson arm, seemingly hyperextending his left elbow and sending the fifth-year senior to the ground writhing in pain.
Carlson left the game and never returned. The refs determined the play was "incidental contact" after an extended review at the monitors, leaving Utah with no recourse for losing their team leader.
"I haven't seen the video," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "They just said it was both guys are being physical and it's just the basketball play is what I was told."
It was all Oregon needed to turn the tide of the game as Dante took over amid an Oregon 10-0 run to build up a 7-point lead. Utah attempted to make a late comeback, behind the hot shooting of Gabe Madsen behind the 3-point line
With 38.2 seconds left to play, Deivon Smith got fouled and made two free throws, making it a 1-point game. On the ensuing Oregon possession, the Ducks missed and Utah pushed the ball up the court for a chance to win. After several passes, the final shot at the buzzer went to Ben Carlson in the corner.
It was a clean shot, but Carlson's attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced out, giving the Ducks a 66-65 win to closeout the season.
"You never want to lose, and there's no such thing in moral victories, but I thought we did a lot of things well tonight to give ourselves a chance to win this game," Craig Smith said.
Dante led the Ducks with 19 points and 12 rebounds to help Oregon split the series between the two teams in the final meeting as conference foes.
Despite leaving the game early, Branden Carlson led Utah with 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and five rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Smith added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists; and Madsen finished with 14 points, including four made 3-pointers.
Oregon started out the game making its first five shots of the night before Utah settled in and battled back. Utah reeled off a 7-0 run as Oregon went flat with its shot, making just 2-of-13 shot attempts as the Utes built up a lead.
Utah, though, wasn't able to put distance on Oregon due to turnovers and the team's penchant to get whistles called on them, sending the Ducks to the free-throw line. The Ducks hit at an 82% rate on 11 attempts to keep the game within distance.
The visiting Utes went into the halftime break with a 5-point lead, building it up to as high as 8 early in the second half before Carlson sustained his injury at the 17:02 mark.
"I thought we were clicking on both ends of the floor," Craig Smith said. "Certainly, when he got hurt we were a little bit — I don't know what the right word — wobbly, so to speak. And we just kind of had to recenter ourself and really dig into our training and trust one another. I thought we responded — we ended that game with five straight stops."
