Oregon dusts Utah for Pac-12 championship
Tyler Dorsey scored 23 points, Dillon Brooks added 18 and No. 8 Oregon turned the Pac-12 championship game into an early rout, rolling over No. 12 Utah 88-57 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Oregon and Utah were the Pac-12’s top two teams in the regular season and held up through the conference tournament, setting up a matchup worthy of a neon marquee on the Strip.
Oregon (28-6) had 13 steals and scored 28 points off the Utes’ 20 turnovers to win its fourth Pac-12 tournament title.
The dominating performance gave Oregon its best record after 34 games since 1938-39 and put it in position for a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Ducks scored 19 points off Utah’s 13 turnovers and converted nine offensive rebounds into 11 more points.
Oregon had nine steals in the first half — several of those on weak passes by the Utes (26-8) — and took 20 more shots to lead 38-21 at the break.
In Kansas City, Mo., Devonte Graham scored 27 points to pace No. 1 Kansas (30-4) to an 81-71 victory over No. 9 West Virginia (26-8) in the championship game.
In Indianapolis, Denzel Valentine had 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds as No. 2 Michigan State (28-5) advanced to the tournament final with a 64-61 victory over No. 18 Maryland (25-8). ...
A.J. Hammons had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 13 Purdue (26-7) into the final with a 76-59 win over Michigan (22-12).
At Madison Square Garden in New York, Isaiah Whitehead scored 26 points as Seton Hall (25-8) held off No. 3 Villanova (30-4), a 69-67 victory giving the Pirates their first league-tournament title in 23 years.
Joel Berry scored 19 points and No. 7 North Carolina held No. 4 Virgina without a field goal for more than eight minutes in the second half as the Tar Heels (28-6) won their first league title since 2008 with a 61-57 win over the Cavaliers (26-7) in Washington.
Tonny Trocha-Morales scored 13 points as No. 17 Texas A&M (26-7) reached its first conference-tournament championship game since 1994 with a 71-38 rout of LSU (19-14).
In Las Vegas, Marvelle Harris scored 18 points as Fresno State (25-9) earned its first NCAA berth since 2001 with a 68-63 win over San Diego State (25-9).
Other conference champions were Middle Tennessee State (Conference USA), Hampton (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), Stony Brook (America East), Southern (Southwestern Athletic), Buffalo (Mid-American Conference) and Stephen F. Austin (Southland).