Pac-12 Basketball Notebook: The da Silva fall, the Conference Fall, the Oregon Fall, and Other Falls
The four big issues of this past weekend:
1. The fall, the pall and the bawl – An eerie silence fell over the crowd at Colorado when Stanford star Oscar da Silva lay motionless on the floor for what seemed like an eternity after getting run over by the Buffaloes’ Evan Battey. Da Silva was eventually able to get up and walk off the floor with some help.
Perhaps more interesting was the reaction: Players from both teams locked arms in a circle at midcourt with Stanford coach Jerod Haase leading the huddled discussion. Battey and Stanford’s Daejon Davis were seen crying, with Battey telling Stanford players, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Battey was so distraught he had to leave the floor for a while, but returned to the court and had tears in his eyes and anguish on his face for the remaining 16 minutes of the game. Stanford led by 11 when da Silva got hurt, and the Cardinal lost by seven.
Da Silva suffered a laceration on his head, but the injury does not seem to be as serious as orginally feared. His status for the upcoming games is unknown.
2. We were afraid of this: There was hope for the Pac-12 during the nonconference schedule when Washington beat Baylor, Colorado knocked off Dayton, and Oregon recorded wins over Seton Hall, Memphis and Michigan. Four Pac-12 teams were ranked in the top 25 for much of the early part of the season, and Oregon was No. 4 when 2020 began. That optimism has been erased. This week, no Pac-12 team is ranked in the top 15, as the reputation of the conference slides with it.
3. Who’s in charge here?: Oregon and Arizona faltered on Saturday, leaving a chaotic Pac-12 race. No team has fewer than three conference losses and only one (Colorado) has fewer than four. The conference may get more jumbled this week as first-place Colorado must travel to Oregon, where the Ducks are 12-0.
4. Oregon State’s inverted success pattern: We will look at the Beavers again on the “Mystery Tour” category, but the simple fact is that Oregon State beats the good Pac-12 teams and loses to the lousy ones. There is no apparent explanation for the Beavers' weird results.
And we forge ahead with our weekly categories:
Top Five Teams (at the Moment)
---1. Colorado (19-5, 8-3) – The Buffaloes take over the top spot by default. Although they swept Cal and Stanford at home, they did not look like a dominant team in either.
---2. Oregon (18-6, 7-4) – The Ducks have looked vulnerable lately, especially with key player absences. They are no longer the highest ranked Pac-12 team.
---3. Arizona (16-7, 6-4) – Maybe the young Wildcats should be even lower than this after their dreadful showing against UCLA. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for another week.
---4. Arizona State (15-8, 6-4) -- The Sun Devils come to the Bay Area this week, and they could be tied for first place by the end of the weekend.
---5. UCLA (13-11, 6-5) – After the loss to Cal State Fullerton followed by the 1-3 start to conference play, we never would have guessed the Bruins could get to this level. But blowing Arizona out of McKale Center showed us something.
Pac-12 player-of-the-year standings
Colorao's McKinley Wright IV is closing the gap on Payton Pritchard -- Photo by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports
---1. Payton Pritchard, Oregon (19.5 points, 6.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds) – His lead in this category is shrinking, but his play at crunch time keeps him on top.
---2. McKinley Wright IV, Colorado (13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists) – Wright may not win this award because he is not flashy, but his cumulative impact on games is undeniable.
---3. Remy Martin, Arizona State (19.3 points, 4.0 assists, 3.4 rebounds) -- Martin has the flashiness that Wright lacks, and there is a reason the Sun Devils are surging.
---4. CJ Elleby, Washington State (19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds) – Washington State looks like the biggest surprise in the conference, and Elleby is the reason the Cougars are just three games out of first place.
---5. Tres Tinkle, Oregon State (19.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.0 steals) – As the Beavers move up in the standings, Tinkle moves up in the player-of-the-year rankings. He barely edges out USC’s Onyeka Okongwu for the final spot this week.
Pac-12 freshman-of-the-year standings
---1. Onyeka Okongwu, USC (16.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.0 blocks) – The Pac-12 freshman class is faltering a bit, but Okongwu and the Trojans have done just enough to keep him on top.
---2. Isaiah Stewart, Washington (17.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks) – Not long ago he was clearly the best freshman in the conference, but the last three games he has averaged 11.3 points while shooting 30 percent from the field. And the Huskies have lost six straight.
---3. Tyrell Terry, Stanford (15.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists) – Terry has scored in double figures in every Pac-12 game.
---4. Zeke Nnaji, Arizona (16.2 points, 8.9 rebounds) – He was just 2-for-8 from the field against UCLA, but has been consistent most of the season.
---5. Nico Mannion, Arizona (14.0 points, 5.5 assists) – After his poor performance against UCLA, Mannion barely owns the last spot ahead of UCLA’s Tyger Campbell, who outplayed Mannion in that game.
Pac-12 Player of the Week
We generally like to reward a player for two outstanding games during the week, but we made an exception for someone with one gigantic game this time.
CJ Elleby has helped Washington State become relevant -- Photo by James Snook, USA TODAY Sports
--- Winner: CJ Elleby, Washington State – In the Cougars’ only game over the weekend, Elleby had a monster performance in the 12-point win over Washington. He had 34 points on 9-of-16 shooting (including 6-for-9 on three pointers) to go along with 10 rebounds and three blocks with just one turnover. Don’t look now, but the Cougars are just two games out of second place.
---Runnerup: McKinley Wright IV: Wright played a major role in the Buffaloes’ sweep of the Bay Area schools, collecting 17 points (on 6-of-9 shooting), six rebounds and four assists in the win over Cal and 21 points (on 3-of-4 three-point shooting) and four assists in the victory over Stanford.
Team on the Rise
---Arizona State (15-8, 6-4) – The Sun Devils have won three in a row and five of their last six. The only loss in that span was a two-point defeat against Washington State when CJ Elleby tossed in a three-pointer with four seconds left.
Team on the Skids
---Oregon (18-6, 7-4) – The Ducks are supposed to be the class of the Pac-12, but they have lost two games in a row, and neither of the teams that beat Oregon has a winning conference record at the moment.
Team on a Mystery Tour
---Oregon State (14-9, 4-7) – Maybe we should have expected the Beavers to beat Oregon based on their pattern. Oregon State has now defeated the four conference teams with the highest NET ranking -- Oregon, Colorado (on the road), Arizona (by 17 points) and Stanford (on the road) – but is 0-7 against teams ranked outside the top 30 in the NET, and that includes three losses to teams outside the top 100.
Team Stat of the Week
--- Colorado went 9-for-9 on three-point shots in the seond half in the win over Stanford on Saturday. What makes that more amazing is that the Buffaloes were just 3-for-12 from long range in the first half.
Ugly Team Stats of the Week
Arizona coach Sean Miller had no answers against UCLA -- Photo by Jacob Snow, USA TODAY Sport
---Arizona shot 25.4 percent from the field at home in the loss to UCLA on Saturday. It was the Wildcats’ lowest shooting percentage ever at McKale Center, which has been used since the 1973-74 season.
---For the second time in Pac-12 play this season Stanford let a big second-half lead get away. The Cardinal blew a 21-point, second-half advantage in a loss at USC on January 18, and on Saturday at Colorado, Stanford squandered a 16-point lead with 18 minutes left in a seven-point loss. The loss of Oscar da Silva with 16:18 to go no doubt hastened the decline.
Player Stat of the Week
---Utah freshman center Branden Carlson blocked eight shots in the Utes’ win over Stanford. His previous high in blocks was three. Carlson also had career highs in points (15) and rebounds (10) against Stanford, but his biggest contribution was as a terrorizing defender at the rim.
Ugly Player Stat of the Week
---Arizona freshman Nico Mannion scored five points on 2-of-14 shooting and added zero assists and three turnovers in the Wildcats’ 13-point loss to UCLA.
Quotes of the Week
---“Coach [Tad] Boyle wanted me to call both teams together and say a prayer with both teams. We got together and coach [Jerod] Haase said what he had to say – told us to keep playing hard – and then I led the prayer and thanked God that he was OK and that it wasn’t worse than what it was.” – Colorado guard McKinley Wright IV, to the Boulder Daily Camera, about the decision to have both teams huddle together immediately after the injury to Oscar da Silva.
---“I just saw his reaction. I saw the way he was laying there and I just broke down.” – Colorado’s Evan Battey, to the Daily Camera, on his reaction to the injury to da Silva
---“Why do you think my hair is gray? Listen, it’s caused us some sleepless nights.” –Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle, to the Oregonian, on the Beavers’ success against the good Pac-12 teams and failures against the bottom tier.
--- “Think about how hard it is to miss, to miss 16 shots of the 19 from two.” – Arizona coach Sean Miller, to the Arizona Daily Star, after the Wildcats made just 3 of 19 two-point attempts in the first half against UCLA.
---“I don’t think we’ve gone backwards. People are getting better and we’re not.” – Oregon coach Dana Altman, to the Oregonian, after the Ducks suffered their second straight loss.
---“There’s nothing better than when there’s time on the clock and the home fans are leaving, the same fans that were going crazy, talking crazy to you.” UCLA’s Chris Smith, to the Los Angeles Times, on the Bruins’ lopsided win over Arizona in Tucson.
---“We’re from Pullman, freaking Pullman, freaking Pullman and we don’t care. I would rather be from Pullman than a chump from anywhere. Go Cougs!” – A players and coaches chant while honoring former coach George Raveling on the day the Cougars beat Washington, according to the Spokane Spokesman Review.
Top Upcoming Game This Week
---Thursday, February 13, 2020, 6 p.m. – No. 16 Colorado (19-5, 8-3) at No. 17 Oregon (18-6, 7-4) – The only two Pac-12 teams in this week’s top-25 meet with first place on the line.
Cal High Point of the Week
Cal shot 55.6 percent from the field, including 7-of-13 from three-point range, against Colorado. The Bears still lost, though.
