Pac-12 Opponent Review: Week 5

With Cal’s win this weekend they pulled ahead of Washington St. and entered into the 11th spot in the conference. Taking a look at the upcoming schedule let’s see how much higher the Bears could possibly climb before the end of the season

Colorado (13-10, Conference 5-6)

‘The Buffaloes played Utah at home in their only game of this week. They dominated the last 10 minutes of the second half, outscoring the Utes 15-5 and never really looked back after that. Colorado’s Freshman, McKinley Wright, had 21 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists to led the team. He was one of 3 Buffs’ with double-digit point totals. For the Utes, they were led by Senior Justin Bibbins who had 7 points but 6 rebounds and 4 assist. Utah had NO players who ended with double digits in any stat line besides minute totals.

Upcoming Games: vs. Cal (Feb 7th at Home), vs. Stanford (Feb 11th at Home)

UTAH (13-9, Conference 5-6)

Upcoming Games: vs. Stanford (Feb 8th at Home), vs. Cal (Feb 10th at Home)

Stanford (13-11, Conference 7-4)

Although it pains me to write, Stanford has been playing good basketball lately. Aside from a 3 game losing streak a few weeks ago, the Cardinals have been trending upwards. This week they won two home games against Oregon St. and Oregon. Reid Travis and Dorian Pickens led the Cardinals to victory by dominating the scoring and rebound columns. While Stanford pulled ahead of Oregon State early and managed to stave off the Beavers comeback attempts, they straight up dominated Oregon throughout the entire game.

Upcoming Games: vs. Utah (Feb 8th at Utah), vs. Colorado (Feb 11th at Colorado).

Washington State (9-13, Conference 1-9)

The Cougars lost to Arizona and Arizona State in both home games last week to add to their now 5 game losing streak. Both losses were by at least 10 points or more. The Cougars’ had some positive takeaways in Robert Franks and Malachi Flynn. Despite their bright spots, Washington State just couldn’t get any traction against either of the Southwest teams.

Upcoming Games: vs. Oregon St. (Feb 8th at Oregon St.), vs. Oregon (Feb 11th at Oregon)

Washington (17-6, Conference 7-3)

The Huskies pulled off two big wins at home this week against Arizona St. and Arizona. While the margin of victory for both games was within 5 points, they were nonetheless solid performances for Washington that added on to their now 4 game win streak. Leading Washington was Junior Noah Dickerson. Against the Sun Devils Dickerson had 21 points and 16 rebounds and against the Wildcats, he had 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 block. Look for him to cause trouble for the Bears in their upcoming matchup.

Upcoming Games: vs. Oregon (Feb 8th at Oregon), vs. Oregon St. (Feb 10th at Oregon St.)

Arizona State (17-6, Conference 5-6)

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once ranked #3, Arizona State is currently ranked 25th and is in 7th place in the Pac-12. Splitting the difference this weekend against Washington and Washington St. certainly isn’t going to help boost them back into the upper echelon either. While the Sun Devils have continued to be solid, their depth has become an issue. Especially with Remy Martin’s recent slump (with 4 points on 1-5 against Washington and 10 points on 3-6 against Washington St.). Look for the Bears to exploit this slump as their last meeting was close as is.

Upcoming Games: vs. USC (Feb 8th at Home), vs. UCLA (Feb 10th at Home)

Arizona (19-5, Conference 9-2)

This is the Zona team everyone expected to see at the start of the season. Aside from their loss to Washington this weekend, the Wildcats have only lost 2 games since the end of November. And while Washington beat them this weekend, it was only by 3 points compared to the 28 point pounding Arizona gave Washington State. I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait to see Marcus Lee and Kingsley Okoroh battle it out against Deandre Ayton again, especially after the way they have been playing recently.

Upcoming Games: vs. UCLA (Feb 8th at Home), vs. USC (Feb 10th at Home)

What matchups are you most looking forward to Cal fans?