Around the Pac-12: Week 11 (Basketball)

Story posted February 4, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Cole Koffler

A big week of Pac-12 basketball is upon us with multiple top-five matchups happening throughout the conference.

USC is involved in two such games, as the Trojans played Stanford on Tuesday and will play crosstown rival UCLA on Sunday. USC is coming off of a come-from-behind win over a Stanford team trying to crack the NCAA Tournament. Evan Mobley led the scoring for the Trojans with 23 points, and Tahj Eaddy hit a dagger of a 3-pointer in the final minute to seal the game for the Trojans.

Meanwhile, UCLA makes its way across the 405 freeway to meet the Trojans at the Galen Center in a battle for Pac-12 supremacy.

The Bruins have been on top of the Pac-12 all season and are coming off of a close win versus Oregon State. UCLA controlled the whole game but held off a furious Oregon State comeback to remain on top of the conference. Cody Riley led the way for the Bruins, recording 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Oregon Ducks now have some games under their belt and are now showing what they’re capable of. Although they lost to rival Oregon State, they fought off Utah in a shootout and impressed with a blowout win over Stanford. The Ducks now have Arizona State and Arizona next week in what will be a statement if they can beat the two Arizona schools.

Stanford has shocked multiple teams in the Pac-12 this year, but a team that will help boost their tournament résumé is Arizona. The Wildcats were beat by the Cardinal last week but quickly bounced back and blew out the Cal Golden Bears. Although they’re ineligible for the postseason, the Wildcats are still looking to extend their fourth-place margin with a big win over a determined Colorado Buffaloes team.

Stanford is still trying to make its furious push to the tournament, but the Cardinal will have to get results to go their way. The Cardinal have back-to-back games versus Cal and a huge matchup versus Colorado after that. The Pac-12’s leading scorer, Oscar da Silva, is finding ways to put up numbers to wield his team into the bubble.

A big week is upon us for Pac-12 basketball. An underrated conference that is always fun to watch will go down to the wire once again.

 

Cole Koffler is a freshman majoring in communications. To contact him, email colekoff13@gmail.com.