Pac-12 Basketball Weekend Preview: Arizona Looks To Continue Conference Domination
By Andrew Kahn
While it’s early in conference play, Arizona has shown why it was picked first in the preseason poll. The Wildcats are in action on Sunday, looking to remain unbeaten. Other teams have struggled so far—Arizona State and Washington will each try to get their first league win on Saturday. Here is the full breakdown of Pac-12 games this weekend:
Saturday
Washington State (7-7, 1-1) at Washington (11-3, 0-2)
Ernie Kent, who took Oregon to the Elite Eight twice in his 13 seasons, is in his first year in Pullman. Since he was fired after the 2009-10 season, Kent has served as an executive for the National Association of Basketball Coaches and an analyst for the Pac-12 Network. He has said he feels reenergized to take on the challenge at Washington State. For Washington, Jernard Jarreau and Robert Upshaw will continue to have an impact in the frontcourt. Jarreau injured himself in the opening minute of last season and Upshaw is a transfer who sat out last year.
Arizona State (8-7, 0-2) at Oregon (11-4, 1-1)
Arizona State’s offense has been abysmal in its two Pac-12 games. They’ll need to find a way to score against an athletic Ducks squad. This is not the game Oregon fans are focused on right now. But it’s still a game the Ducks should win if they want to be a perennial NCAA Tournament team. Coach Dana Altman and the school are being sued by a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by three basketball players; the players were kicked off the team in May.
Sunday
California (11-5, 1-2) at UCLA (9-7, 1-2)
UCLA has struggled to replace last year’s players who are now in the NBA, but the Bruins did beat Stanford in overtime last night. They shot the ball better than they had in weeks, which is a huge confidence boost heading into this game. Cal junior Tyrone Wallace is third in the conference with 19.1 points per game.
Stanford (10-4, 2-1) at USC (9-6, 1-2)
As promised, second-year coach Andy Enfield has USC playing much faster than the school’s two previous coaches did. He’s also upgrading the talent on the roster. It will likely be another year before the Trojans seriously compete in the Pac-12, however. Meanwhile, Stanford will try to reach the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years for the first time since 2007 and 2008. Two of their three conference games have gone to overtime.
No. 7 Arizona (14-1, 2-0) at Oregon State (10-4, 1-1)
Arizona has blown out its two conference foes by margins of 24 and 18 and ranks near the top of the Pac-12 in many important categories. Fans are probably circling the Jan. 17 showdown with Utah, but Oregon State has been solid defensively this season. At a school not known for big-time basketball recruits, first-year coach Wayne Tinkle, formerly at Montana, has signed three top-150 players for next year. It helped that one Tinkle’s son and another is the son of a Beavers assistant, but they’ll take the talent infusion however they can get it in Corvallis.
Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.