Pac-12 Men's Basketball league play tips off with clash of favorites

COMPLETE RELEASE

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE:
.739 - Pac-12 Men’s Basketball concluded non-conference play with a .739 win percentage (113-40) against countable NCAA Division I opponents, the best performance for the league since 2015-16.
• Pac-12 programs combined to average 9.4 non-conference wins through Dec. 30 games, tied for the second-most in the nation (Big East - 9.9).

1 vs. 2 - Pac-12 Conference play commences with 10 games this week, highlighted by an opening-night showdown between OREGON - the preseason league favorite with nine first-place votes and 291 points - and COLORADO - the preseason poll runner-up which garnered nine first-place votes and 288 points.
• This year marks the final season for the league’s 18-game schedule as the Conference will transition to a 20-game league slate for the 2019-20 season.

#4 - Preseason league favorite OREGON will begin Conference play this week with a No. 4 ranking in the AP Top 25 which equals the highest in program history (Week 1 of 2016-17 season).
• It also matches the highest ranking for any Pac-12 program since ARIZONA STATE checked in at No. 4 in the Jan. 1, 2018 poll.

4 x Top 25 - As of Dec. 31, the Pac-12 boasts four teams ranked inside the top 25 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) - tied for the second-most in the nation behind the Big Ten (five).
• The Pac-12 also has nine top-75 NET teams, tied for the third-most nationally.

7 x 10 - The Pac-12 had seven teams reach double-digit victories in non-conference play for just the second time in league history (2015-16).
• The Pac-12 is 1-of-2 conferences in the country with a national-best seven teams with double-digit non-conference victories (Big East).

PAC-12 TIPOFF:
ROAD SWEEPS: They’ve been difficult to come by - just 52 in total in 384 tries - since the Pac-12 expanded prior to the 2011-12 season.

ARIZ/ASU - 5 times, most recently by WSU in 2018-19.
ORE/OSU - 6 times, most recently by WASH in 2018-19.
COLO/UTAH - 7 times, most recently by OSU in 2018-19.
UCLA/USC - 9 times, most recently by COLO in 2018-19.
CAL/STAN - 9 times, most recently by UTAH in 2018-19.
WASH/WSU - 16 times, most recently by ORE in 2018-19.

A school-by-school total of road sweeps in the Pac-12 era:
ARIZ - 13
ORE - 10
UTAH - 7
CAL - 6
UCLA, WASH - 4
USC - 3
COLO - 2
OSU, STAN, WSU - 1
ASU - 0

PAYTON’S PLACE: OREGON senior guard Payton Pritchard is enjoying a National Player of the Year caliber season to date. He is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.5 ppg) on 50 percent  (51% FG) shooting along with six assists (6.2 apg) and four rebounds (4.3 rpg).

TRES’ RACE TO 2,000: OREGON STATE senior forward Tres Tinkle (1,906 points, 25th) is 94 points shy of becoming the 16th member of the Conference’s 2,000-point club. Tinkle is also tied for 89th on the Conference’s career rebounds list (757).
• Tinkle is on pace to become only the fifth member of the league’s 2,000-point, 900-rebound club (Lew Alcindor-UCLA, Don MacLean-UCLA, Adam Keefe-STAN, Chris Welp-WASH).

FRESH FORWARDS: WASHINGTON’s Isaiah Stewart (6 double-doubles, T-2nd in NCAA), USC’s Onyeka Okongwu (5, T-4th) and ARIZONA’s Zeke Nnaji (4, T-9th) are among NCAA Division I’s top-10 freshmen double-double producers.
• The rookie trio all rank in the top 10 in the Pac-12 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots.

KEY NON-CONFERENCE WINS:
POWER 6 OPPONENTS (15-20)
at OREGON STATE 80, Iowa State 74
WASHINGTON 67, #16 Baylor 64 (Anchorage, Alaska)
COLORADO 81, ARIZONA STATE 71 (Shanghai, China)
at #19 ARIZONA 90, Illinois 69
at UTAH 73, Minnesota 6
ARIZONA STATE 80, St. John’s 67 (Uncasville, Conn.
STANFORD 73, Oklahoma 54 (Kansas City, Mo.)
#21 COLORADO 71, Clemson 67 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
#11 OREGON 71, #13 Seton Hall 69 (Nassau, Bahamas)
#14 ARIZONA 73, Wake Forest 66 (Anaheim, Calif.)
USC 80, TCU 78 (Fort Worth, Texas)
#10 OREGON 71, at #5 Michigan 70 (OT)
at ARIZONA STATE 79, Georgia 59
UTAH 69, #6 Kentucky 66 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
USC 70, LSU 68 (Los Angeles, Calif.)

PRESEASON CONFERENCE FAVORITES (13-10)
#14 OREGON 82, #13 Memphis 74 (Portland, Ore.)
at #23 COLORADO 69, UC Irvine 53
at CALIFORNIA 54, Prairie View A&M 50
at #19 ARIZONA 83, New Mexico State 53
at #11 OREGON 78, Houston 66
#11 OREGON 71, Seton Hall 69 (Nassau, Bahamas)
USC 77, Harvard 62 (Orlando, Fla.)
at WASHINGTON 90, Eastern Washington 80
WASHINGTON STATE 63, New Mexico State 54 (Spokane, Wash.)
at ARIZONA STATE 88, Prairie View A&M 79
UTAH 69, #6 Kentucky 66 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
at COLORADO 83, Prairie View A&M 64
at COLORADO 99, Iona 54

2019 NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS (22-20)
at OREGON STATE 80, Iowa State 74
WASHINGTON 67, #16 Baylor 64 (Anchorage, Alaska)
UTAH 79, at Nevada 74
COLORADO 81, ARIZONA STATE 71 (Shanghai, China)
at STANFORD 73, Montana 62
at CALIFORNIA 54, Prairie View A&M 50
at #19 ARIZONA 83, New Mexico State 53
at #23 COLORADO 69, UC Irvine 53
USC 76, at Nevada 66
at UTAH 73, Minnesota 69
at #25 WASHINGTON 73, Montana 56
ARIZONA STATE 80, St. John’s 67 (Uncasville, Conn.)
at #11 OREGON 78, Houston 66
STANFORD 73, Oklahoma 54 (Kansas City, Mo.)
WASHINGTON STATE 66, Old Dominion 50 (George Town, Cayman Islands)
#11 OREGON 71, #13 Seton Hall 69 (Nassau, Bahamas)
WASHINGTON STATE 63, New Mexico State 54 (Spokane, Wash.)
at ARIZONA STATE 88, Prairie View A&M 79
#10 OREGON 71, at #5 Michigan 70 (OT)
at #8 OREGON 81, Montana 48
UTAH 69, #6 Kentucky 66 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
USC 70, LSU 68 (Los Angeles, Calif.)

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (All Time Pacific - Expanded Schedule)

PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

NATIONAL HONORS