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Pac-12 Men's Basketball Weekly Rundown - January 16, 2024

by Pac-12 Conference
Jan 16, 2024
Dean Hare/Washington State Athletics

Complete Release (PDF) | Schedule | Standings | Pac-12 Statistics | NCAA Statistics | Pac-12 Record Book

#PAC12MBB STARTING FIVE

5-0 - OREGON assumed sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 standings by improving to 5-0 last week. 

  • The Ducks are alone in first place in the Conference standings for the first time since claiming the Pac-12 regular-season title in 2020-21. 

  • The Ducks are 5-0 in league play for only the fourth time (2016-17, 2012-13, 1973-74) since returning to the Pac-8/AAWU in 1964-65 and will be seeking to start 6-0/7-0 for only the third time and first since 2016-17 (program-best 8-0 start; 2012-13 7-0 start) when it travels to the Mountains this week (1-9 at CU, 9-2 at UTAH in Pac-12 era).

2-0 - STANFORD and WASHINGTON STATE were the only teams to collect two wins last week with both teams picking up home and road victories during the Week 3 flex scheduling.

  • At 4-2 in Pac-12 play, the Cardinal is off to its best league start since 2020-21 when it also opened 4-2 with three wins in Santa Cruz.

  • Stanford has improved 54 spots in the NET (156 on Dec. 30 to 102 on Jan. 16) with four wins in its last five games, highlighted by Quad 1 victories over Arizona and Utah. 

  • The Cougars improved to 3-3 in Pac-12 play with a win at USC and home upset of No. 8 Arizona, and in the process jumped 19 spots in the NET (72 on Jan. 8 to 53 on Jan. 16).

5 - WASHINGTON STATE’s Isaac Jones became the fifth different Pac-12 player to earn National Player of the Week recognition this season with honors from the USBWA, Naismith Trophy and ESPN.com this week.

  • The fifth-year forward, who is the Pac-12’s second-most efficient player trailing only Colorado’s KJ Simpson per College Basketball Reference (25.7 PER) and KenPom.com (121.5 ORtg), averaged a double-double of 25.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in wins over USC and No. 8 Arizona.

  • Jones joins ARIZONA’s Oumar Ballo, USC’s Boogie Ellis, STANFORD’s Kanaan Carlyle, and UTAH’s Branden Carlson as Pac-12 players to be recognized with a national weekly award this season.

2 - Two Pac-12 standout guards were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List on Jan. 10:

  • Caleb Love, ARIZONA - 18.3 ppg (5th in Pac-12), 2.6 Win Shares (3rd in Pac-12 per CBB Reference)

  • KJ Simpson, COLORADO - 19.3 ppg (3rd in Pac-12), 3.4 Win Shares (1st in Pac-12 per CBB Reference)

  • Love and Simpson are 2-of-8 midseason honorees who did not appear on Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List (David Jones, MEM; Dalton Knecht, TENN; Jaedon LeDee, SDSU; Antonio Reeves, UK; Mark Sears, ALA; Reed Sheppard, UK).

10.9 - Through 34 league games as of Jan. 14, the average scoring margin is 10.9 points. Road teams are 10-24 (.294), the sixth-most difficult league to win on the road so far this season.

  • 22 games have been decided by single digits

  • 5 games have been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)

  • 1 game decided on team’s final possession (ORE at WASH)

OFF THE BENCH

BLOCKIN’ UTE: Branden Carlson is on pace to shatter the UTAH career blocks record and climb into the Pac-12 all-time top 5 in the category (Blocks became official NCAA statistic in 1985-86).

Utah Career Blocks
1. David Foster - 219
2. Branden Carlson - 212

Pac-12 Career Blocks
1. Jordan Bachynski, ASU - 314
2. Anthony Cook, ARIZ - 278
3. Channing Frye, ARIZ - 258
4. Taj Gibson, USC - 253
5. Jordan Bell, ORE - 233
6. David Kravish, CAL - 226
7. Branden Carlson, UTAH - 212

  • Carlson is the only men’s player in Conference history to eclipse 1,500 points (1,552), 700 rebounds (716), 200 blocks (212) and 100 assists (148) in a career.

PAC-12 AWARDS CANDIDATES

JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR 
MIDSEASON TOP 25 WATCH LIST
Caleb Love, Arizona
KJ Simpson, Colorado

PRESEASON WATCH LIST 
Oumar Ballo, Arizona 
Tristan da Silva, Colorado 
N’Faly Dante, Oregon 
Adem Bona, UCLA 
Isaiah Collier, USC 
Boogie Ellis, USC

NAISMITH NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR 
WATCH LIST 
Oumar Ballo, Arizona 
Caleb Love, Arizona 
Tristan da Silva, Colorado 
Adem Bona, UCLA 
Isaiah Collier, USC 
Boogie Ellis, USC

NAISMITH MEMORIAL HALL OF FAME AWARDS  
Watch Lists

Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year  
Isaiah Collier, USC

Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year  
Caleb Love, Arizona  
Boogie Ellis, USC

Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year  
Jaylon Tyson, California

Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year  
Keshad Johnson, Arizona  
Tristan da Silva, Colorado  
Adem Bona, UCLA

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year  
Oumar Ballo, Arizona  
N’Faly Dante, Oregon  
Aday Mara, UCLA  
Branden Carlson, Utah

PAC-12 MEDIA PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE  
First Team  
Oumar Ballo, R-Sr., C, Arizona  
Adem Bona, So., F/C, UCLA  
Keion Brooks Jr., Gr., F, Washington  
Branden Carlson, Gr., C, Utah  
Isaiah Collier, Fr., G, USC  
N’Faly Dante, Sr., C, Oregon  
Tristan da Silva, Sr., F, Colorado  
Boogie Ellis, 5th, G, USC  
Spencer Jones, 5th, F, Stanford  
KJ Simpson, Jr., G, Colorado

Second Team  
Fardaws Aimaq, 6th, F, California  
Kylan Boswell, So., G, Arizona  
Kobe Johnson, Jr., G, USC  
Caleb Love, Sr., G, Arizona  
Jordan Pope, So., G, Oregon State

Honorable Mention  
Kwame Evans Jr. (Fr., ORE), Pelle Larsson (Sr., ARIZ), Aday Mara (Fr., UCLA), Cody Williams (Fr., COLO).

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