Pac-12 Hoop Notes: Oregon's Big Dunk, Jermaine Couisnard Effect

Oregon and the Arizona schools were the focus of this week's action, with a particular emphasis on Mali and one gigsntice dunk.

Good Golly, Miss Mali

There are a number of talented big men from Africa in the Pac-12. However, it is the west Africa country of Mali (population 22 million) that has produced three intriguing Pac-12 big men.

First there is 6-foot-8 Utah freshman Keba Keita, who is only a bit player at the moment but has the potential to be somthing special based on his flashes of excellence.

Then there is 7-foot, junior Oumar Ballo, whose improvement provides a hint of what Keita might become. Ballo averaged 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds off the bench last season, and is playing at an all-conference level this year, averaging 16.3 points and 9.1 rebounds.

But Pac-12 opponents may have discovered how to control him, as he has not reached his scoring average in any of the past five games. And he was outplayed by another Mali big man on Saturday, which bring us to . . .

Oregon 6-foot-11 senior N'Faly Dante, who had the game of his life and the dunk of the year in the Ducks' 87-68 victory over Arizona.

Against the Wildcats' big frontcourt, Dante had 22 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, three steals and just one personal foul. But his most memorable moment was his majestic dunk that put Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa on a poster in the first minute of the game and provided the impetus for the Ducks' big win.

You have to admire the courage of the 190-pound Kriisa, who stood on the train tracks as the speeding 230-pound locomotive crashed into him. If the game had been played in Tucson, Dante may have been called for an offensive foul, but in Eugene no ref would dare call anything other than an and-one. (Dante made the free throw.)

The Best Pac-12 Team in Arizona Is . . .

We'd have to say Arizona State at this point, which certainly was not the case two weeks ago.

Arizona was humming along with a 14-1 record and a No. 5 national ranking, looking like a potentail No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But the past four games, the Wildcats have been very ordinary.

First they had to rally from a seven-point deficit with 12 minutes left to beat a mediocre Washington team by three in Tucson, then lost by 13 points at home to a Washington State team that still has a losing record.

This week, the Wildcats took care of Oregon State, but then lost by 19 points to an Oregon team that was coming off a 17-point loss to Arizona State.

It leaves Arizona tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 at 4-3, two games behind Arizona State.

Since their consecutive losses to San Francisco by 37 points and to Arizona by nine, the Sun Devils have won four in a row and are 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

The Sun Devils play a wild-and-crazy style that looks unbeatable when they are on a run but looks amateurish when things aren't going their way. They started the game against Oregon State shooting 4-for-17, putting them behind 17-5 and 32-16. Then their unrelenting defense took hold and they started making shots, winning more confortably than the final five-point margin suggests.

Here's how I look at the Sun Devils: If they are a low seed in the NCAA tournament, a high seeded team should be scared to play them. If they are a high seed, a low-seeded team should be licking their chops at the prospects of an upset.

The Sun Devils' style leads to high highs and low lows. Will they be ranked in the AP poll Monday?

Arizona and Arizona State travel to Los Angeles to play USC and UCLA this week, which will tell us a lot about all four teams.

Is Couisnard the Answer?

Oregon has been a perplexing team, losing at Colorado by 27 points, then winning by 10 at Utah last week, and losing to Arizona State on Thursday and beating Arizona by 19 on Saturday.

Dana Altman is the only Pac-12 head coach with a winning record against Arizona, and he made two changes in his starting lineup against the Wildcats, putting Jermaine Couisnard and Nathan Bittle in the opening five.

Bittle played well (10 points, four rebounds in just 12 minutes), but it was the addition of Couisnard that made the difference. A transfer from South Carolina who averaged in double figures in each of three seasons with the Gamecocks, Couisnard missed the first 14 games of this season and made his first start Saturday against Arizona.

All he did was collect 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting, five rebounds, three steals, two assists and one turnover.

Couisnard was 3-for-6 on three-pointers, including this alley-oop pass that turned into a 60-foot three-pointer.

Unreal pass from Jermaine Couisnard 😂🤯 #Oregon pic.twitter.com/2TnsRN4Amc
— BetweentheBaselines (@BtheBaselines) January 14, 2023

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Numbers of Note?

---Colorado committed 55 turnovers in two games this week -- 22 against USC and 23 against UCLA. Not surprisingly, the Buffaloes lost both.

---UCLA missed its first 15 three-point shots against Colorado, one of the reasons it trailed by nine points midway through the second half. The Bruins then went on a 17-0 run to win and stay unbeaten in conference play.

---Washington State's DJ Rodman made 27.1% of his three-pointers (13-for-48) in the first 13 games, and the Cougars went 5-8. In the past six games he made 55.6% of his threes (20-for-36), and WSU is 4-2 in those games.

Top Five Pac-12 Teams (at the moment)

1. UCLA (16-2, 7-0) -- Bruins have won 13 in a row and will be the Pac-12's only top-10 team when the rankings are released Monday.

2. Arizona State (15-3, 6-1) -- Sun Devils' non-stop pressure defense breaks down most teams.

3. Arizona (15-3, 4-3) -- Yes, the Wildcats are struggling, but you can't dismiss that win over Tennessee.

4. USC (13-5, 5-2) -- Thursday's home game against Arizona will tell us a lot about the Trojans.

5. Oregon (10-8, 4-3) -- Giving the Ducks the edge over Washington State and Utah because of the addition of Jermaine Couisnard.

Pac-12 Player of the Year Standings

1. Jaime Jaquez, UCLA (16.7 points, 7.1 rebounds) -- He provides whatever is needed in a given moment.

2. Azoulas Tubelis, Arizona (20.4 points, 9.0 rebounds) -- He's scored at least 12 points in every game.

3. Frankie Collins, Arizona State (10.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists) -- The instigator of the Sun Devils' wild and crazy style.

4. Drew Peterson, USC (13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists) -- He gives you a little of this, a little of that and a lot of wins.

5. Oumar Ballo, Arizona (16.3 points, 9.1 rebounds) -- Barely hanging in the top five as Pac-12 teams seem to have figured him out. KJ Simpson is looming if Colorado can start winning.

Cover photo of N'Faly Dante by Ben Lonergan, The Register-Guard, USA TODAY NETWORK

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