by Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Oregon entered February as the hunted in the Pac-12 Conference.

The Ducks stood atop the conference standings entering the month, and held onto first place with Thursday's win over Colorado. The UO men had the motivational advantage of having lost to the Buffaloes in January; the tables will turned Sunday, when Utah comes to Matthew Knight Arena looking to avenge its loss to visiting Oregon last month, and bounce back from a wild defeat Thursday at Oregon State.

“If you have a good enough team, they'll respond to that,” UO coach Dana Altman said. “And Utah's competitive. They'll respond.”

Oregon faces the Utes on Sunday (1 p.m., ESPN2) with the chance to extend an historically strong start. A victory would get the Ducks to 20 wins earlier on the calendar than any season in program history except for 1944-45 — a unique campaign in which they got their 20th win in their 30th game, all by Jan. 13.

The Ducks' trademark under Altman has been to finish strong. But thanks to roster continuity that saw five key players return from 2014-15, the Ducks are 19-4 for the first time since 2007-08, and 8-2 in conference for the first time since 2001-02.

Both those teams went on to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. But Altman isn't ready to predict such a run for this year's team.

“We're not tough enough right now, (and) our consistency's not good enough,” Altman said after Thursday's 20-point win over Colorado, which entered this week in second-place in the Pac-12, a game behind the Ducks. “If that's going to happen, we're going to have to get a lot better. We're going to have to get a lot better in the next five weeks if we're going to finish this.

“If we stay the same or get too full of ourselves (we're in trouble), because other teams are going to get better. Teams are going to get better, and we'd better get better.”

Utah (17-6, 6-4) hopes to improve on its previous showing against the Ducks. In a 77-59 win last month, Oregon outshot the Utes, .549-.339, and had a 37-31 advantage on the boards. That despite Utah being second in the conference in shooting percentage (.486) and third in rebounding margin (plus-6.1) for the season entering this weekend.

The Ducks limited Utah post and big-time NBA prospect Jakob Poeltl to seven points on seven rebounds. The ability to contain him again could be heavily influenced by the availability of UO shot-blocker Chris Boucher, who injured his ankle late in Thursday's game.

“I think it's just a little bit of a tweak, hopefully,” Altman said Thursday. “He's become such an important part of our team.”

Boucher blocked six shots at Utah last month. Forward Dillon Brooks also helped defend the post that weekend, and led the Ducks with 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting against the Utes.

Oregon's depth — or, lack thereof — already was a factor in Altman's unwillingness to accept that the Ducks could be the Pac-12's flag-bearer this season. Point guard Dylan Ennis recently had a second foot surgery, and recently Altman has relied heavily on a seven-man rotation, including Boucher.

That rotation's toughness will be tested in the coming weeks. The Ducks need to be physically tough to keep holding their own defensively and on the boards, and mentally tough to continue the low-turnover offense they've been playing, and to handle the target on their backs that comes with leading the Pac-12.

“Now it's more pressure, because they think we're going to go in there and win,” UO senior Dwayne Benjamin said. “We're just going to play the same. We're going to continue to play our style of play — defending, rebound and play hard, and share the ball.”

If consistency and toughness are Altman's biggest concerns down the stretch, the Ducks can make a major statement against Utah on Sunday, by continuing their strong play of late and battling a tough Utes lineup led by the imposing presence of Poeltl.

“They need a win, we need a win,” UO sophomore Casey Benson said. “It's going to be a tough game. We've just got to come out with the same kind of energy, the same kind of intensity — continue to do what we've been doing.”