Rush The Court

1. It was another wild night in the Pac-12, as we learned once and for all that there isn’t a whole lot of difference between most of the teams in this conference. After home teams went 9-1 in the first weekend of conference play, last night the home teams went 5-1, including some pretty big upsets as every underdog in the conference went home a winner. The biggest of those upsets had to be Utah, who plenty of people, including yours truly, thought would be a serious contender to go 0-18 in the conference. Instead, in their first ever home game in Pac-12 play, they bounced back from a 40-point loss at Colorado last week to beat Washington State in overtime. The Utes trailed by six after the under-four timeout in regulation, but got back-to-back threes by Chris Hines and Cedric Martin (both assisted by Josh Watkins) and a jumper by Watkins with 18 seconds left to force OT. Then, late in the extra session, Watkins raced upcourt following a WSU miss and drilled the game-winning jumper with three seconds left to give the Utes the improbable victory.
2. Then again, maybe Arizona State knocking off USC was the biggest upset. Coming into the game, these two were generally considered to be the 10^th and 11^th best teams in the conference, in some order or another. However, when it was learned that Herb Sendek had suspended Keala King, Kyle Cain and Chris Colvin and left them at home for the weekend, meaning the Sun Devils would take on USC with a grand total of six scholarship players, it was a pretty safe bet that USC could get their first conference win. Instead, Carrick Felix and Trent Lockett played 78 minutes between them, hit 15 of their 21 field goal attempts (including four of their five three-point attempts), scored 41 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Lockett also handed out nine assists as he took over the point guard role (nevermind those seven turnovers), while Felix blocked four shots and the Sun Devils cruised to a nine-point road win. ASU will be without the three suspended players again on Saturday night when they play UCLA, and their status with the program will be re-evaluated next week. Colvin had already been suspended once this season, so his future in Tempe is very much in doubt. Meanwhile, the Trojans are the only team in the Pac-12 without a conference win.
3. Washington came out of last weekend looking strong after gliding to a couple home wins over the Oregon schools. However, as is becoming their custom, they struggled on the road Thursday night, losing by 18 to Colorado in their first true road game in more than a month. The Huskies are now 0-3 on the road this year and 0-5 away from home, while the Buffaloes are the lone remaining team undefeated in Pac-12 play. Carlon Brown led the way with 18 points (including 3-3 shooting from deep), but it was a true team effort as five players scored in double figures. The Buffs were 25-of-28 from the free throw line, and outscored the Huskies by 14 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, U-Dub had some relapses on the defensive end and did a poor job of sharing the ball, handing out just seven assists on their 27 field goal attempts. Tony Wroten again posted some excellent numbers (21 points, seven steals, six rebounds, three assists, 9-of-16 shooting), but also got out of control a bit on occasion, turned it over five times and was beaten defensively by Colorado guards.
4. Oregon handed Stanford its first Pac-12 loss as senior guard Devoe Joseph busted out a career-high 30 points, including 5-of-7 from deep, and added seven rebounds. He has largely been impressive for Dana Altman’s squad since becoming eligible on December 10, but was coming off his first game in a Duck uniform in which he did not score in double figures, throwing up a 1-for-13 dud in the loss to Washington last Saturday. E.J. Singler added 13 points for Oregon, while Stanford freshman guard Chasson Randle struggled mightily in his first conference road game, hitting just 3-of-14 field goal attempts and turning it over three times.
5. Lastly, Oregon State earned its first conference win of the season by dispatching California behind a spectacular shooting night. The Beavers posted a 74.5 eFG%, hit 11 three-pointers and saw four players score in double figures, led by the backcourt duo of Jared Cunningham and Ahmad Starks, who each had 24 points. After the Beavers built a 16-point second-half lead, however, the Golden Bears charged back to within four points with under five minutes to play, but Cunningham scored seven points down the stretch and helped rebuild the lead for OSU, who held on for a 92-85 win. However, despite the win, head coach Craig Robinson still needs to find a way to patch up the Beavers defense – they allowed Cal to shoot an impressive 63 eFG% – as they can’t always rely on such hot shooting to carry them through.

*UCLA also outlasted Arizona in Anaheim on Thursday night, and we’ll have more on that game later today.