Pac-12 Recap: Oregon stomps Arizona in first-place showdown

Los Angeles Versus the State of Washington (UCLA 2-0, USC 2-0, Washington 0-2, Washington State 0-2)

Predictably, the UCLA Bruins traveled to Pullman and dispatched of the Washington State Cougars 95-79. Ike Iroegbu’s 20 points on 8 of 12 from the field and Conor Clifford’s 16 points on 8 of 9 from the field were not enough to overcome a monster performance by TJ Leaf who poured in 32 points on 14 of 18 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds.

During the first half of the meeting between the USC Trojans and Washington Huskies, it looked like USC was going to suffer a crushing blow to their chances of making the NCAA Tournament as they found themselves down 37-27. The Trojan offense exploded for 55 points in the second half to pull out an 82-74 win. Bennie Boatwright led the way with 23 points in 21 minutes on 7 of 10 shooting. Potential number-one pick in the NBA Draft Markelle Fultz led Washington with 20 points, but shot just 7 of 17 from the field.

The Bruins completed the Washington sweep by absolutely obliterating the Huskies 107-66. UCLA put up 50 in each half and were led by another monster game from Leaf, who scored 20 points on 9 of 13 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds. Bryce Alford chipped in 21 points on 5 of 8 from the field. Aaron Holiday had a great game from the bench with 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting. Fultz scored 25 on 9 of 19 shooting, while knocking down 50 percent of his three-point shots. Fultz received little help from his teammates though.

The Cougars are below .500 now for the season, but they are really competitive for the most part. They suffered another close loss, though, this time it was an 86-77 loss to the Trojans. Chimezie Metu was an unstoppable monster with 29 points and 8 rebounds on 12 of 14 shooting. Iroegbu scored 22 points to lead the Cougars, but it wasn’t enough to grab the victory.

The Desert Versus the Oregon Schools (Arizona 1-1, Arizona State 1-1, Oregon 2-0, Oregon State 0-2)

The Arizona Wildcats, unbeaten in conference play, traveled to Corvallis to take on the winless in conference Oregon State Beavers, and the result was what you would expect. Or at least the second half went as expected. The Wildcats were actually down by two points at halftime, but the outgunned Beavers couldn’t hold on against an Arizona onslaught in the second half. Allonzo Trier led the Wildcats in scoring with 18 points, while Dusan Ristic added 10 as the only other Arizona player to reach double digits in scoring. Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 16 to lead Oregon State.

The Oregon Ducks survived a scare against the Arizona State Sun Devils by just one point in a thrilling 71-70 game. Torian Graham made a three-point shot to put Arizona State up one point with 3:40 remaining on the clock, but Dillon Brooks took over from there. Brooks scored Oregon’s next 12 points to ensure they would avoid the shocking upset loss. Tra Holder would make two free-throws to tie the game at 66 with 1:44 remaining, but Brooks responded with a three-pointer of his own and another two-point jumper to put the game away for the Ducks. Shannon Evans the II led the Sun Devils with 28 points, while Brooks scored 27 for the Ducks.

What was being looked at as a titanic clash of national heavyweights ended being a titanic thrashing. Oregon took Arizona out back and ended the fight with one punch. Oregon led 38-11 with 4:28 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats would end the half on a 7-0 run the rest of the way, but still found themselves down by 20. The Wildcat offense showed up in the second half with 40 points, but the defense still could do nothing to slow the Oregon attack as they surrendered 47. The Ducks shot a scorching hot 65.2 percent from the field and connected on 64 percent of three-point attempts. Tyler Dorsey was the star man for the Ducks as he knocked down 7 of 9 shots, including a perfect 6 of 6 from downtown, for a game-high 23 points. Oregon took control of first place in the Pac-12 with this victory.

Arizona State handled its business against Oregon State 81-68 behind great performances from Evans II (21 points), Holder (19 points), and Graham (21 points). Drew Eubanks was the star performer of the night, though, as he poured in 22 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for Oregon State.

The Mountain Schools Travel to the Bay Area (Cal 2-0, Stanford 1-1, Colorado 1-1, Utah 0-2)

In a game that seemed as though it would never end, the California Golden Bears notched an important victory over the Utah Utes 77-75 in double-overtime thanks to a Charlie Moore to Jabari Bird alley-oop with just a few seconds remaining in the contest. Bird notched 26 points and was massive in the overtime periods, while Moore chipped in with 17 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Ivan Rabb added another double-double to his total with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Kyle Kuzma led the way for Utah with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

The Colorado Buffaloes won their third consecutive conference game 81-74 against the Stanford Cardinal after losing their first seven. Xavier Johnson and Derrick White combined for 38 points on 12 of 19 shooting, while Marcus Sheffield led Stanford with 19 points despite not starting the game.

Utah’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament took a massive blow as they suffered a shocking 81-75 upset against Stanford. The Utes had no answer for Reid Travis down low, as he scored 26 points in 25 minutes on 11 of 15 from the field. Stanford’s most impressive performer was Tyler Rawson who scored 20 points (on just 7 shots) in 20 minutes off of the bench.

Cal roared out to a monster lead in the first half of their matchup with Colorado, but the Buffs stormed back in the second half thanks to a huge run early on. Cal never relinquished the lead, though, and were able to do enough to hold off the Buffs for a 77-66 win. Rabb recorded another double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Moore added 17 points and 8 assists. White tried to do-it-all for the Buffs as he took 18 shots and scored 25 points.

Standings

Oregon: 10-1, 21-3

Arizona: 10-1, 21-3

UCLA: 8-3, 21-3

California: 8-3, 17-6

USC: 7-4, 20-4

Utah: 6-5, 15-8

Stanford: 4-7, 12-11

Washington State: 4-7, 11-12

Arizona State: 4-7, 11-13

Colorado: 3-8, 13-11

Washington: 2-9, 9-14

Oregon State: 0-11, 4-20

Up Next

California at Arizona State, Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ESPNU

Stanford at Arizona, Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports 1

Washington State at Utah, Thursday at 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Network

Washington at Colorado, Thursday at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports 1

Oregon at UCLA, Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN

Oregon State at USC, Thursday at 8 p.m. on Pac-12 Network

Washington at Utah, Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Fox Sports 1

Stanford at Arizona State, Saturday at 5 p.m. on Pac-12 Network

California at Arizona, Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2

Oregon at USC, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Network

Oregon State at UCLA, Sunday at 2 p.m. on Fox Sports 1

Washington State at Colorado, Sunday at 5:30 on ESPNU