Quality matchups abound as Pac-12 Men's Basketball enters Week 4 of league play

 

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE:
4 x NET 25 - As of Jan. 22, the Pac-12 boasts four teams ranked inside the top 25 - ARIZONA, STANFORD, OREGON, COLORADO - of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) - the second-most in the nation.
• The Pac-12 also has six top-50 NET teams, tied for the second-most nationally, and 10 top-100 NET teams.
• Based on current NET rankings, Pac-12 programs have a combined 77 Quadrant 1 and 36 Quadrant 2 opportunities remaining in the regular season, including nine Q1 and six Q2 contests this week

 

5 +1 - According to the Jan. 22 Bracket Matrix, five Pac-12 teams are currently projected for 2020 NCAA Tournament berths along with a sixth among the Next Four Out and two others receiving votes.

 

11 - The Pac-12’s second-longest active series win streak will be on the line Saturday when Utah hosts Washington State as the Utes have won 11 consecutive meetings against the Cougars.
• The Conference’s longest active win streak belongs to ARIZONA, which has won its last 19 meetings against STANFORD. The Cardinal host the Wildcats on Feb. 15.

 

21 - According to the NCAA Record Book, USC’s 21-point comeback in its 82-78 overtime victory against Stanford on Jan. 18 marked the second-largest second half comeback in Conference history (22 - Utah at UCLA, 2/9/19).
• The Trojans also erased a 20-point halftime deficit against the Cardinal, which at least equals the largest halftime comeback in league history according to the NCAA Record Book.

 

2,016 - OREGON STATE senior and Wooden Award Midseason Watch List member Tres Tinkle enters the week with 2,016 career points, which ranks 15th all-time in Conference history. Next up on the list are #14 Steve Johnson (2,035; OSU, 1977-81), #13 Eddie House (2,044; ASU, 1997-00), and #12 Harold Miner (2,048; USC, 1990-92).
• Tinkle is also 72nd on the Conference’s career rebounds list (795) and 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).

 

PAC-12 TIPOFF:
WOODEN WORTHY: Wooden Award Midseason candidates were on full display in OREGON’s stunning overtime comeback victory at WASHINGTON on Jan. 18.
• UO’s Payton Pritchard hit six threes, including the game-winner with five seconds left in OT, en route to 22 points. It marked his fourth time this season scoring double figures in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime to close out a victory. Per College Basketball Reference, Pritchard is the only player nationally in the top 5 in Offensive Win Shares (3rd, 3.1), Win Shares (5th, 4.0) and Offensive Box Plus-Minus (2nd, 9.8).
• UW’s Isaiah Stewart recorded his ninth double-double of the season and fifth of the 20/10 variety. His line of 25p/19r/5b was the only such one this season and just the sixth in NCAA Division I since 2010-11. Stewart ranks seventh nationally in Win Shares (3.9) per CBB Reference.

 

BACK-TO-BACK NAISMITH DPOY?: After WASHINGTON’s Matisse Thybulle won the award last season, the Pac-12 has two more contenders for the Naismith Trophy National Defensive Player of the Year as COLORADO’s Tyler Bey and OREGON STATE’s Kylor Kelley were named to the 15-player midseason team on Jan. 22.
• Bey leads the Pac-12 in rebounding (9.3 rpg) and is also top 5 in the league in blocks (1.4 bpg) and steals (1.7 spg). Per CBB Reference, he is ranked fourth nationally in Defensive Rating (79.1), sixth in Defensive Box Plus/Minus (9.3) and ninth in Defensive Win Shares (1.7).
• Kelley is second nationally in blocks (3.9 bpg). Also a midseason watch list selection last year, Kelley has totaled 175 blocks in 49 career games and is 20 shy of entering the Pac-12’s all-time top 10.

 

ROAD SWEEPS: As the opening weeks of Conference play have illustrated, road sweeps have been difficult to come by - none so far in 2019-20 and just 52 in total in 398 tries since the Pac-12 expanded prior to the 2011-12 season.
• If not accomplished this week, it will mark the first time no road sweeps occured in the month of January since the league’s expansion in 2011-12.

 

TRACKING LEAGUE PLAY: Through 32 league games as of Jan. 21, the average scoring margin is 13.0 points.
• 15 games have been decided by single digits
• 4 games has been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 5 overtime games (5 total OT periods)