Pac-12 Men's Basketball 

Stephen Vilardo’s Week 12 Men’s Hoops Stat Previews

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UCLA's Jules Bernard and the Bruins face Stanford on Saturday. | Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Posted on January 26, 2022


  By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports

After Tuesday’s games, Arizona and UCLA share first place in the Pac-12 with 6-1 marks.

Pac-12The Wildcats had a chance to put some separation between them and the Bruins, but UCLA got the better of them at Pauley Pavilion Tuesday night.

Arizona’s 16-1 start prior to the loss was their best start to a season since opening 2013-14 with 21 straight wins. The six straight wins to open Pac-12 play was also the best conference start for Arizona since a 10-0 open to the 2016-17 Pac-12 season.

Prior to the UCLA game, Arizona had won three straight Pac-12 road games by at least 25 points, becoming the first conference team to accomplish that since the league expanded to 10 teams prior to the 1978-79 season. 

Arizona’s 96-71 victory at Cal was the Wildcats’ 11th conference road win by at least 25 points since the start of the 2011-12 season, the other 11 conference teams have combined for 10 such wins during the same time span.

Missed Free Throws by Team with National Rank

Pac-12 RankTeamFTs Missed/GameNational Rank
1Utah3.518
2Cal3.9547
3ASU4.2473
4WSU5.18189
5OSU5.29205
6UCLA5.53239
7Colorado5.72260
8Arizona5.76264
9Oregon6.17300
10Washington6.82332
11USC6.89335
12Stanford7.12341
*Games played through 1/24

Entering the UCLA game Arizona was making 15.76 FTs per game, the 19th-most in the nation and most of any Pac-12 team.

Against the Bruins the Wildcats made just six of 11 attempts from the stripe, UCLA only got to the line five times, connecting on three.

Even with the high number of made free throws per game, the Wildcats 73.2 percent from the stripe was only 106th in the nation, however.

The Wildcats were getting to the line 21.5 times per game and missing 5.76 free ones per contest. That total was the fifth-most among Pac-12 teams.

UCLA’s Peyton Watson & Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis | Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire

Utah is leaving the fewest points off the board from free throws among Pac-12 teams this season with just 3.5 misses per game.

The Utes are shooting a Pac-12-best 80.3 percent from the line, which is the third-best in the nation. Stanford is leaving the most points at the stripe this year missing 7.12 per game, the 10th-most of any team in the country.

The only other major conference team missing more than the Cardinal per game is Pittsburgh and their 7.16 misses per game.

USC’s free throw shooting is a dismal 62.4 percent on the season, the ninth-worst in the nation, and their 6.89 misses per game are the 16th-most in the nation. 

Individually, Terrell Brown Jr is making 5.18 FTs per game for Washington to lead the Pac-12 in that category and rank 11th in the nation as he is shooting 79.3 percent from the stripe.

James Keefe of Stanford is averaging just over 17 minutes per game this season and has put up 37 field goal attempts and shot 34 FTs.

That comes out to .919 FT attempts/FG attempt this season and the 12th-highest ratio in the nation. The next-highest rate in the Pac-12 belongs to Oregon State’s Glenn Taylor Jr at .786, 30th in the nation. 

Washington’s Terrell Brown Jr. | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

As we talk about efficiency numbers, Terrell Brown Jr is also among the nation’s best in steals per foul committed with 1.76 steals per foul that mark leads the conference and is ninth in the country.

Arizona’s Christian Koloko is getting a Pac-12-best 1.12 blocked shots per game, good enough to rank 38th in Division-I.

A pair of the nation’s most efficient guards went at it in Pauley Pavilion as Tyger Campbell has the third-best assist-to-turnover nation in the nation at 3.56 while Dalen Terry is 10th at 3.09.

Here’s a historical look at this week’s scheduled Pac-12 matchups.

The Bay Area Schools head South to Los Angeles

UCLA has won nine straight games over California, which is currently tied for the third-longest active series win streak in the Pac-12.

The last time the Bears got a win in the series was February 2016 in Berkely and at the time was the Bears’ second in a row over the Bruins, both at Haas.

The last time Cal won on the road in the series was 2012, a string of seven wins in a row at home for UCLA, the average margin of those seven games in 14.1 points.

That game was, however, while Pauley Pavilion was being renovated. The last time Cal claimed a win in the building was the 2009-10 season, giving the Bruins an eight-game win streak at Pauley over the Bears.

UCLA is 11-1 against Cal in the last 12 meetings at Pauley Pavilion. 

Cal’s Andre Kelly | Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Stanford handed USC their first loss of the season at Maples in an afternoon game on January 11. It was a 75-69 Cardinal win that saw the lead change hands 10 times along with five ties.

Keeping with our FT shooting theme from earlier, the Trojans missed 11 for the game including 10 in a second half that saw Stanford outscore them 43-36 and erase a one-point Trojan lead at the half.

USC missed six of seven shots and three free throws over the final five minutes. That win broke a three-game series win streak for USC.

The Trojans have won five of the last seven meetings and five in a row at the Galen Center. The last time the Cardinal left USC with a win was a 78-76 win in 2015.

The last time the teams met at USC it was a 79-42 win for the Trojans in which Stanford shot just 25.4 percent from the floor.

‘That 37-point win for USC equaled the Trojans largest margin ever in the series, matching a 37-point win in 1953.

Since the 1949-50 season, the teams have met 164 times with USC winning 83 and Stanford winning 81. The average score of those 164 games in 68.9-68.7 in favor of the Cardinal.

The teams have been separated by 25 total points over the last 72 years.

The Cardinal has had more recent success against UCLA as the teams have split their last 10 meetings with Stanford taking the last two and three of the last four.

The lone meeting last season was a 73-72 Stanford victory in overtime in Santa Cruz. That tight affair was an anomaly among the last 10 meetings, however, as the average margin has been 12.7 points.

The Cardinal left Pauley Pavilion with a win in their last trip, 74-59 in the 2019-20 season.

That win broke a 12-game home court win streak for the Bruins in the series with the last Stanford win at UCLA coming in the 2004-05 season. 

USC has won seven straight over California including a 77-63 win in Berkeley earlier this season. That was a game that saw the Trojans go 11-13 from the FT line.

USC dominated the Bears in the paint that game, outscoring Cal 50-14 in down low and owning a 15-6 edge on second-chance points.

The Trojans have won the last three meetings in Los Angeles by an average of 16.3 points per game.

In fact, the last eight times USC has hosted Cal the margin has been 13.5 points per game with the Trojans owning a 5-3 edge. USC has won five of the last six times the teams have met at the Galen Center.

The Mountain Schools visit Washington

Utah was swept earlier this month by the Washington schools. The loss to Washington State was just the fifth all-time win in the 33-games of the series for the Cougars and the first time since 1946 WSU picked up a win in Salt Lake City.

The Utes have won six in a row over the Cougs in Pullman by an average of 17.5 points.

In the first meeting this season, Washington State was +25 when Noah Williams was on the floor. Utah is 14-3 against Washington State as Pac-12 opponents.

While both schools from The Evergreen State left Utah with wins, it was Colorado getting the best of both of them earlier this month in Boulder.

The Buffaloes collected a 14-point win over Washington at the CEC, their third win in the last four meetings against the Huskies, but they have not had any recent luck against UW in Seattle.

Washington has won the last five meetings they have hosted the Buffs. The last time Washington lost a home game to Colorado was at the end of the 2014-15 season.

Colorado’s Luke O’Brien | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

The home team has gone 22-7 in the series. Last season, Washington was an 84-80 winner at Alaska Airlines Arena. It is the only single-digit game between the two teams since the start of the 2019-20 season. 

Colorado is 16-5 against Washington State since joining the Pac-12. The Buffaloes earned an 83-78 victory over the Cougs in Boulder to run their home-court record against WSU to 11-0.

The Buffs shot 64.3 percent from the floor in the second half of the earlier meeting this season.

Colorado got a win in Pullman last season, but Washington State has won four of the last six times the teams have met at Beasley Coliseum.

This is another series that has seen the home team hold serve more often than not as the host has a 15-4 record all-time in the series. 

Utah is 12-7 against Washington since joining the Pac-12 and owns an 18-13 mark all-time.

In 31 games between the schools, the average score is 70.8-70.1 and four of the last five times the teams have played it has been a single-digit margin.

Washington has won the last two home games against Utah, but the teams have split their eight meetings as conference opponents in Seattle.

Entering the week Washington was 13th in the nation forcing an opponent’s turnover on 23.4 percent of possessions.

The Huskies converted 19 Utah turnovers into 22 points in the first meeting this season as they left the Huntsman Center with a 74-68 win

Oregon State visits Oregon

Oregon is 15-4 in their last 19 games against Oregon State at Matthew Knight Arena, but Oregon State has won two of their last three trips to Eugene.

The Beavers have won six of the last 10 meetings between the rivals, but Oregon collected a two-point win over OSU in Corvallis earlier this month.

Oregon’s Eric Williams Jr. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard

In the first meeting, Oregon went 12-14 from the FT line while the Beavers were just 8-18, leaving 10 points at the stripe in a two-point game.

The Ducks collected 17 offensive rebounds against OSU in the first meeting while the Beavs had only six, but the teams were an even 10-10 on second-chance scoring. 

Arizona State meets Arizona

Arizona swept Arizona State in two meetings last season. The Wildcats have won 10 of the last 11 meetings at McKale Center. Since 1984 the Sun Devils have only won five meetings in Tucson.

Since 2011-12, the rivals have met seven times when Arizona was ranked in the Top 10 and Arizona State was unranked, with the Wildcats winning five of those seven meetings.

The two ASU wins over Top 10 Arizona teams in the last decade were back-to-back wins in Tempe over No. 2 Arizona in 2014 and No. 6 Arizona in 2015.

Arizona State Sun’s Marreon Jackson | Larry Placido/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Sun Devils have beaten a ranked Arizona team in Tuscon just twice all-time.

The first was an 83-81 win over No. 15 Arizona in February of 1975 when ASU entered the game as the No. 12 team in the nation.

The most recent instance was a 103-98 double-overtime contest in March 1995, when the Sun Devils were No.18, and the Wildcats were No. 12 in the land.

Follow Stephen on Twitter @StephenVilardo and his organization @SERCenter.

Visit his website at sercstats.com.



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