Pac-12 rewind: Arizona rolls as Washington State and Oregon keep pace while UCLA suffers gut-punch loss

Recapping the weekend action across the Pac-12 …

Theme of the week: Close calls

A season largely devoid of thrillers had a heavy load of riveting finishes: Six of the 12 games were decided by four points or less. Saturday alone, Oregon beat Oregon State on a dunk with one second remaining, Cal edged Washington on a 3-point shot with five seconds left and Colorado beat USC in double overtime. (It was, by far, the best sequence of games in a single day during round-robin play.) Then came the Sunday thriller in Pauley Pavilion, with Utah escaping on a last-second layup.

Theme of the season: Conference race

The leaders won, the pretenders lost and separation continued on the top shelf of the standings. Arizona maintained its one-game lead over sizzling WSU while the Cougars held onto their one-game cushion over Oregon. UCLA dropped a game back of the Ducks but is ahead of fifth-place Colorado. Then comes the mass of four teams tied for sixth place: Cal, ASU, Stanford and Utah.

Theme of the season II: NCAA bids

Arizona was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s early reveal, along with Purdue, UConn and Houston. (As expected, the Wildcats were the only Pac-12 team among the top 16 seeds.) Washington State strengthened its bubble position with a sweep of the Bay Area teams, while Utah and Colorado remain in at-large contention. The Hotline’s official Over/Under for total number of Pac-12 bids — both automatic and at-large — is a paltry 2.5.

Game of the week: Colorado 92, USC 89 (2OT)

One of the best games of the Pac-12 season included a healthy USC backcourt as Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier combined for 55 points and powered the Trojans to a 16-point lead with just 10 minutes remaining. But the Buffaloes rallied down the stretch and forced overtime with a dunk by Luke O’Brien in the final seconds. It was USC’s turn in overtime, as Collier’s layup with five seconds left forced another extra period. CU held on for the victory as neither team scored in the final minute of the second overtime.

Finish of the week: Utah 70, UCLA 69

The final game of the weekend provided a memorable conclusion — and a significant upset. A riveting stretch run went next-level when Keba Keita’s layup with 19 seconds left gave Utah a one-point lead. But UCLA reclaimed the advantage on Dylan Andrews’ jumper with six seconds on the clock. That was just enough time for one more basket. It came courtesy of Utah’s Branden Carlson, on a put-back at the buzzer. With the escape, Utah won its first conference road game and ended UCLA’s seven-game winning streak.

Blowout of forever: Arizona

The Wildcats decimated Arizona State 105-60 on Saturday evening, the largest margin of victory for either team in the rivalry’s 246-game history (and in stark contrast to last year’s game in Tucson, won by the Sun Devils on a 60-foot heave). It wasn’t lopsided early: With nine minutes left in the first half, the Wildcats had a mere two-point lead. But they ripped off a 34-13 surge and were in total control by the first media timeout of the second half. The rematch is Feb. 28 in Tempe.

Coach of the week: Cal’s Mark Madsen

Two days after a lopsided loss in Pullman, Madsen rallied his team for a first-rate effort in Seattle. The Bears made just enough plays in the late stages to beat Washington 82-80 and avenge a buzzer-beating loss to UW last month in Berkeley. Cal has seven conference wins, equalling its total from the previous two seasons combined.

Coach of the year: Washington State’s Kyle Smith

The Cougars extended their winning streak to seven games with a sweep of the Bay Area schools as Smith solidified his frontrunner status in the race for Pac-12 Coach of the Year. (Only Madsen is close.) Barring a late-season slide, Smith will be on the short list of candidates for national honors, as well — not to mention one of the hottest commodities on the market once the coaching carousel starts spinning in March.

Player of the week: Colorado’s KJ Simpson

 

One of the top point guards in the country produced a masterclass effort Saturday evening with 30 points (on just 17 field goal attempts), plus nine rebounds, five assists and a barrage of clutch plays in the double-overtime escape at USC. (He played 48 minutes.) We hesitated initially because Simpson played poorly in the loss at UCLA (four points) but, ultimately, determined he was the most deserving based on this week’s competition for the award.

Stats of the season: Colorado and Utah

The Mountain schools split in Los Angeles for a double dose of rare road success. CU is now 2-5 at sea level in conference play while the Utes are 1-6.

Stat of the decade: Oregon

The Ducks edged Oregon State 60-58 on a dunk by N’Faly Dante with one second remaining. It was Oregon’s third consecutive win in Corvallis by two points, following 78-76 and 69-67 victories the previous two years.

Stat of forever: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd

The blowout of ASU was Lloyd’s 81st victory with the Wildcats — the most in major-conference history by a coach in his first three seasons at a school, according to the Associated Press. Lloyd won 33 games in the 2021-22 season, his first, then 28 last year — and has added 20 more to the collection since November.

Game of next week: Washington State at Arizona (Thursday)

It’s not a stretch to call this showdown the game of the year in the conference, at least to this point. The Cougars won the duel in Pullman last month by three points and are the Pac-12’s hottest team. A victory would give them a slight edge in the race for the No. 1 seed in Las Vegas, based on the head-to-head results, and fortify their NCAA resume. An Arizona win would give the Wildcats a two-game lead and effectively lock up the No. 1 seed. Of note: WSU won in Tucson last season, by 13 points.