Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Arizona and Washington State continue to show out
By Mason Duhon
Playing spoiler
. . 8. . team. 512. ASU. 12-12, 6-7 in Pac-12. . Last week: 9
Arizona State is a long way from how they looked earlier in conference play, but they made a strong enough case to get further away from the basement. After losing five straight, the Sun Devils finally found a little life as the weekend came to a close.
Arizona State came out of the gate flat against Colorado and fell into a deep deficit early. The Sun Devils rallied and pulled to within 4 points with three minutes to go in the first half, but it wasn't enough and they fell in an 82-70 defeat.
The Sun Devils finally showed a pulse when they were able to topple Utah, who was coming off a game that saw three extra periods, 85-77. Jose Perez led the Sun Devils with 21 points and Arizona State's 85 total points were a season high.
Next week: Arizona State will look to build off the last win when they host Oregon State for a one-off game on Wednesday before heading to Tucson to play No. 5 Arizona on Saturday for rivalry week.
UW. . . . 13-11, 5-8 in Pac-12. Last week: 8. . 9. . 521
Washington could have remained at their No. 8 slot and even climbed up to No. 7, but a failed comeback led to them splitting the weekend and being overtaken by Arizona State.
The 20-point hole Washington found itself in against Oregon was quickly erased when Washington pulled within 1 point down the stretch. However, the Huskies couldn't find the extra push when they needed it and the game ultimately ended as an 85-80 loss.
Washington rebounded against Oregon State and Keion Brooks Jr. scored 23 points on the way to a ship-righting 67-55 win. The Huskies never trailed and took care of business against a lower-caliber team while being vulnerable to an upset at the same time.
Next week: Washington will play host to two feisty teams in Stanford on Thursday and Cal on Saturday.
. 10-14, 6-7 in Pac-12. . 10. . . Cal. Last week: 10. . 2287
Though Cal is still far from a good team, they're no longer relegated to the basement. They seem to split just about every weekend in the same fashion: losing to the better team and barely escaping the worse of the two. This weekend was no different.
A mightily struggling USC team came to Haas Pavilion on Thursday, and the sold-out crowd witnessed a 27-point day from Jaylon Tyson and 20 points from Jalen Cone to boot. A 3-pointer broke the tie with 1:30 to go in overtime, and Cal held on to secure the 83-77 win.
Predictably, Cal folded against stiffer competition when UCLA came to town on Saturday. The Golden Bears cleaned up a 14-point deficit, but none of their players posted more than 16 points. They couldn't hang on in the end, and fell in a heartbreaking 61-60 loss.
Next week: Cal will look to avoid being fodder against Washington State in Pullman on Thursday before they head to Seattle to play Washington on Saturday.