LOS ANGELES -- A few weeks ago, Oregon was a .500 basketball team that had lost its first two conference games. There was nothing to that point to project the Ducks as a top Pac-12 contender this year.

But that was then.

Oregon has now reeled off five straight wins, including back-to-back road victories over No. 3 UCLA and No. 5 USC in the span of three days, after beating the Trojans convincingly Saturday night at Galen Center, 79-69

The Ducks (11-6, 4-2) are the first team since Clemson in January of 1976 with two wins over top-five teams on the road in a span of five days or less, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and the first Pac-12 team to ever do it.

“We needed a big week. Our guys knew that. I’ve been talking about a sense of urgency since the Baylor game and how we didn’t have any more room for error,” coach Dana Altman said, according to the AP. “I haven’t seen anything like it, but we needed something to jump start us.”

The Ducks weren't lacking for any jumpstart Saturday night.

They hit 7 of their first 10 shots (including 3 of 4 3-pointers) to jump out to an 18-8 lead just 5 minutes into the game, and pretty much remained in control the rest of the way.

Senior guard Will Richardson led the way with a season-high 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting (5 of 8 from 3-point range), including 19 points and a perfect 4-for-4 on 3s in the first half while staking Oregon to a 45-29 halftime lead.

De'Vion Harmon chipped in 16 points and center N'Faly Dante scored 12 on 6-of-7 shooting as the Ducks shot a crisp 50 percent for the game against one of the best defensive teams in the country.

In fact, USC came into the game fourth nationally in field goal percentage defenses (36.6 percent) but had no answers for Oregon on Saturday night.

The Trojans drew to within 5 points late in the first half when Boogie Ellis hit back-to-back 3s, but the Ducks immediately answered that with a 13-2 run to close the half up 45-29.

Richardson and Eric Williams Jr. hit big 3s in the final minute of the half to punctuate that strong start.

USC (14-2, 4-2) didn't mount much of a comeback the rest of the way. An 11-3 run, spurred by 7 points from Isaiah Mobley, got the Trojans to within 9 with a little less than 5 minutes to play, but they couldn't get it any closer.

Ellis and Mobley each scored 18 points to lead USC.

“USC made a couple runs, but we were able to keep pushing, playing hard and sticking to what we do. The trust between the team has grown the past couple of months,” Harmon said.

Indeed, there is no team hotter in the Pac-12 right now as Oregon moves into a tie for third in the conference standings.