Utah at Stanford

Sunday, January 14
2:00 pm PT, Pac-12 Network

Heading into the weekend, early indications within conference play seemed to be that the battle for the regular-season championship could come down to Arizona and Utah.

But the Wildcats dropped another road game on Saturday, losing at Washington State, while Oregon—aided by the return of big man N’Faly Dante—defeated Cal to remain undefeated and keep the Pac-12 race in question.

That makes this matchup in Palo Alto a more meaningful game than anybody anticipated before the season started.

The Tree destroyed the Wildcats with a record-setting night from deep and have the pieces to compete with anyone in the Conference.

Jerod Haase has a versatile center in Maxime Raynaud that presents a mismatch for Lawson Lovering. The Stanford big can score inside with efficiency but is deadly with his perimeter shooting.

Raynaud has the ideal body type and playing style to adequately defend Branden Carlson, too.

Brandon Angel is Stanford’s other interior presence. The forward is highly efficient, hitting 62.1 percent of his field goals with an average of 7.9 shots per game.

In total, five Cardinal players average in double figures, and seven average at least eight points.

Said another way, this Stanford team is a legitimate threat that can score in a multitude of ways. There’s a reason why they blew out Arizona.

But Craig Smith is arguably a better X’s and O’s coach than Tommy Lloyd and should craft an adequate defensive game plan to counter Stanford’s threats.

Defending the three will be high on the agenda, but exploiting the Cardinal’s relative weakness in rebounding the ball and propensity to turn it over will be keys as well.

The teams are relatively even from an analytics standpoint, with comparable numbers in points per game, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and assists per game.

That indicates the contest could be a high-scoring affair that comes down to the final minutes.

Unless Utah can limit Stanford’s efficiency from deep, the Tree must like their chances to defend home court.

Washington at UCLA

Sunday, January 14
4:00 pm PT, Pac-12 Network

Can Washington win on the road?

That’s the overarching theme of UW’s trip to Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins have been awful this season and are overly reliant on inexperienced freshmen. The Dawgs, on the other hand, have a veteran group with a skill advantage at almost every position.

Other than Adem Bona down low, every starter on UW’s roster has an advantage over their respective counterpart.

Mick Cronin doesn’t have a player to adequately match up with Keion Brooks Jr. and no lock-down guard to slow down Sahvir Wheeler.

UCLA does play strong defense, yet there isn’t anyone on the roster that jumps out as being the guy to keep Moses Wood from going off from three.

Still, Cronin’s group will likely clog the UW passing lanes and force the Husky players into one-on-one situations. If that’s the case, Brooks can’t have a poor shooting day.

He is either going to be matched up with an undersized guard/wing or a true forward playing awkwardly out of his defensive comfort zone.

Mike Hopkins knows this and is probably hyping him up in the lead-up to this game. Realistically, Brooks could drop 30 points and shoot near 50 percent.

Limiting turnovers will be pivotal and defensive rebounding is a must, but there are zero reasons why Washington should lose this game.

On the other end of the court, getting a hand in the UCLA shooters’ faces might be enough to keep them limited.

The Bruins’ offense has been terrible, yet any defensive breakdowns leading to open looks could give them confidence.

It’s not a defensive game plan focused on scheme. Instead, it’s a pure effort message that has to be executed. Fighting through screens and effectively communicating switches are a must, as well.

The young Bruin roster is one hot shooting game away from getting the season back on track and UW can’t afford to give them open looks to spark the run.

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Dane Miller’s Game Picks

2023-24 Week 3 Pac-12 Games	Pick
Utah at Stanford Jan 14, 2:00 PM	Stanford
Washington at UCLA Jan 14, 4:00 PM	Washington
Overall Record	116-45-0 (72%)