Top-half battles mark massive week in Pac-12 Men's Basketball title, byes race

 

1 - One game currently separates the top six teams in the Pac-12 standings as of Feb. 18.
• The next closest NCAA Division I conference races among a league’s top six teams are the MAAC and MEAC at 2.5 games.
• This week’s 12-game schedule will feature four games between teams in the top half of the league standings - OREGON at ARIZONA STATE, USC at COLORADO, UCLA at COLORADO, OREGON at ARIZONA.

 

2 - Two Pac-12 standouts were named National Player of the Week by different outlets. It marks the sixth time a Pac-12 standout has been named National Player of the Week this season.
• ARIZONA STATE’s Remy Martin was named USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points and 3.5 assists in the Sun Devils’ sweep through the Bay Area.
• OREGON’s Payton Pritchard earned his third NPOW award of the season, this time by the Naismith Trophy after averaging 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in defeating then #16 Colorado and Utah.

 

6 x NET 50 - As of Feb. 18, the Pac-12 boasts six teams ranked inside the top 50 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) - tied for the third-most in the nation.
• With eight in the top 75, Pac-12 programs currently have a combined 30 Quadrant 1 and 20 Quadrant 2 opportunities in the final three weeks of the regular season, including 10 Q1 and 10 Q2 chances this week.

 

#14 vs. #24 - For the third time this Pac-12 regular season, two AP Top 25 teams will meet as No. 14 OREGON visits No. 24 ARIZONA on Saturday in the marquee matchup of this week’s 12-game slate.
• The three AP Top 25 ranked matchups of the 2019-20 season are the most for the league since eight during the 2016-17 campaign.

 

2,118 - OREGON STATE senior and Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Watch List member Tres Tinkle enters the week with 2,118 career points, which ranks 8th all-time in Conference history. At No. 7 on the list is OSU all-time leading scorer Gary Payton (2,172; 1987-90).

 

PAC-12 TIPOFF:
CALL IT A COMEBACK: 17 times in Pac-12 play this season has a team overcome a double-digit deficit to win.

Winning Team - Opponent (Largest Deficit)
Arizona State vs. Arizona (22)
USC vs. Stanford (21)
Colorado vs. Stanford (16)
Oregon at Washington (16)
California vs. Washington State (14)
Oregon vs. Colorado (14)
Arizona State vs. USC (13)
Oregon State at Colorado (12)
Stanford vs. Washington (12)
UCLA vs. Washington (12)
UCLA vs. Washington State (12)
Utah vs. Washington (12)
California vs. Stanford (11)
Oregon vs. Arizona (11)
Washington State vs. UCLA (11)
Oregon State vs. Oregon (10)
USC vs. Utah (10)

TRACKING LEAGUE PLAY: Through 76 league games as of Feb. 17, the average scoring margin is 11.2 points.
• 39 games have been decided by single digits
• 12 games has been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 8 overtime games (9 total OT periods)
• 4 games decided on a team’s final possession (Verge Jr., ASU vs. ARIZ; Austin, CAL vs. STAN; Elleby, WSU vs. ASU; Martin, ASU vs. USC))

ROAD SWEEPS: They have proven difficult - only three so far in 2019-20 and just 55 in total in 418 tries since the Pac-12 expanded for 2011-12.
• For the first time since expansion to the Pac-12, there were no January road sweeps in league play.
• The single-season league low for road sweeps is four in the inaugural 2011-12 campaign. There have been three so far in 2019-20 (ARIZ 2x, ASU) including the first-ever Pac-12 era sweep for ARIZONA STATE.
• Road teams are 23-53 so far in Pac-12 play, the fifth-most difficult league to win on the road to date (Big Ten - 28-72, Ivy - 9-23, Missouri Valley - 20-50, MAAC - 23-55).
• A school-by-school total of road sweeps in the Pac-12 era:

ARIZ - 15
ORE - 10
UTAH - 7
CAL - 6
UCLA, WASH - 4
USC - 3
COLO - 2
ASU, OSU, STAN, WSU - 1

ASSISTS, BLOCKS & FTM WATCH: Several Pac-12 standouts are climbing in all-time stats lists:
• OREGON’s Payton Pritchard (637) is 15 assists shy of moving into ninth in league history.
• OREGON STATE’s Kylor Kelley (192) is three blocks shy of moving into the league’s top 10.
• USC’s Onyeka Okongwu (69) is four blocks shy of moving into solo fifth on the league’s single-season freshman blocks list.
• OSU’s Tres Tinkle (537) is six made free throws shy of moving into ninth in league history.