Stephen Vilardo’s Week 13 Men’s Hoops Stat Previews

A look at this week's Pac-12 Conference games by the numbers

Posted on February 3, 2022


  By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports

UCLA and Arizona will meet as top-10 opponents for the second time in 10 days when they square off at the McKale Center on Thursday night.

Pac-12This will be the 10th time the two schools have met on the hardwood with each carrying a top-10 ranking. The Bruins have the upper hand in those matchups winning 6 of the prior nine occurrences.

Last week UCLA earned a 16-point win in Pauley Pavilion over the Wildcats. It made the home team 6-2 in the eight top-10 showdowns between them.

In the meeting last week, it was defense that won the day for the Bruins. Arizona shot just 30.7 percent from the floor while forcing 14 Wildcat turnovers leading to a 15-3 UCLA edge in points off turnovers.

It marked the first time this season that Arizona had failed to reach 70 points in a game.

The wins last week for UCLA over Arizona, Stanford, and Cal have run the Bruins’ win streak to six games, the longest active streak in the conference.

The Bruins have also won all five games they have played on the road this season, which ties them for the sixth-longest active road win streak in the nation at five games.

At 16-2, UCLA is off to their best 20-game start since opening 2016-17 with a record of 19-1.

Arizona entered play last week averaging 88.7 points per game, but in two games last week the Wildcats averaged just 63.0 points as they followed up the UCLA loss with a 67-56 win over Arizona State.

The game against the Sun Devils saw the Wildcats shoot just 32.2% from the field and were only 24.1% in the first half.

In their two games last week the Wildcats combined for 31.3 percent shooting from the floor. Nationally only DePaul and East Carolina shot worse from the field in two games or more during the week.

On non-blocked two-point FGs Arizona is shooting 60.6 percent for the season, ranking 23rd in the nation. In their last three games played that number is just 47.3 percent.

The only Pac-12 team shooting worse on non-blocked two-pointers over their last three games is Colorado at 41.5 percent, as Washington State limited them to just 30.3 percent on such attempts last Sunday night.

The Cougars limited the Buffs to a season-low 28.6 percent from the floor as they improved to 5-3 in Pac-12 play.

That marks the best conference start for WSU since the 2007-08 season and capped off the Cougars’ first-ever home court sweep of the Mountain schools.

Washington also came away with a sweep last week and saw Terrell Brown Jr average 28.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.5 blocked shots, and 1.0 steals per game for the week to go along with 50 percent shooting from the floor as the Huskies came away with a pair of close wins over Utah and Colorado.

Last season both USC and UCLA swept the desert road trip. It was the 10th time UCLA had accomplished the feat and the first time the Trojans have ever left Arizona with two wins.

It was also the first time ever since the 1984-85 season that both visiting teams ever pulled off the desert sweep on the same trip.

Oregon also got the desert sweep later in the season last year. Those three made it 25 visiting teams to complete the Desert Sweep since the 1984-85 season.

Of those 25 teams, 12 ended the season with at least a share of the Conference Championship.

If you take out multiple sweeps in a season, as we had last year, it is 12 of 19 years that a team that swept the road trip has gone on to claim at least a share of the regular-season crown.

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


Southern California Schools head to the Desert
UCLA has won their last six over Arizona and has won four in a row at the McKale Center. The Bruins own wins in eight of the last 10 meetings.

The last time Arizona collected a win in the series was in 2016. UCLA leads the all-time series against Arizona by a 62-44 margin.

The Bruins are in the midst of a five-game win streak in true road games; it is the longest streak for the team since winning six in a row in 2007-08.

Last season USC snapped a seven-game losing streak in Tempe with a 74-63 win over the Sun Devils.

The Trojans win at home in January pushed their win streak in the series to four games, and they have taken five of the last six meetings.

Arizona State’s last win over USC was a two-point win in 2019-20. The home team has a 32-10 record in the series since 2000. All-time USC has won 60 of 102 games between the teams.

Arizona won the most recent meeting over USC last season 81-72 in Los Angeles.

The Trojans win at the McKale Center last season snapped a 10-game losing streak for USC in the building. Arizona has won 15 of the last 21 over USC.

UCLA’s Jules Bernard | Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Wildcats have won 20 of the last 23 games played between the teams in Tucson. All-time Arizona holds a 70-46 lead over USC.

UCLA swept Arizona State last season with an overtime win in Tempe and a one-point win at Pauley.

The Bruins have won three in a row in the series with the average margin in those games being 3.3 points, with the largest margin being six and coming in the overtime game last year.

UCLA has a 52-14 record against Arizona State since 1987. All-time the Bruins have claimed 71 of 94 meetings between the schools.


Washington and Washington State visit the Bay Area
Stanford was a five-point winner over Washington State in Pullman earlier this season.

It was a tale of two halves in the first meeting as the Cardinal opened the game shooting 38.5 percent in the first 20 minutes while WSU hit on 51.7 percent.

In the final 20 minutes, the script was flipped and the Cougs shot 28.6 percent while the Cardinal were 56.3 percent as they erased a nine-point Washington State lead at the break.

That was one of six losses this season for WSU that have come by five points or less. Stanford has won nine of the last 10 in the series and eight in a row as the home team.

Stanford has won 13 of the last 14 when hosting the Cougars, including a win in Santa Cruz last season.

The only time since 2005 that Washington State has left Maples Pavilion with a win was a 61-58 win in the 2010-11 season.

WSU’s Dishon Jackson | Chris Gardner/Getty Images

Washington State won the first meeting with Cal this season 65-57 at home as the Cougars bench outscored the Bears reserves 23-9.

It marked three straight wins for WSU over Cal, including an 11-point win in Berkeley when they met last season. The series has seen streaks alternating since the 2014-15 season.

The Cougars’ current three-game win streak was preceded by a three-game streak for the Bears. Prior to that was another three wins in a row for WSU, which snapped a four-game Cal winning streak.

The teams have split the last six times they have played in Haas Pavillion.

The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week, Terrell Brown Jr, and Freshman of the Week, Harrison Ingram, will meet up in Palo Alto on Sunday.

The first meeting of the season saw the Huskies get a three-point win in Seattle. That win broke a four-game win streak in the series for Stanford.

The Cardinal also have won seven of the last 10 meetings between the schools. Including a win in Santa Cruz last season. Stanford has won six of the last seven in the series as the home team.


Oregon Schools make the Mountain Swing
The Beavers were 12-point winners over the Utes when the teams met in Corvalis on December 30. It was the fifth consecutive win in the series for Oregon State.

In the first meeting, Jarod Lucas led the way with 25 points and was 2-5 on three-pointers. For the season Lucas has made 44 three-pointers while the rest of the Beavers have combined to make 51.

Last season OSU left the Huntsman Center with a win, giving them two wins in their last three trips to Salt Lake City. Prior to that Utah was 13-1 in their first 14 home games against the Beavers.

Oregon will head to Boulder looking for their first-ever road win against Colorado. The Buffaloes are 10-0 all-time in Boulder against the Ducks, including a 79-72-win last season.

The first meeting this season was an 82-78 win for Colorado in Eugene last week as the Buffs shot 57.7 percent in the second half to erase a five-point deficit at the half.

It was the first time a road team had won in the series since Colorado got a 48-47 win in Eugene in 2012-13.

The home team is 19-3 all-time in the series and one of those road wins was for the Buffs in the first-ever meeting in 1955.

Oregon State’s Roman Silva and Warith Alatishe | Leon Neuschwander for The Oregonian/OregonLiveLeon Neuschwander for The Oregonian/OregonLive

The last time Oregon State and Colorado met on the hardwood was the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game last season, which saw the Beavers punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 70-68 win in Las Vegas.

Prior to that, Colorado had won three in a row over OSU including both regular-season games a year ago. Oregon State left Boulder with a win in two of their last three trips there.

Those two wins represent just three all-time wins for OSU in Boulder.

Colorado is 10-3 against OSU at home. When the teams last played at the CEC it was a 78-49 win for the Beavers, which was the largest margin for either team in the series.

Oregon has gone 25-10 all-time against Utah. The .714-win percentage for the Ducks over the Utes is Oregon’s highest against any Pac-12 opponent.

It is also the second-highest against any opponent Oregon has faced at least 18 times (They are 40-8 .833 all-time vs Portland).

The Ducks won the first meeting this season 79-66 at Matthew Knight Arena. It marked the Ducks’ eighth straight win in the series and 18th in the last 19 meetings between the teams.

Since Utah joined the Pac-12, Oregon has gone 14-1 in regular-season games against Utah and 18-1 when you add in games played in the Pac-12 Tournament.

The lone Utah win during that time was a 10-point win in 2017-18 in Eugene.

Oregon is 6-0 against Utah in Salt Lake City when the teams have met as conference opponents. The last time Utah got a home win over the Ducks was a 95-81 win in the 2008-09 season.

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

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