Jermaine Couisnard’s 18 points and a strong defensive effort from led Oregon to a 68-56 win over Utah on Saturday night in Eugene, Ore.The Ducks (13-9, 7-4 Pac-12) swept the season series and have now won 11 straight games against the Utes (15-8, 8-4).Oregon got an emotional lift from the presence of center N’Faly Dante, who sat out the Ducks’ win over Colorado on Thursday with a knee injury sustained during pregame warmups. Dante, a promising talent who has dealt with knee injuries throughout his college career, came off the bench for nine points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes.Lazar Stefanovic led Utah with 14 points and the Ducks’ leading scorer, Branden Carlson, added 13. But Utah lost one of its top scorers, Gabe Madsen, less than two minutes into the game due to a leg injury.Madsen limped to the locker room and later returned to the bench but did not play again.Oregon led 62-46 after a Couisnard jumper with 4:02 to play. The Utes responded with an 8-0 run to make things a little more interesting, but there wasn’t enough time for Utah to catch up.Will Richardson hit two 3-pointers as part of his 12 points for the Ducks, with one coming just before halftime to give Oregon a 36-25 lead. The other trey came with 11 seconds left in the game to ice the win. Richardson added seven assists.
