This week in Pac-12 Men's Basketball - March 3, 2021

COMPLETE RELEASE

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE:

3 - Based on the remaining scheduled games, three Pac-12 teams - OREGON, UCLA and USC - remain in contention for the Conference’s regular-season championship.
• The team with the highest won-lost percentage for all Conference games shall be the Conference champion. This shall apply even in the event one or more teams cannot play their entire 20-game Conference schedule.
• Seedings for the Conference tournament will be determined based on won-lost percentage.

4 + 1 - According to BracketMatrix.com, an aggregator of bracketologies, the Pac-12 is currently slated for four NCAA Tournament bids (6-USC; 7-COLORADO; 8-OREGON; 9-UCLA) plus a fifth among Next Four Out (STANFORD).

5 x 17 - Five Pac-12 programs have reached 17 overall victories through March 2 games, 1-of-2 conferences in the country with as many teams with 17-or-more wins (Big Ten - 5).
• The Pac-12 also has eight 13-win teams and 10 with double-digit victories, feats jointly matched only by the ACC (8/11), Big Ten (10/11), SEC (9/10) & Sun Belt (8/11).

#24 - COLORADO became the fifth Pac-12 program (ARIZONA STATE, OREGON, UCLA, USC) to enter the AP Top 25 at some point this season when it checked in at No. 24 on Monday.
• COLORADO & USC are currently tied for the most wins among power conference programs with 19 victories (Alabama, Arkansas).

83.1% - COLORADO is currently shooting 83.1 percent (364-438) from the free throw line as a team, which ranks first in NCAA Division I.
• Not only is Colorado’s free throw rate the best in the country so far, it is currently ahead of ARIZONA’s Conference-record rate of 78.6 percent (511-650) set in 2003-04 as well as the NCAA Division I record of 82.2 percent (535-651) set by Harvard in 1983-84.

PAC-12 TIPOFF

NAISMITH FINALISTS: OREGON’s Chris Duarte (West Award) and USC’s Evan Mobley (Kareem Award) were named among five finalists for their respective Naismith Starting 5 positional awards.
• Duarte is 1-of-3 power conference players averaging 17.0 points on 50% FG and 40% 3FG (L. Garza, Iowa; M. Hurt, Duke).
• Mobley is 1-of-2 players averaging 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks (C. Bassey, WKU).

TRACKING LEAGUE PLAY: Through 109 league games as of March 1, the average scoring margin is 10.5 points.
• 57 games have been decided by single digits
• 23 games has been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 5 overtime game (8 OT periods)
• 8 decided on team's final possession
• 21 games have been postponed (9 rescheduled and played; 7 rescheduled)

NON-CONFERENCE: Pac-12 programs have combined to post a .732 win percentage (52-19) in countable NCAA Division I non-conference contests so far in 2020-21.
• The .732 win percentage is the second-best for the Pac-12 over the past five seasons, just behind the .739 posted in 2019-20 when the league was projected to earn as many as six NCAA Tournament bids.

KEY NON-CONFERENCE VICTORIES:

POWER 6 OPPONENTS (5-9)
at Oregon State 71, California 63
Colorado 76, at Kansas State 58
Stanford 82, Alabama 64 (Asheville, N.C.)
#21 Oregon 83, Seton Hall 70 (Omaha, Neb.)
at UCLA 69, Marquette 60

PRESEASON CONFERENCE FAVORITES (5-4)
at Washington State 56, Texas Southern 52
at Washington State 71, Eastern Washington 68
at Arizona 70, Eastern Washington 67
at Oregon 69, Eastern Washington 52
at USC 91, UC Irvine 56

PAC-12 NATIONAL AWARDS CANDIDATES:

NAISMITH MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR
LATE SEASON TOP 15 WATCH LIST
Andy Enfield, USC

WOODEN AWARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LATE SEASON TOP 20 WATCH LIST
Evan Mobley, USC

NAISMITH TROPHY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
TOP 10 SEMIFINALISTS
Evan Mobley, USC

NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME AWARDS
TOP 10 CANDIDATES/FINALISTS

Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year
McKinley Wright IV, Colorado (Top 10 Candidate)

Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year
Chris Duarte, Oregon (Finalist)

Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year
Ziaire Williams, Stanford (Top 10 Candidate)

Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Oscar da Silva, Stanford (Top 10 Candidate)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year
Evan Mobley, USC (Finalist)

SENIOR CLASS AWARD
TOP 30 CANDIDATES
Oscar da Silva, Stanford
Chris Smith, UCLA

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

*Ineligible for Pac-12 & NCAA Tournaments due to self-imposed postseason ban. Remains eligible for Pac-12 regular-season championship.

PAC-12 WEEKLY SCHEDULE  (All games, tip times & TV broadcasts are subject to change)
For the most up-to-date schedules, visit Expanded Schedule

PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

NATIONAL HONORS