EUGENE, Ore. — One year ago, a ho-hum performance from Jon Brockman likely would have spelled doom for a Washington basketball team playing at McArthur Court.

But Oregon is no longer the dangerous, run-and-gun team that has been the definition of Ducks basketball throughout the Ernie Kent era.

And the Huskies are no longer the soft, go-away-easy road team that they so noticeably had been during the past two seasons.

Both of those facts were made obvious last night, as Isaiah Thomas and Justin Dentmon buoyed a UW fast-break attack that forced 20 Oregon turnovers en route to a 84-67 win in front of a less-than-intimidating Mac Court crowd of 8,327.

“I expected so much more,” Thomas said of the relatively meek crowd, after scoring a game-high 23 points in his first trip to Oregon. “I was kind of hyped up to see what they’ve got, and they really didn’t have anything.”

He could have been talking about the Ducks as well. Dentmon, Thomas and Venoy Overton spearheaded an attack-style defense that pressured Oregon into 12 first-half turnovers to fuel an up-tempo pace not played by the Huskies in this building since their last win here, a 75-72 triumph in 2006.

Now 0-5 in conference play and by themselves in the Pac-10 cellar, the Ducks may be longing for those days.

UO (6-11, 0-5 Pac-10) closed the first half by making five out of six free throw attempts, trailing by just three heading into the locker room.

But it was never really a game after that. Timely shooting by Dentmon — who finished with 22 points — and a better effort on the glass kept Oregon at arm’s length for the duration. The UW ultimately held a 44-38 edge despite being outrebounded 23-16 in the first frame.

“He’s playing like a senior,” Romar said of Dentmon. “That’s what you’re hopeful for: people grow through your program and finish doing things the right way. And so far he’s really doing a good job.”

And Brockman, even in the midst of a lackluster offensive performance during which he was bothered by the towering Michael Dunigan, scored 10 points and snagged 10 rebounds — enough to move him past Doug Smart as the Huskies’ all-time leading rebounder.

As impressive as he’s been during his UW career, Brockman’s efforts simply weren’t needed on this night. Quincy Pondexter seemingly lived around the rim, taking feeds in the post and running the floor to finish with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Washington was 6-15 from beyond the arc as a team, again improving its outside shooting out of necessity to pull out its second conference road win in as many tries.

“We put the time in, so it’s going to come,” Thomas said. “So if we’re open, and we’ve got the shot, most likely we’re going to knock it down. We’ve got the confidence to do that.”

Tajuan Porter, UO’s diminutive, long-range marksman, made his first start after a brief benching, but it would have been easy to miss. Porter scored just nine points on 3-12 shooting and turned the ball over three times, hassled all night by the most intense defensive performance the UW has turned in this season.

The Huskies (12-4, 3-1 Pac-10) showed no ill effects after Saturday’s triple-overtime loss to California, racing out to a 23-18 lead in the first half after trailing 15-11 five minutes into the game.

But the game was decided as the teams came out of the locker rooms for the second half, the Huskies looking like a Pac-10 contender, Oregon looking like a young team not yet ready to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball against a quality opponent.

“I just thought we came out ready, came out with energy,” said Romar. “I thought that kind of set the tone for the rest of the half.”

In a conference in which road wins are never easy to come by, they may have set the tone for the rest of the season.

Reach reporter Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.