Roundup: Washington State and Utah battle in Salt Lake City

Jan 21, 2015

Should be an intriguing one in the SLC Wednesday night as the Utes look to bounce back at home against the Cougs (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks), and Jacob Thorpe notes that Washington State is facing a difficult road test. Never easy to play a team coming off a road loss in conference play, especially when it’s the No. 12 team in the country.

On the Utes’ side of things, Utah is reuniting with Washington State’s DaVonté Lacy after the Coug spent a lot of time with a lot of Utes in China as part of the Pac-12's basketball tour of China, coached by Larry Krystkowiak. Also, Ted Miller gives us a season review of Utah football. He gives the Utes an A- overall; that’s Pac-12 All-Academic quality right there.

Jon Rothstein says that Stanley Johnson is becoming the “alpha dog” for Arizona basketball. Johnson is averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 boards in five conference games.

Cool feature here about UCLA basketball coach Steve Alford’s Indiana roots. There’s a Steve Alford All-American Inn in New Castle, Indiana (his hometown).

Despite recent troubles, Colorado basketball guard Askia Booker says the team is staying positive. Washington and Washington State come to town this week.

I’m sure they’re still on cloud nine in Tempe, so here are some takeaways from Arizona State women’s basketball’s win over Stanford in Maples, provided to us by Jeff Metcalfe.

USC quarterback Cody Kessler has been nominated for LA Sports Awards Greatest Moments of 2014 for his seven-touchdown performance against Colorado and his six-TD day against Notre Dame. Follow the link to vote for Kessler.

Now-former Oregon State football players Sean Mannion and Steven Nelson are trying to improve their NFL draft stock with workouts at the Senior Bowl, writes Connor Letourneau.

While we’re on the subject, buzz is growing for Washington defensive tackle Danny Shelton at the Senior Bowl.

Check out this selfie of Marcus Mariota and Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, taken at the Walter Camp Award banquet on Saturday. Apparently Mariota doesn’t harbor any harsh feelings from the CFP National Championship.