Skip to main content

Wild weekend puts #Pac12Hoops in national spotlight

Jan 12, 2016
Stephen Brashear

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE RELEASE (PDF)

#PAC12HOOPS LINEUP
1 - In this season's first installment of Pac-12 All-Access, go behind the scenes with Coach Cuonzo Martin, Jaylen Brown, Ivan Rabb, Tyrone Wallace and the CALIFORNIA men's basketball program.
2 - ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi examines how the Pac-12 is playing the numbers game this season (ESPN Insider account required).
3 - Also from ESPN, Andy Katz chose USC as his National Team of the Week after the Trojans swept ARIZONA STATE and ARIZONA, the latter in a four-overtime thriller.
4 - "The Pac-12 is shaping up to be the most interesting conference to watch this season," CBSSports.com Bracketologist Jerry Palm.
5 - Starting alongside four freshmen, senior Andrew Andrews has WASHINGTON unbeaten atop the Pac-12. He was recently profiled by The News Tribune and GoHuskies.com.
6 - WASHINGTON STATE junior Josh Hawkinson has recorded a school-record 10 consecutive double-doubles, including a 21-point, 20-rebound effort in Saturday's overtime loss to WASHINGTON.
7 - The Pac-12's #12Best Plays of the Week include the late game-winning heroics from UTAH's Lorenzo Bonam and UCLA's Bryce Alford.
8 - Pac-12 All-Century guard nominees revealed. The Glove? The Beard? The Bibbys? J-Kidd? B-Roy? JET? Mighty Mouse? Cast your vote for the top guard in league history.
9 - Pac-12 Living Legend: An interview with WASHINGTON STATE men's basketball legend and NBA champion Klay Thompson.
10 - With NCAA champion coaches Lute Olson and Jim Harrick, as well as his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates, in attendance, UCLA alum Russell Westbrook was honored during the Bruins' dramatic upset of ARIZONA.
11 - Double Duty: Glenn Johnson, mayor of Pullman, has doubled as The Voice of the Cougs for the past 36 years.
12 - Eight of the Pac-12's head coaches are participating in the Infiniti Coaches' Charity Challenge.

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE

4 - Number of overtimes USC needed to upset No. 7 ARIZONA, 103-101, on Jan. 9. It marked the first 4OT game in Pac-12 play since 2012 and was the fifth-ever league game to need as many extra periods. Three others went 4OT, while CALIFORNIA’s 107-102 win over OREGON on 2/10/77 went 5OT.

6.8 - The average scoring margin through the Pac-12’s 20 league games as of Jan. 10:
>> 13 games have been decided by single digits, including all four contests on Saturday, Jan. 9.
>> Eight have been decided by one possession (3 pts or less), 11 combined among other Power 5’s.
>> Four have gone to overtime (8 total OTs), five combined among other Power 5 leagues.
>> Two have had game-winning shots on a team’s final possession (Bonam - UTAH, Alford - UCLA).

8 - Pac-12 teams in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection by ESPN.com and Joe Lunardi on Jan. 11, the most of any conference in the country. Eight bids would set a record for the Pac-12 and match the third-most by a conference in tournament history.

9 - The Pac-12’s nine teams in the NCAA RPI Top 50 as of Jan. 12 are the most in the nation. Eleven Pac-12 teams are currently in the top 75, also the most nationally.

11 & 10 - The preseason predicted league rank of the Pac-12 teams occupying first (WASHINGTON) and second (USC) place in the league standings through Jan. 10 games.

PAC-12 QUICK HITS

TOP 100 CHARTS: Through Jan. 11, the Pac-12 has 50 wins against NCAA RPI Top 100 teams, led by ARIZONA (5-3), CALIFORNIA (5-4), OREGON (7-2), UCLA (5-5), USC (6-3) and UTAH (6-4).

5/50: There are four teams in the nation with five RPI Top 50 victories so far this season, two of them are Pac-12 members (CALIFORNIA 5-3, USC 5-2, Kansas 5-1, Michigan St. 5-1). The Pac-12 has 35 combined wins versus the RPI Top 50.

THE DOZENS: Every Pac-12 program has a winning record through games of Jan. 11, a feat matched only by the Big 12.

CONFERENCE OF REBOUNDS: Through games of Jan. 11, Pac-12 programs have a combined average rebound total of 40.1, the highest of any conference. The Pac-12 is second nationally in scoring at 78.4 points per game.

HOME SWEET HOME: ARIZONA owns NCAA Division I’s longest active home win streak at 47 consecutive games. OREGON has won 18 in a row at home, the 13th longest streak in the nation.

FIRST TO 90 WINS?: There have been eight instances of a Pac-12 team reaching the 90-point plateau through the 20 total league games of Jan. 10. During the entire 2014-15 Pac-12 season, teams reached the 90-point mark a total of 12 times.

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?: In four of the past nine seasons, the Pac-12 has sent six teams into the NCAA Tournament. In each of those four instances, the league won more than 75 percent of its non-conference games. In 2015-16, the Pac-12 posted a .780 non-league win percentage.

TOPPLING THE TOP 25: Pac-12 teams posted a combined seven wins against Top 25 teams in non-conference play, tied for the second-most in the nation behind the ACC. Five of those upsets came in a span of 20 days (11/30-12/19). In total, Pac-12 teams have combined for 13 Top 25 wins with road sweeps of ARIZONA, UCLA and UTAH in the opening two weeks of league play.