Pac-12 Basketball Notebook: Stanford's 1-Second Play, Top Dunks
Three issues of note regarding the past week and the week ahead:
SEASON-CHANGING SECOND
If Stanford sneaks into the NCAA tournament, it may credit the final second of its overtime win over nationally ranked UCLA. Stanford trailed by a point when it took the ball out of bounds under its own basket with eight-tenths of second left. Stanford ran the exact same out-of-bounds play it had run to get Oscar da Silva a bucket with 38 seconds left in the first half. UCLA coach Mick Cronin had the same lineup on the court at the end of the game as he did at the end of the first half. With less than a second left this time, freshman Michael McConnel was the trigger man inbounding the ball. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was guarding da Silva, but Jaquez was backed into the lane, giving da Silva plenty of room as da Silva hung at the right elbow. As the play started, Spencer Jones, Stanford’s best outside shooter, flared to the left corner to draw his defender, Jules Bernard, away from the basket. Meanwhile, da Silva and Lukas Kisunas set a double screen for 6-foot-9 teammate Jaiden Delaire, who was being guarded by 5-foot-9 Tyger Campbell. Jaquez picked up Delaire on a switch and Kisunas lured his defender, Jaylen Clark, out by the three-point line as da Silva waited patiently to begin his run. Campbell, who was left to pick up da Silva, got caught up in the switching mass of players as da Silva suddenly streaked toward the basket. McConnell, who had patiently waited for the play to develop, delivered the six-foot pass to da Silva, who laid it in before the block attempt by Bernard, who slammed the ball down in disgust.
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The question is this: How did UCLA’s defense somehow neglect to cover the biggest offensive threat on the court – da Silva – and why did the Bruins’ defenders leave the lane wide open with less than a second remaining?
This stopped UCLA’s seven-game winning streak and gave the Cardinal the kind of signature victory it may need to get into the NCAA tournament. Joe Lunardi of ESPN has Stanford as one of the last four in the NCAA tournament in this week’s Bracketology.
OREGON’S FIVE-DAY L.A. DEATH MARCH HALTED
Oregon next three games were scheduled to run them through a Los Angeles meat-grinder, but it won’t happen, at least not this week. Oregon’s basketball program is paused again for COVID-19-related reasons, and all three of its road games against UCLA, USC and UCLA again have been postponed. Oregon now has five games it needs to reschedule with just five weeks left in the regular season. But it might be a blessing that the Ducks don’t have to make the L.A. trip this week because it could have ruined the Ducks’ season. The journey through Tinseltown was to begin with Thursday’s game against No. 24 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins are 8-0 and will still be angry after losing to Stanford. Two days later, the Ducks were going to travel crosstown to take on USC, the biggest team in the country and one that is 8-1 at home. Two days after that, Oregon was to go back to Pauley to face UCLA again, an odd arrangement necessitated by the postponement of the Ducks’ home game against UCLA on Dec. 23 because a member of the officiating crew had tested positive the morning of the game. So it was supposed to be UCLA Thursday, at USC Saturday, and at UCLA on Monday, with both UCLA games to be televised nationally.
The Ducks have played just one game since its Jan. 9 victory over Utah, and that one game was Saturday’s 11-point home loss to Oregon State when Chris Duarte and LJ Figueroa were out because of virus-related issues.
DUNK OF THE YEAR?
It was suggested that Oregon State's Warith Alatishe had a dunk on Saturday against Oregon that should be a candidate for Pac-12 dunk of the year. What do you think?
How does it compare with some other nice slam jobs from earlier this season?
Such as this one by Stanford's Oscar da Silva:
Or this one by Oregon's LJ Figueroa:
Or finally this one by Stanford freshman Ziaire Williams:
And how do they compare with the dunk that all college slams are compared to -- Jerome Lane's basket-breaker 33 years ago, with Arizona coach and then Pitt guard Sean Miller delivering the pass:
Now we forge ahead to our weekly categories:
Top Five Teams (at the Moment)
---1. UCLA (12-3, 8-1) – The Bruins remain alone in first place despite loss to Stanford, and are the only Pac-12 team in the AP top 25 this week.
---2. Arizona (12-3, 6-3) – Wildcats looked awfully good against Arizona State and appear to be getting better. Bennedict Mathurin’s ankle injury is not believed to be serious.
---3. Colorado (12-4, 6-3) – The Buffs’ loss to Washington was surprising and crippling.
---4. Oregon (9-3, 4-2) – Ducks’ hopes of winning conference title rest with getting enough games in after being on pause again.
---5. Stanford (9-5, 5-3) and USC (12-3, 6-2) – OK, this is a cop out, but neither team deserves to be left out of the top five. This will sort itself out this weekend.
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Pac-12 player-of-the-year-standings
---1. Chris Duarte, Oregon (18.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 45.6 3-pt%) – Duarte’s value was demonstrated by the Ducks’ home loss to Oregon State in his absence.
---2. Oscar da Silva, Stanford (19.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 60.7 FG%) – His cut down the lane for the winning basket was an example of him being at the right place at the right time.
---3. McKinley Wright IV, Colorado (14.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 51.7 FG%) – However, he is 0-for-8 on three-pointers over his past three games.
---4. Evan Mobley, USC (16.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.9 blocks) – Mobley is raw in a lot of ways, but his length, athleticism and versatility make him a scary pro prospect.
---5. Tyger Campbell, UCLA (11.7 points, 6.2 assists) – Tempted to put Arizona’s James Akinjo in this slot, but Campbell means too much to a first-place team.
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Pac-12 freshman-of-the-year standings
---1. Evan Mobley, USC (16.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.9 blocks) – The potential is scary.
---2. Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona (11.3 points, 6.5 rebounds) – You have to see him play to appreciate him. He’s had 12 points or more and seven rebounds or more in five of his last six games, averaging 16.2 points and 8.2 boards over that span.
---3. Ziaire Williams, Stanford (12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists) – Versatile, impressive player, but his low field-goal percentage (36.7) is a concern.
---4. Josh Christopher, Arizona State (15.7 points, 5.3 rebounds) – Poor game against Arizona knocks him down a peg. He was 1-for-8 for five points in that game, the first time he failed to reach double figure in scoring.
---4. Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona (11.8, 4.9 rebounds, 44.9 3-pt%) – A close call over Arizona State’s Marcus Bagley, but Maturin has played better lately. We assume his ankle injury won’t sideline him long.
Pac-12 Player of the Week
---Winner: Jamal Bey, Washington – Huskies guard averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in Washington’s surprising sweep of Colorado and Utah. His most impressive stat was his shooting percentage – 15-for-19 overall (78.9%) and 6-for-7 on three-pointers (85.7%). Amazing stuff for a player who failed to reach double figures in scoring in any of his first eight games this season.
---Runnerup: James Akinjo, Arizona – He averaged 20.0 points and 4.5 assists while hitting 6-of-11 three-point shots in the two wins over Arizona State.
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Team on the Rise
---Arizona (12-3, 6-3) – The Wildcats have won three straight and Monday’s win over Arizona State suggests they are getting better as their freshmen get comfortable. (Oregon State could have been placed in this category, but the Beavers were here last week.)
Team on the Skids
---Washington State (9-6, 2-6) – The Cougars started 8-0, with all those games at home against a soft nonconference schedule. They have now lost five in a row by an average margin of 15.8 points heading into Wednesday’s game against Colorado.
Team on a Mystery Tour
---Washington (3-11, 2-7) – Have the Huskies suddenly and mysteriously turned their season around with the sweep of Colorado and Utah following the eight-game losing streak? Or was last week just an inexplicable blip that happens sometimes?
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Numbers of Note
62 – The number of days, out of the past 67 days, that Stanford will have been on the road by the time it plays its first true home game of the season at Maples Pavilion on Feb. 2. That, folks, is a long road swing. That Cardinal plays Arizona and Arizona State on the road this week before heading home to its Stanford campus.
45.1 – Three-point shooting percentage (9-of-20) of Cal guard Joel Brown, which is pretty darn good.
41.9 – Free-throw shooting percentage (13-of-31) of Cal guard Joel Brown, which is pretty darm poor.
1 – Number of ex-NBA players that Brown’s odd shooting numbers resemble: Bruce Bowen. He was among the top three-point shooters in the league throughout his career and led the NBA in 2002-03 with a 44.1 three-point percentage. But he had a career free-throw percentage of 49.4 over his 14 NBA season.
25.8 – Tyger Campbell’s shooting percentage in UCLA’s three losses -- 1-for-10 v. Ohio State, 3-for-9 vs. San Diego State, 4-for-12 vs. Stanford.
48.7 – Tyger Campbell’s shooting percentage (58-for-119) in UCLA’s 12 wins.
0.0 – Tyger Campbell’s three-point shooting percentage in UCLA’s three losses (0-for-7)
37.0 – Tyger Campbell’s three-point shooting percentage in UCLA’s 12 wins (10-for-27)
2 – Number of seconds it takes to realize that Campbell, whose chief responsibilities are facilitating on offense and floor leadership, must shoot a reasonable percentage from the floor for UCLA to have success.
1983 – The last time UCLA won its first eight conference games, but the Bruins failed to make it nine straight when they lost to Stanford.
0 – Number of shots made by Arizona State in its first 12 field-goal attempts against Arizona on Monday. ASU began the game 3-for-24 and had six points with 6:30 left in the first half.
21 – Number of consecutive UCLA points scored by Johnny Juzang in the game against Stanford – the final 16 Bruin points of the first half and the first five of the second half.
28 – Number of consecutive home games Oregon had won before losing to Oregon State in Eugene on Saturday.
3 – Number of Stanford starters who did not play in the Cardinal’s upset of UCLA on Saturday – Daejon Davis, Ziaire Williams and Bryce Wills, who are Stanford No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 scorers. The only regular Cardinal starter besides Oscar da Silva who was available was Spencer Jones, who is sixth on the team in scoring.
2 – Number of Oregon starters who were not available for the Ducks’ home loss to Oregon State – Chris Duarte (team’s leading scorer) and LJ Figeueroa (team’s leading rebounder).
3 – Consecutive wins by Oregon State, which was picked to finish last, and those included victories were over title contenders USC and Oregon
5 – Consecutive losses by Washington State before Wednesday
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Quotes of the Week
"The same guys were in, gave up the same layup at the end of the first half. At the end of the day, it's the coaches' job to prepare for a play like that. We got what we deserved. Our defense and our defense adherence to the game plan and what we went over and over and over ... we had no business winning. We put ourselves in a horrible position with unacceptable, unacceptable mistakes." – UCLA coach Mick Cronin on Stanford’s last-second game-winning shot.
“We were trying to make sure to take away the lob and layups.” UCLA’s Johnny Juzang regarding Stanford’s game-winning last-second shot.
"I knew exactly what I wanted to run. Doesn't mean it was going to work. We went over that play two days ago." – Stanford coach Jerod Haase on Stanford’s game-winning last-second shot.
"The sigh of relief of getting that win was perfect." Washington guard Marcus Tsohonis, after the Huskies beat Colorado for their first Pac-12 win.
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Top Upcoming Game This Week
---Thursday, January 28, 7 p.m. Pacific time, ESPN2 – Stanford (9-5, 5-3) vs. Arizona (12-3, 6-3) at Tucson, Arizona – The Wildcats can’t play in the postseason, but they are playing good basketball as their freshmen get better. Stanford hopes the emotional win over UCLA catapults them.
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