The BYU-Oregon men’s basketball matchup at Portland’s Moda Center on Tuesday evening was billed as the “Phil Knight Invitational.”

The famous Nike founder and prominent Ducks booster probably spent most of the night wishing he could have found a way to rescind that invitation to the Cougars, who destroyed No. 12 Oregon 81-49 in front of stunned fans from both sides.

The game was supposed to be a big test for BYU early in the season and a resume builder against the Ducks, who were picked to finish second in the Pac-12 behind No. 2-ranked UCLA. Instead, the Cougars built a 22-point first half lead with a superb defensive effort and ran away with the victory.

“We’re chasing something really big,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “We’re trying to be great. We made a positive step tonight but we’ve got to go find a way to get better tomorrow. I kind of look at the start of the season (games against Cleveland State, San Diego State and Oregon) as a three-game package. We could have gone 0-3. It’s scary to start a season against three NCAA Tournament teams. For these guys to grow while winning, that’s pretty special.”

Alex Barcello was terrific for BYU, making his first eight shots and leading all scorers with 25 points on 9 of 11 from the field.

“It all starts off with my teammates,” Barcello said. “They can create space on the floor and they have a high IQ. Credit to all my guys. It’s so fun playing with them and I’m loving every second of it.”

Te’Jon Lucas added 12 points and three assists (and just one turnover). Spencer Johnson and freshman Fousseyni Treore had 10 points each, with Traore adding six rebounds and two blocks. Seneca Knight had nine points off the bench and also contributed six rebounds.

The Cougars finished the game shooting 59.6% (34 of 57) from the field as Lucas and Barcello dissected Oregon’s half court and full court defenses with ease.

Eric Williams Jr. led Oregon (2-1) with 12 points but the Ducks shot just 32% (17 of 53) from the field and committed 13 turnovers.

BYU played a strong defensive first half, holding Oregon – which averaged 85 points per game in its first two contests – to just 18 points on frigid 5 of 26 shooting (19%). With the score tied at 6, the Cougars went on a 9-0 run with two baskets from Traore and a 3-pointer from Barcello for a 15-6 lead at the 12:08 mark. The Ducks, desperate to change the game, jumped into a full-court press but BYU found plenty of ways to score against that tactic. A jump hook by Gavin Baxter made the score 25-11 with 6:25 remaining in the first half. The lead reached 20, 33-13, when Johnson beat the shot clock with a triple and moments later, Barcello dropped in a 3-pointer against the press for a 37-15 advantage. The Cougars took a 37-18 lead into the locker room.

Barcello was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field and scored 13 points in the first half.

It was more of the same in the second half, with the Cougars shooting 62% from the field. The closest the Ducks could get was 17 points, but BYU answered every Oregon basket with one of its own. Barcello’s 3-point play with 15:34 to play gave the Cougars a 47-24 lead and at that point his eight field goals were as many as the entire Oregon team.

With six minutes to play, Johnson tossed in a 3-pointer on one end, then chased down a loose ball after a BYU steal and dropped a behind-the-back pass to Gideon George for a dunk and a 70-44 lead. The lead ballooned to 31 points, 79-48, with 2:36 to play and Pope was able to clear his bench.

“We knew coming in that we had some real problems,” Pope said. “Oregon fixes themselves on the offensive glass. Their first two games, they just devoured the offensive glass. For whatever reason, they didn’t shoot the ball well early and we refused to let them fix it on the offensive glass or fix it in transition. Our guys were committed to ‘We’re not going to let you fix it that way, we’re going to try and make you fix it the hard way.'”

From @ESPNStatsInfo, BYU is the first unranked team to beat a Top 15 team away from home by 30-plus point since 1993 when UConn defeated Virginia. The 32-point victory is the Cougars largest margin ever over a ranked team.

“Every wins means lot to us,” Barcello said. “Obviously Oregon is a pretty highly ranked team with a lot of talented guys, so this definitely is a huge win for us. Starting off the season 3-0, that was our wish a few months ago. Now we’re here an it’s great to have three wins under belt. We need to move on. We’re happy about the win. It was a great scout but we’re moving on to the next game.”

BYU (3-0) will host Central Methodist, an NAIA team, on Saturday in the Marriott Center.

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