EUGENE — Oregon forward Arsalan Kazemi had seen enough.
Trailing 30-22 to Utah at the half, Kazemi made an impassioned locker-room plea: The Ducks’ three-game losing streak needed to end right there.
Kazemi’s speech resonated with his teammates, and No. 19 Oregon took charge midway through the second half to beat the Utes 73-64 on Saturday.
“I realized that was the time," said Kazemi, a senior transfer who finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds for his sixth double-double with the Ducks. “We needed someone to stand up."
E.J. Singler had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Ducks, (19-5, 8-3 Pac-12), who had been on a slide after opening conference play with seven straight victories and climbing as high as No. 10 in the rankings.
Freshman Damyean Dotson, who added 16 points for Oregon, said he had never seen Kazemi so animated as he was at halftime.
‘"He said, ‘We’ve got to go out there and show it. We can’t just talk about it,’ " Dotson said.
The Ducks pulled in front midway through the second and extended its lead to 53-45 on Carlos Emory’s tip-in with 6:32 left. The Ducks scored 51 second-half points and led by as many as 13 points down the stretch.
Jason Washburn had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Utes (10-13, 2-9), who lost their second straight after a victory over Colorado, which upset Oregon 48-47 on Thursday night. The Buffaloes scored the final eight points to snap Oregon’s 20-game winning streak at home.
“We finally hit some shots," Oregon coach Dana Altman said about the turnaround. “Dot(son) got on a roll there, E.J. hit a couple, and although we didn’t shoot a very good percentage, it was good to see the ball go through the net a little bit."
The Ducks were without freshman point guard Dominic Artis for the fifth straight game because of a left foot injury. He averages 10.2 points and a team-leading 3.8 assists for the Ducks, and his steadying influence has been missed.
Also on Saturday:
Stanford 62
Arizona State 59
TEMPE, Ariz. — Dwight Powell scored 22 points, Stanford made 10 of 18 3-pointers and the Cardinal held on to beat Arizona State. Stanford (15-9, 6-5 Pac-12) won for the fourth time in five games, and sixth straight over Arizona State, earning a split in the desert after losing 73-66 at No. 7 Arizona Wednesday night.
UCLA 76
Washington State 62
LOS ANGELES — Shabazz Muhammad scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half, when UCLA took control on its way to routing Washington State for the Bruins’ second straight victory overall and seventh in a row over the Cougars.
