LAS VEGAS -- Dylan Ennis isn't new to conference tournaments. While he hasn't played in all of them, this week in Las Vegas is his sixth postseason go-around.

There isn't much that surprises him these days, not much could catch him off-guard.

So when the Arizona State Sun Devils kept things close with the top-seeded Oregon Ducks on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament, there wasn't a moment of panic from him and the Ducks. Yes, Oregon has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament hanging in the balance and a shot at repeating as Pac-12 tournament champions on the line. But by the end of Oregon's 80-57 win over the Sun Devils, the Ducks looked like a team that reached back and flipped the switch into March mode.

"We just want to win. It's do or die now," Ennis said. "You lose one game here and you go home. We ain't trying to go home."

The Ducks sent the eighth-seeded Sun Devils home thanks to a big win propelled by small guards. Two weeks after the Ducks grabbed 25 rebounds in a narrow win over Stanford, Oregon got 29 on Wednesday just from the players 6-foot-4 or shorter. Ennis had a career-high 12 to go along with his seven points. Tyler Dorsey, averaging three rebounds per game, had nine, plus 21 points and four assists. Freshman Payton Pritchard had eight points and six rebounds. Casey Benson added two.

Oregon Ducks men's basketball vs. Arizona State Sun Devils at Pac-12 tournament, March 9, 2017 81 Gallery: Oregon Ducks men's basketball vs. Arizona State Sun Devils at Pac-12 tournament, March 9, 2017

All together, the Ducks outrebounded the Sun Devils 48-29 in a game that looked close for 20 minutes before the Ducks ran a gassed ASU off the Strip.

"We knew that (they played a lot of minutes yesterday)," Ennis said. "We know those five or six guys play the bulk of their minutes and we just wanted to keep them running and hopefully their energy wore down."

Over the first 20 minutes it was hard to believe the Sun Devils had three players play more than 40 minutes less than 24 hours earlier in an overtime win over Stanford. The Ducks held just a three-point lead at the half as Torian Graham, who led all scorers with 30 points, lit up the Ducks from the three-point line. ASU shot 5 of 12 from long range in the first half and ran with the Ducks. The Sun Devils were 4 of 17 from distance in the second, as Oregon opened the half on a 12-2 run to begin to pull away.

"They were hitting tough shots. Torian Graham came out hot," Dorsey said. "We knew we had to run them off the three-point line. We got stops."

The Ducks shot 49 percent on the afternoon as Dorsey had one of the better games of his Oregon career. Not only did he tie his career high in rebounds, but his 21 points came primarily on drives to the hoop. Dorsey normally gets his points from long-range, but he was only 1 of 5 from three, opting to put his head down and get to the rim.

"If we're going to play a three-guard lineup, which we have consistently and at times four guards, they've got to really put themselves on the boards. They've got to block out against bigger guys. They've got to stick their nose in there all the time," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "I thought that really got Tyler going because he didn't shoot the three well. But I thought taking the ball to the basket because of his aggressiveness on the boards really helped him."

The commitment on the boards mixed with Oregon's offense -- Dillon Brooks scored 22 points -- quickly turned a close game into a blowout by the time the final horn sounded, sending the Ducks into a 6 p.m. Friday matchup against Cal, who beat Utah 78-75 on Thursday.

Oregon will be favored in that game once again, but Ennis learned a long time ago that rankings and favorites don't matter come March. Sometimes it comes down to who wants to stick around the longest -- or in this case, crash the boards the hardest.

"Me and Tyler, we're under 6-4 and there's no reason why we should be getting 12 and nine rebounds, but we made it our job to do it," he said. "It being my last year here, I'm doing whatever it takes to win."

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger