The Washington student section dressed for a party. Wearing cone-shaped party hats, purple beads and sunglasses, they rang in the New Year with the Huskies men's basketball team, which celebrated a thrilling 76-60 victory against Oregon on Saturday.

Behind a career-high-tying 24 points from C.J. Wilcox, Washington improved to 8-5 and 2-0 in the Pac-12 in front of 9,597 at Edmundson Pavilion.

The sophomore guard came off the bench for the second straight game, but started in the second and scored 15 points. He also connected on 6 of 8 three-pointers.

Wilcox said it doesn't matter if he starts or comes off the bench.

"Since I did it last year so much, I'm used to coming off the bench ready to shoot," he said. "It wasn't too big of a transition."

Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said this week that some players couldn't handle not starting, but Wilcox isn't one of them.

"If C.J. starts or if he comes off the bench or if he plays with any combination that we have, he's going to do the same thing," Romar said. "He's just so versatile and adapts so well because he can shoot the ball."

Wilcox provided the big baskets while the Huskies stymied the Ducks defensively.

Washington held Oregon to 32.3 percent shooting from the field and 21.7 percent (5 of 23) on three-pointers. The Ducks' leading scorer, Devoe Joseph, was 1 of 13 and finished with a season-low four points.

The Huskies converted 15 turnovers into 22 points. And when they didn't force turnovers, center Aziz N'Diaye made sure Oregon had difficulty scoring at the rim.

Late in the first half, he swatted a layup from Ducks guard Jonathan Loyd and rejected a putback attempt from forward Olu Ashaolu seconds later.

On UW's ensuing possession, Tony Wroten Jr. whipped a no-look pass beneath the basket to Abdul Gaddy, who sank a layup to put Washington ahead 28-22 with 6:11 left in the half.

The Huskies led 41-30 at halftime, and they appeared to be in control of the game when Wroten and Ashaolu got tangled beneath the UW basket with 15:50 left.

Wroten fell to the floor, and the players exchanged words while jogging down court before being separated by Darnell Gant and officials. The referees assessed technicals to Gant and Ashaolu.

Oregon, which trailed 47-36 at the time of the altercation, followed with an 8-1 run to cut its deficit to 48-44.

The Huskies answered with an 11-2 spurt that included two three-pointers from Wilcox and one from Terrence Ross to surge ahead 59-46. Washington converted a season-high-tying 12 of 22 three-point shots.

Wroten finished with 17 points, five assists and four rebounds, Abdul Gaddy added 12 points and Ross had 11.

"This game was won on the defensive end," Romar said. "And obviously C.J. Wilcox gave us a big lift because of his scoring and his defense."

Wroten capped the win in the final seconds. During a scramble he came up with a loose ball and raced the length of the court for a layup. On the ensuing possession, Oregon quickly pushed the ball down the court and Joseph appeared to have an open three-pointer before Wroten raced from behind and blocked the shot.

E.J. Singler led Oregon (10-4, 1-1) with 20 points and Garrett Sim had 13.

"This was good," said Romar. "We're 2-0 (in conference), but we've got to keep getting better."

The Huskies next play at Colorado (9-4, 1-0) Thursday in their first Pac-12 game away from home.

"We've got to get to a point where we can go on the road and not change how we play at all," said Romar, whose team is 0-4 away from home this season. "Still continue to defend, take care of the ball and do the things that are necessary to be the best we can be in any situation.

"We're not there yet, but 2-0 beats the alternative."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

Box score

OREGON (10-4)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Ashaolu	25	2-8	2-3	6-12	0	3	6
Singler	32	7-16	4-4	3-9	2	0	20
Sim	34	4-10	2-2	0-1	3	0	13
Loyd	17	0-1	2-2	0-1	2	3	2
Joseph	34	1-13	2-2	1-3	3	1	4
Kingma	12	0-3	0-0	1-1	0	2	0
Jacob	13	4-6	0-1	0-1	0	0	8
Emory	15	1-4	3-5	2-2	0	4	5
Woods	18	1-1	0-0	1-5	1	0	2
	200	20-62	15-19	15-36	11	13	60

Percentages: FG .323, FT .789. Three-point goals: 5-23, .217 (Sim 3-8, Singler 2-7, Kingma 0-1, Emory 0-2, Joseph 0-5). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 3 (Woods 3). Turnovers: 15 (Sim 5, Singler 3, Ashaolu 2, Loyd, Emory, Woods, Jacob, Joseph). Steals: 6 (Sim 2, Kingma 2, Emory, Joseph). Technical fouls: Ashaolu.

WASHINGTON (8-5)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Gant	17	0-2	0-0	2-4	1	3	0
N'Diaye	29	4-7	0-0	0-6	0	3	8
Gaddy	27	4-5	1-3	0-1	3	3	12
Wroten	34	7-15	3-8	0-4	5	1	17
Ross	27	4-9	0-0	1-3	1	4	11
Stewart	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Breunig	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	2
Wilcox	33	8-11	2-2	0-3	2	4	24
Simmons	29	1-4	0-0	1-6	3	0	2
	200	29-54	6-13	6-34	15	18	76

Percentages: FG .537, FT .462. Three-point goals: 12-22, .545 (Wilcox 6-8, Gaddy 3-3, Ross 3-5, Gant 0-1, Simmons 0-2, Wroten 0-3). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 5 (N'Diaye 3, Wroten, Wilcox). Turnovers: 15 (N'Diaye 3, Wilcox 3, Gaddy 3, Wroten 2, Ross 2, Simmons, Gant). Steals: 7 (Ross 2, N'Diaye 2, Wroten, Simmons, Wilcox). Technical fouls: Gant.

Oregon	30	30	—	60
Washington	41	35	—	76

Attendance: 9,597. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Mike Littlewood, Mike Scyphers.