Pac-12 Tournament: USC, UCLA, Utah Advance; Stanford Has Big Comeback Win
Stanford rallied from an 18-point deficit with less than 15 minutes left to record an 87-76, overtime victory over Cal in a first-round game of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Also Wedneday, Utah blew out Arizona State 90-57, setting up a pivotal game against Colorado; UCLA's Dylan Andrews scored 31 points, the most by a Bruins player this season, to help UCLA beat Oregon State 67-57, and USC beat Washington 80-74, earning the Trojans a quarterfinal game against top-seeded Arizona, a team USC beat by 13 points in their final regular-season game on Saturday.
Stanford 87, Cal 76 (OT)
Stanford pulled off the second-biggest comeback in Pac-12 tournament history.
Cal had an 18-point lead at 63-45 with 14:36 mark left. But over the next 12:45, Cal scored just two points, and the Bears went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, from the 11:17 mark to the 1:51 mark, enabling the Cardinal make enroads.
Cal (13-19) was still in good shape when it held a four-point lead with 33 seconds left. A Spencer Jones free throw with 26.4 seconds left made it a three-point game, and Cal immediately turned the ball over in the backcourt, leading to a three-pointer by Michael Jones that tied the game at 69-69 with 19.6 seconds left. (See twitter video below)
Stanford had been 2-for-21 on three-pointers before that Michael Jones basket.
Stanford (14-17) made its first two three-point shots of the overtime period to take command.
Maxime Raynaud finished with 21 points, and Spencer Jones added 20 for 10th-seeded Stanford, which will face Washington State in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Utah 90, Arizona State 57
Utah's all-Pac-12 center Branden Carlson played with a brace on his left elbow to protect an injury sustained on Saturday, and he scored just seven points in 19 minutes of court time. But it didn't matter as the Utes (19-13) blew by Arizona State.
This sets up the Utes' Thursday night quarterfinal against Colorado in what may amount to an elimination game for an NCAA tournament berth.
The Buffaloes need to win that game to solidfy their at-large spot in March Madness, while the Utes need to win that game and at least one more game to have a shot at an NCAA tournament berth. Utah may need to win the Pac-12 tournament to get into the 68-team NCAA field.
Utah looked like an NCAA tournament team on Wednesday, and most of their key players got plenty of rest.
Cole Bajema led Utah with 22 points in a game that was essentially over with 10 minutes left. At that point Utah was shooting 61% from the field and ASU was shooting 25.5%. Not surprisingly Utah held a 64-32 lead with 10:25 remaining.
Utah guard Deivon Smith barely missed a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. He did not play the final 6:20 of the game.
The question now is whether this was Bobby Hurley's final game as the Sun Devils' head coach.
USC 80, Washington 74
No. 9 seed USC (15-17) got 25 points from Boogie Ellis, who was 5-for-10 on three-point shots and went over 2,000 career points combining his time at Memphis and USC.
The Trojans have won four games in a row and six of their last eight, and may present a challenge against Arizona in their noon game on Thursday.
This was the final Pac-12 game for Washington coach Mike Hopkins, who will not be the Huskies coach next season when the Huskies enter the Big Ten.
The Trojans, who beat Washington for the ninth consecutive time, took the lead for good when Bronny James made three free throws with 3:29 to go to break a 65-65 tie.
Washington's all-Pac-12 forward Keion Brooks Jr., who entered the tournament as the Pac-12's leading scorer at 21.3 points, scored just 13 points on 4-for-16 shooting, including 1-for-10 in the second half. It ended a streak of 14 straight games in which Brooks had scored at least 15 points.
UCLA 67, Oregon State 57
Dylan Andrews had the game of his life, hitting 11-of-15 shots, including 7-of-9 on three-pointers, to finish with 31 points and easily better his previous career-best of 22 points.
His offensive performance helped the Bruins shoot 52.2% from the field. They entered the game ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in three-point percentage, but they made 9-of-16 from distance against the 12th-seeded Beavers (13-19).
Adem Bona finished with 17 points for the Bruins, who improved to 16-16 and will face fourth-seeded Oregon in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
UCLA won by a double-digit margin even though Sebastian Mack, who entered the game virtually tied with Bona as the team's top scorer, did not score a point. Mack attempted just one shot and missed it, and he did not have any assists.
Andrews was matched up against Oregon State's Jordan Pope, who had 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting.
Cover photo of Isaiah Collier by James Snook, USA TODAY Sports
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