Scores
Monday, December 12
Oregon 79, Portland State 70
Tuesday, December 13
Oregon State 95, Illinois-Chicago 53
Wednesday, December 14
UCLA 60, Eastern Washington 47
Thursday, December 15
Oregon State 93, Howard 72
Friday, December 16
Washington 87, UC Santa Barbara 80
Utah 71, Idaho State 59
California 77, Weber State 57
Saturday, December 17
Northern Arizona 69, Arizona State 68
Gonzaga 71, Arizona 60
UCLA 82, UC Davis 39
Georgia 63, USC 59
Stanford 75, San Diego 55
Sunday, December 18
Washington State 66, Western Oregon 42
South Dakota State 92, Washington 73
Virginia 67, Oregon 54
Oregon State 101, Portland State 68
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There’s just no way to argue around this claim: The Pac-12 Conference is having a miserable basketball season. There are two more teams in this league after Colorado and Utah joined the family, but the Pac has less punch than ever before. This is quickly becoming a power conference league that might not create one at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. Don’t laugh – it’s really possible as the losses continue to mount on the West Coast.
Just look at the tote board after this past week. Arizona, despite playing a national schedule as it always does, is not winning enough of the tough games it’s playing. The Wildcats got roughed up in Seattle, losing by 11 to Gonzaga because it simply wasn’t physical enough in the painted area. Arizona got whipped on the boards, 36 to 22, as Gonzaga brought the lunch pail to work while the Wildcats stood and observed, their hard hats lying on the floor. Gonzaga earned 32 foul shots to just nine for Arizona, attaining a plus-12 scoring margin from the charity stripe. U of A head coach Sean Miller has to transform his team and its mindset if a resurgence is going to occur in Tucson.
Elsewhere, the carnage continued in the Pac-12. USC, which lost at home to New Mexico on Saturday, December 10, spent another Saturday losing on its home floor, this time to an average Georgia club. USC led by six points midway through the second half, but a struggling offense sank the Men of Troy once more.
Sunday night, Oregon couldn’t handle Virginia on its home floor, dealing yet another blow to the Pac’s prestige. Virginia – having already beaten Michigan – represented a prime target for the Pac-12 in non-conference play, but even though Oregon welcomed the Cavaliers to the Pacific Northwest, coach Dana Altman’s Ducks were thoroughly outworked by UVA. Cavalier coach Tony Bennett used to ply his trade in the Pac-10 Conference when he led Washington State. It felt just like old times for Bennett, who gave the ACC another scalp while leaving the Pac empty-handed.
Finally, South Dakota State strolled into Seattle and whacked Washington by 19 points. If there was any lingering doubt about Washington’s status as an NIT team this season, Sunday’s result eliminated it from the equation. Washington will have to win the Pac-12 Tournament in March if it wants to get back to yet another Big Dance. The Huskies’ decline is just one more sign of how wayward this season of hoops has been in the West.
Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer