Pac-12 Men's Basketball 

Stephen Vilardo’s Week 10 Men’s Hoops Stat Previews

, 8 min read
UCLA guard David Singleton shoots against California guard Jordan Shepherd. | Jed Jacobsohn/AP

Posted on January 12, 2022


  By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
As the calendar turns to the second full week of January and the college football season firmly in the rear-view mirror eyes turn to the hardwood.

The Pac-12 had one of the final two remaining unbeaten teams in USC prior to the Trojans falling at Stanford on Tuesday.

The 13-0 start for USC was tied for the fourth-best start in program history (1909-10, 17-0; 1970-71, 16-0; 2016-17, 14-0; 2021-22 & 1939-40, 13-0). It was the best start of a season for a Pac-12 squad since the Trojans opened 14-0 in 2016-17.

Stanford’s 75-69 win over USC was the 10th Pac-12 game decided by single digits this season, that is 10 of 22 conference games contested so far.

USC was upset by Stanford on Tuesday. | USC Athletics

The Trojans (5) are joined in the AP Top-25 with conference mates UCLA (3) and Arizona (6) making the Pac-12 the only conference in the country with three teams ranked in the top-10—let alone the top-6.

This is the fifth consecutive week all three teams have been ranked in the top-10. Three teams from the Pac-12 in the Top 10 for five weeks in a row is the third-longest such streak in conference history.

The conference had a pair of seven-week stretches with three in the top-10 in 1997-98 and 2016-17. In 2016-17 the Pac-12 had at least three teams in the top-25 all 19 weeks of the season, which is the only longer streak than the current nine-week run of at least three in the top-25.

UCLA has won the last five games they have played which stands as the longest active streak in the Pac-12—granted those five games stretch all the way back to Thanksgiving weekend due to cancellations.

In the win over Cal on Saturday though the Bruins got a steal on 15.8% of possessions a huge jump from the 8.6% rate UCLA has averaged on the year.

Arizona is another team that has been a victim of canceled games having played just once since their only loss of the year at Tennessee three days before Christmas.

The Wildcats lead the nation with a second-half scoring margin of +12.7 points per game. Even in their loss to the Volunteers the UA was +9 after halftime.

When Utah and Arizona meet a pair of the nation’s top shot blockers will be on display.

Arizona’s Christian Koloko | Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Christian Koloko is eighth in the nation with 5.6 blocked shots per 40 minutes played while Koloko (1.58) and Brendan Carlson (1.25) rank first and second in the Pac-12 in blocked shots per foul committed.

Glenn Taylor Jr. Leads the Pac-12 and is 12th in the nation with 0.933 FT attempts per FG attempt this season

Here’s look at this week’s scheduled games.

Washington schools host Northern California schools

The home team in the Washington-Cal matchup is 6-0 since the 2018-19 season began.

The last two times the teams have met in Seattle, the Huskies have won by an average of 22.0 points including a 35-point win in 2020, the largest winning margin ever for Washington over the Bears.

All-time the Bears hold an 87-83 series lead with 62 of the 170 all-time meetings being decided by five points or less.

Stanford has won seven of their last nine games against Washington, including their last two trips to Seattle. A year ago, the Cardinal swept the Huskies by an average of 17.0 points to run their win streak to four games in the series.

Washington’s Cole Bajema | Red Box Pictures

UW has won 50 of the 73 games they have hosted in the series, but Stanford carries an 81-73 all-time edge. In their last four visits to Seattle, the Cardinal have averaged 72.0 points per game while going 3-1.

The last time out, Washington State broke a 13-game losing streak to Utah and collected just their second win ever over the Utes in Salt Lake City.

The last time Stanford visited Pullman the Cougars also snapped a losing streak. The Cougs’ triple-overtime win over the Cardinal last February was their first over Stanford in nine tries.

Stanford has won 14 of the last 16 meetings overall.

The Cardinal’s last nine wins in the series have been by an average of 19.5 points per game while the Cougars’ two wins in the last 11 meetings have been 5.5 points per game—a one-point win in 2015 and a nine-point victory in the triple-overtime game the last time the teams met.

The Cougars have fared better with the Bears, taking five of the last eight meetings with Cal including a sweep a season ago. WSU is 3-1 over the last four meetings in Pullman.

Last season Washington State got a 31-point win at home over Cal. That 31-point win for WSU was the largest in the history of the WSU/Cal series dating back to 1917.

It was also Washington State’s largest conference win since a 33-point win over Stanford in 1993.

The Mountain Schools head to the Desert

Arizona has won 11 in a row at home over Colorado dating to a three-overtime loss in December of 1965. The Wildcats have won all nine meetings over the Buffaloes as Pac-12 foes.

None of the last nine meetings in the McKale Center has been closer than an eight-point game with Arizona winning them by an average of 11.8 points per game.

The 2013 meeting in Tucson was an overtime game but the Cats still came away with a nine-point win. The home team has won the last nine games in the series (they have also met three times in the Pac-12 tournament during that time with Arizona all three of those in Las Vegas).

Both games last season were double-digit affairs with Colorado taking the most recent meeting in Boulder by 13 after Arizona won the first by 14 in Tucson.

Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin | Mike Christy/Arizona Athletics

Arizona and Utah will be meeting for the 67th time in a series the Utes lead 35-31. Since Utah joined the Conference, the series has been owned by Arizona as they have won 14 of the 17 meetings as Pac-12 opponents including all eight contested at the McKale Center.

The last time the Utes left Tucson with a victory was a one-point win in December of 1986 as Arizona has won the last 10 meetings at home. Last season the teams met once, a 73-58 Utah win in Salt Lake City.

Arizona State’s game to start the week with Utah has been postponed due to health and safety protocols within the Sun Devil program. As of now, however, Saturday’s game with Colorado is still set to tip as scheduled.

The Sun Devils will see Ike Diogu’s No. 5 honored in the rafters at halftime against the Buffaloes.

Colorado has won the last four in the series and collected just their second win in 10 trips to Tempe last season. The four-game win streak in the series for CU has opened a 14-9 series lead for the Buffs which represents the longest win streak by either team in the series.

All-time, the home team has a 17-3 record with Colorado earning wins both times the teams met on a neutral floor.

Colorado has won eight of the last 11 times they have played. Last season the lone game was a 75-61 Colorado win in Boulder in which the Buffs outrebounded ASU 27-12 in the second half.

Oregon and Oregon State head to Southern California

UCLA has won 90 of 127 all-time meetings with Oregon but since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Ducks have an 8-7 edge in the 15 meetings.

UO has won the last two meetings, but UCLA has taken the last three that have been played inside of Pauley Pavilion.

Six of the last eight games between the two have been single-digit games with two of them needing overtime to decide and four of them being within a single possession.

UCLA is 15-1 the last 16 times they have hosted Oregon State. Last season, the Bruins took the regular-season meeting over the Beavers 57-52 while Oregon State returned the favor with an 83-79 overtime victory in the Pac-12 tournament.

UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. | Kelley L. Cox/USA TODAY Sports

UCLA is 8-4 in the last 12 meetings with OSU.

USC has gone 9-4 in the last 13 games against Oregon State. The Trojans are 7-2 the last nine times they have hosted the Beaves. Last season the teams split the series with each winning on their home floor.

Last year the Trojans outrebounded Oregon State 83-58 in the two games including owning a 48-30 edge in the game played at the Galen Center.

USC swept a pair of games from Oregon last season, taking both by 14 points in a regular-season meeting at Galen and then in the Sweet 16.

USC outscored Oregon 84-48 in the first halves of the two games last season while shooting 61.8% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of both games.

The Ducks have won 16 of the last 22 meetings between the squads including seven of their last nine in Los Angeles.

Follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenVilardo and his organization @SERCenter.

Visit his website at sercstats.com.



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