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Eugene, Ore. • On one of his many cuts to the rim, Dillon Brooks stumbled through a double team. He lost the ball, and Kyle Kuzma dived for it, limbs sprawling as he fell to the hardwood.

Somehow, Brooks recovered the ball, and leapt for a quick layup. And that was the way things bounced for Oregon's star sophomore the entire second half.

While Utah's defense on him waxed and waned, Brooks was consistently great — making his case for Pac-12 player of the year with 30 points in a game against one of his toughest rivals for the honor.

"When you got somebody who can put it on the floor, take it to the rim and hit step-back threes, man that's tough," Kuzma said. "He's tough to guard."

The upshot for Utah is that it won't have to face Brooks again in the regular season. But Oregon's star finished the two-game series against Utah with 51 combined points, bringing his better night in the closing game.

It started out rocky: Brooks didn't score his first points until the 11:38 mark on a jumper. But once he found the current, he went with the flow.

He charged into the lane with confidence, making layups or passing baseline for easy dunks to Jordan Bell or Chris Boucher (who both had double-figure nights). He wasn't exactly clutch from 3-point range (2 for 7) but did enough to keep Utah honest.

He'd dazzle with a spin move against Jakob Poeltl, or hit a leaner off the glass while getting fouled. When Oregon got the ball into his hands, good things happened. He also got the ball into his hands himself at times, with two steals.

"I felt like he just stayed in the flow of the game the whole time," fellow sophomore Jordan Bell said. "We ran our offense, and once he saw a seam he took it and either found me on the baseline or somebody else and we finished."

While Brooks made some impossible shots look simple, for Poeltl, there wasn't much in the way of easy pickings. After Poeltl got his second foul, a charge, the Utes found it difficult to get him the ball.

Poeltl did make four of his five shots, and he added eight rebounds. But his 13 points were fewer than the Utes hoped and had a lot to do with Oregon picking off passes into the post. In doing so, the Ducks helped keep another Pac-12 player of the year candidate from reaching the 20-point mark in his fifth straight game.

Afterward, coach Dana Altman called Poeltl "a real talent." There was no need to say the same for Brooks — everyone knew.

"He's had some great games," Altman said. "This ranks right up there. It was a good performance."

Twitter: @kylegoon