Pac-12 Rundown: Oregon Welcomes Trojans, Bruins To Town
Arizona Closing In on Top Spot in the Pac-12
Things are pretty interesting at the top of the Pac-12 standings with UCLA, Arizona and Southern California all separated by just one game.
Oregon might be able to shake things up with home games against USC on Thursday and UCLA on Saturday. Ten of the Ducks’ 14 wins have come at home even if the Ducks are just seventh in the Pac-12 in home attendance.
UCLA (-210) is the favorite in the odds to win the Pac-12 title according to the college basketball betting lines. Arizona is priced at +175 with USC well back at +1200.
Arizona moved up three spots to No. 4 in the coaches’ poll and went from fifth to fourth in the Associated Press poll while UCLA moved up two spots to No. 7 in both polls. USC is receiving votes in both of the national rankings.
According to the college basketball playoff odds, UCLA (+300) is sixth and Arizona (+350) seventh in the best odds to reach the Final Four. There’s quite a gap before finding the next Pac-12 team as USC is priced at +2000 and Oregon comes in at +3300.
Here’s a look at the best games this week in the Pac-12.
Let’s check the latest college basketball news, stats, injury reports, and college basketball lines. We’ve got plenty of NCAA basketball picks for you to consider.
Game of The Week
Southern California vs Oregon
- Date, time (TV): Thursday, Feb. 9, 11 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Tre White had 36 points on 16-of-25 shooting in a sweep of Washington and Washington State for the Trojans (17-6, 9-3 in the Pac-12). However, he is only averaging 8.9 points on 44% shooting on the road this season. He has earned the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors twice in the last three weeks.
For the second time this season, @TreWhite19 has been named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mV1cjrjKc5
— USC Men’s Basketball (@USC_Hoops) February 6, 2023
USC is 7-1 since 7-foot-1 freshman Vincent Iwuchukwu has made his season debut. He is averaging 4.7 points per game and shooting 52% from the field.
N’Faly Dante made at least 60% of his field goal attempts in seven of his last eight games for Oregon (14-10, 8-5).
The road team took both games last season. USC has covered in five of the last six meetings and won four of those meetings outright.
The Trojans wrap up the two-game road swing with a contest at Oregon State on Saturday.
USC is going after its fifth win in a row against Oregon even though the Trojans have covered against the Las Vegas odds in just one of those games.
Other Games to Watch
UCLA vs Oregon State
- Date, time (TV): Thursday, Feb. 9, 9 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
Jaime Jaquez is averaging 16.5 points and 11 rebounds over his last four games for UCLA (19-4, 10-2). He had 17 points the last time he played Oregon State.
Oregon State (9-15, 3-10) has 14 more turnovers than assists in its last two games.
UCLA is 5-1 over the last six games against the Beavers, but the Bruins covered in just two of those games.
UCLA needs to take care of business because a challenging road game at Oregon awaits on Saturday with the 10 p.m. game airing on ESPN.
UCLA snapped a four-game losing streak to Oregon with a 65-56 home win on Dec. 4 as Amari Bailey and Jaylen Clark had 14 points each. Oregon has covered in each of the last five meetings.
UCLA is tied with rival USC with a 13-10 record against the college basketball odds, the best mark in the Pac-12.
Arizona State vs Stanford
- Date, time (TV): Thursday, Feb. 9, 100 p.m. ET (FS1)
Leading scorer Dexter Cambridge had his run of double-digit scoring games snapped at seven for Arizona State as he finished with only six points on 2 of 8 shooting in a five-point loss to Oregon on Saturday.
Stanford (10-13, 4-8) saw its five-game winning streak snapped as the Cardinal was just 5 of 23 on 3-pointers in a 22-point loss at Colorado.
These teams don’t play twice every season. Still, the Sun Devils (16-8, 7-6) can sweep the home-and-home series for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Each of the last six games between the Sun Devils and Cardinal were decided by single digits with four of those contests finishing over the total.
Arizona State heads to face Cal on Saturday. The Sun Devils won eight of the last nine meetings. However, the last time the teams played in Berkeley, the Bears rolled to the 24-point win.
Nine of the last 10 games in the series ended up under the total.
Arizona vs California
- Date, time (TV): Thursday, Feb. 9, 11:00 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
All you need to know about this game is that Arizona is on a six-game winning streak while Cal has last seven straight games.
Azuolas Tubelis is averaging 21.8 points and 11 rebounds during the winning streak for the Wildcats (21-3, 10-3) as he continues to lead the Pac-12 in both scoring and rebounding as the Wildcats lead the Pac-12 in scoring offense at 83.3 points per game.
Cal has been held under 50 points in each of the last four outings. It could get worse before it gets better as leading scorer Devin Askew is out for the rest of the season.
The Wildcats have won 12 in a row against Cal (3-20, 2-10) with each of the last nine games ending up as double-digit point victories.
The last win by the Bears in the series came in 2016 with a 74-73 victory as a 2.5-point underdog at home. Arizona has been favored in all but one of those games.
Five of the last six matchups went under the total.
Arizona meets up with Stanford on Saturday with the game being televised on ESPN2. The Wildcats have won 23 of the last 25 games in that series. However, four of the last six meetings were decided by nine points or less.
After dropping the program’s first 40-point game since 1995 as part of a Pac-12 Oregon sweep, Ąžuolas Tubelis of @ArizonaMBB was named our @TheBigOTrophy National Player of the Week. https://t.co/r1CnBlRBvL pic.twitter.com/q9VfVthIHx
— U.S. Basketball Writers Association (@USBWA) February 7, 2023
Colorado vs Utah
- Date, time (TV): Saturday, Feb. 11, 10:00 p.m. ET (FS1)
The battle on the glass could be rather intriguing since Colorado (14-11, 6-8) ranks second in the Pac-12 with 11.7 offensive rebounds per game while Utah (16-9, 9-5) is second in defensive rebounding.
Utah’s Branden Carlson had a season-high 13 points in his last outing. The teams are second and third in the Pac-12 in scoring defense while Utah is the conference lead in field-goal percentage defense and 3-point percentage defense so don’t expect a high-scoring affair.
Gabe Madsen, Utah’s second-leading scorer, has missed the last two games. He is expected to miss several weeks.
Colorado has won five of the last seven games against Utah and that includes the last two contests on the road.
Something to consider for those who bet online, five of the last six games in the series went over the total.
Washington vs Washington State
- Date, time (TV): Saturday, Feb. 11, 10:30 p.m. ET (Pac-12)
The rivals meet for the first time this season with another matchup set for Seattle next month in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The teams score in different ways with Washington State (10-15, 5-9) leading the Pac-12 with 215 pointers while Washington (13-12, 5-9) is the top free-throw shooting team in the conference.
The home team won both of last season’s meetings by identical 78-70 scores. Before that, the road team took four of the previous five meetings.
Washington has won two of the last three meetings and covered in each of those matchups. The Huskies lead the Pac-12 with 15 of their games going over the total.
