Conference Update: Ducks rise, Beavs win and Women’s Tourney update

Welcome back to 750 The Game’s Conference Update, brought to you by Pacific Seafood, the official meat & seafood provider of the Pac-12 Conference.

This week’s update:

Ducks men’s hoops on the rise

Chris Duarte (pictured above) scored a team-high 18 points as Oregon topped Colorado on Thursday night 60-56.  It was  the fourth straight win  for Dana Altman’s program, and also their sixth straight home win over the Buffaloes.  The Ducks  look to make it five overall consecutive wins Saturday hosting Utah (6pm, Pac-12 Network).  Oregon will travel to face 17th-ranked USC – the only currently ranked team in the conference – on Monday February 22nd in Los Angeles.  That game is a rescheduled affair from a Jan. 30th postponed due to covid-19 protocol.  Monday’s tip off is scheduled for 6pm on FS1.

Beavs bounce back

Ethan Thompson  scored  a game-high 25 points,  and the Beavers  used a big second half to pull away from the Utah Utes on Thursday night at Gill Coliseum, winning 74-56.  Oregon State snapped a three-game losing streak, led by its defense forcing 20 turnovers, and shooting a stellar 52% from the floor in the second half.  The Beavs  are back headed in the right direction with an 11-10 overall mark, 7-8 in conference,  and  host Colorado on Saturday (5pm, ESPNU).

Duck women face tough stretch

The schedule intensified this week for  Kelly Graves and the No.13 Oregon Ducks, who narrowly dropped a contest Monday night at home to No.6 Stanford, 63-61.  Oregon traveled to face 8th-ranked UCLA on Friday night, but  struggled early and couldn’t recover against the Bruins.  The Ducks face USC in  Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon before hosting Oregon State in the rivalry game the following Sunday, Feb. 28th.

Pac-12 Women’s  Tournament schedule update

The conference announced a schedule update to the women’s  tournament set for early March  in Las Vegas.  The  tournament  now  will begin  Wed. March 3rd, and feature an open date on Sat., March 6th, to allow for any schedule adaptations resulting from covid-19 protocols, before the championship game scheduled on  Sun., March 7th (5pm,  ESPN2).  All games  will be played from the Michelob UTLRA arena at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Vegas.  The men’s tournament is still scheduled to be played March 10th through 13th  at T-Mobile Arena in Las  Vegas.

Tune in to the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano every Friday for your Conference Update brought to you by Pacific Seafood, and found right here on 750TheGame.com.