Race for Conference crown, tourney byes heats up in Pac-12 Men's Basketball

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#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE:

.447 - Pac-12 road teams are 34-42 (.447) through 76 league games.

• The Conference’s best single-season win percentage for road teams under the 18-game format came in 2007-08 at 42-48 (.467). The best road win percentage in the Pac-12 era is .398 (43-65) in 2012-13.

+3.0 - WASHINGTON’s current 3.0-game lead in the Pac-12 standings is tied for the second-largest league lead in the nation (SoCon - +3.5, WAC - +3.0).

• The Huskies can clinch at least a share of the Conference crown this weekend with favorable league results. It would be the 12th regular-season title in program history and first since 2011-12.
• 3.5-games separate nine teams between second and 10th place in the Pac-12 standings, tied with Conference USA and the Sun Belt for the most teams separated by the fewest games among the 32 leagues.

12.0 - Through 76 league games as of Feb. 17, the average scoring margin is 12.0 points.

• 32 games have been decided by single digits
• 9 games have been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 5 overtime games (5 total OT periods)
• 1 game decided on teams final possession (P. Van Dyke - UTAH at UCLA)

18 & 10 - The two longest series win streaks in the Pac-12 will be on the line this week:

• ARIZONA hosts STANFORD on Sunday having won 18 consecutive meetings dating to 2009.
• UTAH welcomes WASHINGTON STATE on Saturday with a streak of 10 straight series victories dating to 2014.

289... - WASHINGTON’s Matisse Thybulle enters the week with 289 career steals, the most of any active player in NCAA Division I and third-most in Pac-12 history

• At 3.36 spg, Thybulle would need 10 more games to reach Gary Payton’s all-time Pac-12 Conference mark and NCAA Division I’s 26th-best total of 321.

PAC-12 TIPOFF:

ROAD SWEEPS: They’ve been difficult to come by - just 51 in total - since the Pac-12 expanded prior to the 2011-12 season. There have been eight road sweeps accomplished in the Pac-12 so far this season, two shy of the record of 10 set in 2016-17:

• ARIZ at CAL/STAN
• COLO at UCLA/USC
• OSU at COLO/UTAH
• UTAH at CAL/STAN & UCLA/USC
• WASH at ORE/OSU & COLO/UTAH
• WSU at ARIZ/ASU

UTAH and WASHINGTON are now seeking to join Arizona in 2014-15 and 2016-17, and UCLA in 2016- 17 to post three road sweeps in a Pac-12 season.

A school-by-school total of road sweeps in the Pac-12 era:

• ARIZ - 13
• ORE - 9
• UTAH - 7
• CAL - 6
• UCLA, WASH - 4
• USC - 3
• COLO - 2
• OSU, STAN, WSU - 1
• ASU - 0

NATIONAL DPOY?: WASHINGTON’s Matisse Thybulle and OREGON STATE’s Kylor Kelley are among 15 players on the Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year watch list.

• Thybulle is the only NCAA Division I player ranked in the top 30 nationally in both steals and blocks (3.36 spg - 1st, 2.12 bpg - T-27th) and one of only two in the top 100 (Zion Williamson, Duke).
• Kelley ranks second in NCAA D-I with 3.46 blocks per game.
• At 3.36 spg and 289 career steals, Thybulle would need 10 more games to match Gary Payton’s all-time Pac-12 Conference mark of 321.

PAC-12 RECORDS WATCH:
Career Steals List (Min. 2 seasons)

1. 321 - Gary Payton, OSU, 1986-90
2. 298 - Brevin Knight, STAN, 1994-97
3. 289 - MATISSE THYBULLE, WASH, 2016-PRES