With the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball season halfway completed, the line separating contenders and pretenders is becoming clearer and clearer. While some teams are beginning to hit their stride (Washington, Arizona), others are faltering (Stanford, Oregon State). We check in with each of them as they enter the stretch run before March Madness.
At 18-4 overall, the Arizona Wildcats look to be one of the favorites as the Pac-10 Tournament approaches. Sitting atop the conference tied with Washington at 7-2 in league play, Arizona has won six of its last seven outings, including a home sweep of USC and UCLA this past weekend. A tough road test to the Bay Area is next on the schedule, but the Wildcats beat Cal, 73-71, and Stanford, 67-57, in early January. Sophomore forward Derrick Williams ranks second in the Pac-10 with 19.8 points, while grabbing 7.6 boards per game.
Washington (15-5, 7-2) sits atop the Pac-10, and currently sports the best AP Top 25 ranking in the conference (No. 20). The Huskies hit a roadblock Sunday, however, as they fell at the hands of in-state rival Washington State. It was the very definition of a sloppy night; Washington shot just 36.4 percent from the field and turned the ball over 24 times.
Before Sunday’s slip-up, the Huskies had been coasting. They had won three straight, each by an average of 17 points. This week brings road matchups with Oregon State and Oregon, where they will attempt to right the ship.
The California sun is shining brighter for the Bruins (14-7, 6-3), who have now won five of their last six games. The latest victory, a 73-72 overtime triumph over Arizona State, was closer than head coach Ben Howland may have liked, but UCLA still sits comfortably at third in the conference. The team’s only loss since Jan. 9 came against Arizona last Thursday. Much of this success can be attributed to rebounding, as the Bruins rank second in the Pac-10 with 37.3 boards per game.
The Cougars (15-6, 5-4) needed something to get the bad taste out of their mouths after a frustrating loss to Arizona on Jan. 22. As it turned out, that something was a win over the best team in the conference. Taking advantage of their home court, the Cougars shot 48.4 percent for the game while frustrating the Washington offense into a plethora of turnovers. Heading to Oregon this week, Washington State sits just behind UCLA at fourth in the conference.
The Golden Bears (12-9, 5-4) have won three straight games, and head into this week fresh off a sweep of the Oregon schools. Mike Montgomery’s squad is still just fifth overall in the conference standings, but it will have plenty of chances to move up as the second half of the season plays out. They may not dominate the stat sheet, but the Golden Bears will be dangerous headed down the stretch.
The Trojans (12-10, 4-5) have been a model of inconsistency throughout the season. Since conference play began, they have yet to register a winning streak longer than two games, and some of the losses have been puzzling. Kevin O’Neill’s squad was swept during its road trip to Oregon, and barely eked out a victory over bottom-feeder Arizona State last Thursday.
In a loss to Arizona on Saturday, junior forward Nikola Vucevic had an interesting diagnosis for the team’s troubles.
“I felt like we played like women,” Vucevic told The Los Angeles Times. “We didn’t play hard at all. Every single one of us played like women.”
The Lady Trojans (13-7, 5-4) might disagree with that statement.
The Cardinal (11-9, 4-5) avoided a five-game losing streak with a 70-56 victory over Oregon State on Saturday. While the defense sits atop the Pac-10 and allows just 60.7 points per game, the offense has struggled mightily. Back on Jan. 20, USC held the Cardinal to a season-low 42 points, and the team averaged just 54 points during the losing skid. Saturday’s win marked the first time Stanford broke the 70-point mark since Jan. 2
Oregon has already surprised a lot of people with its strong play this season. Though the Ducks sit eighth in the league at 3-6 in Pac-10 play, those three wins were hard-fought. They split their weekend series by beating Stanford and falling to Cal last weekend, and face an equally difficult test in returning home to face Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Saturday. It appears Oregon is getting healthier with Joevan Catron and Jeremy Jacob each playing quality minutes this past weekend — they’ll both be needed when the Cougars and Huskies visit Matthew Knight Arena.
With just one win in their last seven games, the Beavers are fighting to right the ship. After this weekend’s road trip to the Bay Area, however, one might argue that they are taking steps backward. The team shot just 30.5 percent from the field in a 70-56 loss to Stanford on Saturday, worse even than its 32.2 percent output in an 85-57 loss to California last Thursday.
Frustrations abound for the Sun Devils (9-12, 1-8), who have lost five games in a row. The most recent defeat came in an overtime heartbreaker against UCLA, during which the team shot just 37.3 percent from the floor. Scoring has been a problem all season for Arizona State, and the team currently ranks ninth in the Pac-10 in scoring offense (63.8 points per game). Things will not get any easier this week, as the Sun Devils head to the Bay Area for road games against California and Stanford.
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