Pac-12 Conference Rundown: Raising Arizona

Arizona (+1100) has the fifth-best odds to win the national title and UCLA (+1200) is seventh at (+1200) in the March Madness odds.

Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin (+2200) has the best odds in the Pac-12 to win the national player of the year. UCLA’s Johnny Juzang is at +4000.

Game of the Week

UCLA Bruins at Stanford Cardinal

• Date, time, TV: Tuesday, 11 p.m. ET, ESPN

Stanford (14-8, 7-5 in the Pac-12) will play host to No. 12 UCLA on a Tuesday night game airing on ESPN2. The Cardinal have won three of the last five meetings against the Bruins. Stanford has won the last four times that the Bruins have made the trip to Palo Alto, including a 73-72 win in 2021. Nine of the last 11 games in the series have gone over the total.

UCLA (16-4, 8-3) had dropped its last two games to Stanford before rolling to a 23-point home win on Jan. 29 as an 11½-point favorite according to the college basketball spreads. UCLA hasn’t swept the regular-season series since the 2014-15 campaign.

The Bruins have dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season, losing at Arizona and Arizona State. UCLA had won its previous six games and covered in the last four. UCLA was undefeated in true road games before the losses to the Wildcats and Sun Devils. Stanford is 10-2 at home.

Here’s a team-by-team breakdown with some information and trends to consider for those who bet online.

Arizona Wildcats

No. 4 Arizona has won four of the last five meetings with Arizona State and covered in three of the last four.

Five of the last six games against Arizona State have gone under the total.

Arizona (19-2, 9-1) has won eight of its last nine games, although the Wildcats have only covered in four of those. Seven of their last eight games went under the total.

The Wildcats will also play at Washington State on Thursday. The Wildcats have won 17 of the last 18 meetings and are 15-3 against the spread over that stretch.

Azuolas Tubelis, who had 18 points in the previous three games combined, averaged 16 points and eight rebounds as Arizona posted back-to-back wins over then-No. 3 UCLA and then-No. 19 USC.

Arizona State Sun Devils

In the last two games when Arizona State played host to Arizona, the game was decided by either one or two points. The Sun Devils have won two of the last three meetings with Arizona in Tempe.

Arizona State (7-13, 3-7) is coming off one of the biggest upsets of the Pac-12 season in its last game, taking down UCLA as a 10-point underdog. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Sun Devils, who had failed to to score more than 58 points in each of their last three games before lighting up UCLA for 98. Nine of the last 11 Arizona State games have gone under the total.

Arizona State will also play at Washington looking for its fifth victory in the last six meetings in the series.

Marreon Jackson, who was 2 of 9 from the field in his previous two games, went off for a season-high 24 points in a triple-overtime win over UCLA the last time out.

California Bears

California’s 12-point win in the last matchup ended a four-game losing streak to Oregon State, which hosts the Bears on Wednesday. It also ended a run of three straight games in the series decided by less than 10 points. Seven of the last nine games in the series have finished over the total established by the Las Vegas odds.

The Bears (9-15, 2-11) have lost their last 10 games and covered just four times over those 10 contests. Five of Cal’s last six games have gone over the total. Cal is 0-7 in true road games.

Andre Kelly, Cal’s second-leading scorer, is expected to miss the rest of the season due to an ankle injury. The Bears are 0-3 since Kelly has been sidelined.

Senior forward Andre Kelly is expected to miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury.

📰 » https://t.co/NLvigBYmQ5 pic.twitter.com/97952O8KDw

— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) February 4, 2022

Oregon Ducks

Oregon will play host to Stanford on Thursday, having won four of the last six meetings in the series, with three of the last four games going over the total. Both matchups in 2021 were decided by three points.

The Ducks (15-7, 8-3) have won nine of their last 10 games and covered in five of the last seven to move into a tie for second place in the Pac-12 standings.

Will Richardson is averaging 19 points on 56.6 percent shooting over the last 10 games.

Oregon State Beavers

Oregon State has won four of the last five games against California and covered in each of the victories. The home team has won seven of the last eight regular-season meetings, with the lone exception being Oregon State’s 59-57 win at Cal on Feb. 25.

The Beavers (3-17, 1-9) have lost their last seven games and have failed to cover in each of the last four. Nine of Oregon State’s last 10 games have finished over the total.

All three of Oregon State’s wins have come at home.

The Beavers are 3-3 when Jarod Lucas scores at least 15 points and 0-14 when he doesn’t.

Stanford Cardinal

Stanford has dropped two of its last three games and has covered in two of its last seven games. Seven of the Cardinal’s last eight games, including each of the last four, have gone under the total.

The Cardinal travel to Oregon on Thursday looking for back-to-back wins against the Ducks for the first time since 2010.

Seven of Stanford’s last eight games, including the last four, have finished under the total.

Stanford hit 11 3-pointers in an 87-69 win over Washington on Sunday. It was the most points in a game for the Cardinal since scoring 89 points in an overtime victory against Dartmouth on Dec. 16.

USC Trojans

The Trojans step out of conference play to meet Pacific on Tuesday as they look to improve to 10-2 at home.

USC (19-4, 9-4) has split its last four games and covered in just one of its last four. Four of the Trojans’ last five games have gone under the total.

Welcome to college scheduling in COVID times as USC has the fifth-best winning percentage in conference play among Pac-12 teams, but is actually tied for second place 1½ games behind Arizona.

Leading scorer Isaiah Mobley has shot under 50 percent from the field in each of his last five games.

Washington Huskies

The days of Washington winning eight in a row against Arizona seems like ancient history. The Huskies have dropped seven of the last 11 games in the series heading into Saturday’s showdown. The last three meetings played at Washington have been decided by a total of 10 points.

Washington (12-8, 7-3) has won six of its last seven games and is 6-1 against the spread in those games.

The Huskies also have a Thursday showdown with Arizona State and they just 2-6 in their last eight games against the Sun Devils.

Terrell Brown scored 30 points in two of his last three games for the Huskies.

Washington State Cougars

It could be a tough start to the week as Washington State welcomes Arizona on Thursday. Washington State has had one win against Arizona since 2011 and dropped its last nine home games to the Wildcats. Six of the last nine games in the series have gone under the total.

The Cougars (14-7, 7-3) have won five games in a row and covered in three of the last four. Six of Washington State’s last seven games finished under the total.

Michael Flowers is averaging 19.7 points on 53 percent shooting over his last three games.