Utah Utes vs. Oregon Ducks Pick & Prediction JANUARY 21st 2024

Oregon hopes to get back on track Sunday at Utah in Salt Lake City after suffering its first Pac-12 loss of the season.

Host Colorado delivered an 86-70 setback to the Ducks (13-4, 5-1 Pac-12) on Thursday with their 13 turnovers leading to 24 points for the Buffaloes.

The Ducks were outrebounded 37-25, and Colorado had a 40-28 advantage with points in the paint.

“We got outrebounded, gave up way too many easy baskets in transition,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “They got to the rim whenever they wanted. Just disappointed with our competitiveness in the first half.”

Reserve Jadrian Tracey was Oregon’s leading scorer with 14.

Jermaine Couisnard was the only Ducks starter to score in double figures, posting 11 points.

Oregon is 4-4 away from its home court in Eugene — including 1-3 on a neutral court. The Ducks suffered their first loss in a true road game against Colorado.

Utah (13-5, 4-3) improved to 10-0 at home this season with Thursday’s 74-47 win over Oregon State.

The Utes established control over the Beavers by going on an 18-3 run to close the first half. Oregon State was scoreless for more than 10 minutes during the run.

Craig Smith’s team dominated the Beavers, despite playing without starting point guard Rollie Worster and reserve forward Lawson Lovering, both of whom have lower-leg injuries.

Their status for Sunday’s game is uncertain.

“It’s been a little bit of a — I don’t know what the right word is — maybe a little bit of a turbulent week?” Smith said after the Oregon State game. “We’ve had to do a lot of different things this week with the injuries to Worster and Lawson Lovering. I’m really proud of our effort. I thought we really, really competed hard.”

Keba Keita finished with a game-high 18 points to go with a career-high 15 rebounds.

Branden Carlson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and also pulled down 10 rebounds.

Deivon Smith, who had a triple-double in a loss at Stanford last week, had 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds in his second start in place of Worster.

–Field Level Media