Drew VonScio gives his Pac-12 power rankings ahead of week 7 in college basketball.
Matchup of the Week: FAU vs Arizona (Dec. 23 – 3:00 p.m.)
Sneaky Good Matchups of the Week: Alabama vs Arizona (Dec. 20 – 11:00 p.m.) and Kent State vs Oregon (Dec. 21 – 9 p.m.)
All games listed are EST.
1.Arizona Wildcats
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Record: 8-1 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Purdue 92-84
Next Week: vs Alabama (Dec. 20 – 11 p.m.), vs Florida Atlantic (Dec. 23 – 3 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Duke, Michigan State, Colgate, Wisconsin
Bad Losses: N/A
Arizona’s undefeated streak was bound to end at some point, and Purdue was the team to do it. The Wildcats suffered defeat as a result of a slower first half by their standard with just 38 points through 20 minutes. Arizona was able to show resiliency in the second half by driving to the basket more and drawing fouls as the Wildcats shot 14 free throws in the back half of the game. Caleb Love continues to lead the way with a 29-point effort while Keshad Johnson posted 24. The Wildcats are still the best of the best in the Pac-12.
2. Colorado Buffaloes
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Record: 8-2 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Northern Colorado (90-68)
Next Week: vs Utah Tech (Dec. 21 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Miami
Bad Losses: N/A
Colorado continued its offensive prowess with another 90-point effort against Northern Colorado last week. Offense has never been the question for the Buffaloes as they continue to shoot around 50% from the field or better. The three-point shots against Northern Colorado weren’t the greatest, but the Buffaloes countered it with great three-point defense of their own as the Bears were just 3-21 from behind the arc. KJ Simpson is having a spectacular year as he produced 21 points to bring his season average up to 19.6 per game. If Tad Boyle can continue to sort out the defense, this Colorado group should have no worries about whether this group is playing March.
3. Oregon Ducks
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Record: 7-3 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs California Baptist (76-55), L vs Syracuse (83-63)
Next Week: vs Kent State (Dec. 21 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Michigan
Bad Losses: N/A
Oregon hangs around in the third spot as a result of other schools not having wins that were convincing enough to move them up. Against Cal Baptist, the Ducks found another gear in the second half as they shot 54.6% from the field and 62.5% from deep. Kario Oquendo and Jackson Shelstad led the way for the Ducks. That momentum quickly faltered against Syracuse as the Orange locked down any three-point shooting success; Oregon was just 4-27 from behind the arc. The Ducks also coughed up the basketball 19 times, making their task even more difficult. Kent State is the final tune up before heading into conference play.
4. Washington Huskies
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Record: 7-3 (0-0)
Last Week: W at Seattle (100-99 2OT)
Next Week: vs Eastern Washington (Dec. 21 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Xavier, Gonzaga
Bad Losses: N/A
Washington scraped by after a slow first half against Seattle where things just weren’t going the Huskies way. After regrouping at halftime, the Huskies responded well and did just enough push the game to overtime after shooting 66.7% from the field in the second half. Washington worked the ball down low as it scored 54 points in the paint. Both overtime periods went down to the wire as 50 minutes was finally enough for the Huskies to squeak by with a win. It wasn’t the easiest of wins for Keion Brooks Jr and company, but they all count the same.
5. Utah Utes
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
Record: 8-2 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Utah Valley (76-62)
Next Week: vs Bellarmine (Dec. 20 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Saint Mary’s, BYU
Bad Losses: N/A
Utah continues to have a strong start to the year with Utah Valley being the latest victory for them. Branden Carlson paced the Utes with 26 points as he went 10-16 from the field. Lawson Lovering led the way with 11 rebounds, and Rollie Worster finished with nine assists. Utah Valley held their own throughout the contest, but the Utes limited their opponents to just two players with 10 points or more. If Utah can find a way to score outside of Carlson, the Utes could be a sleeper team in conference play.
6. Washington State Cougars
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Record: 8-2 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Santa Clara (69-61)
Next Week: vs Boise State (Dec. 21 – 11 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: Santa Clara
After the start to the season the Cougars had, a loss to Santa Clara was certainly not on my bingo card this week. Washington State looked completely flat in the first half and scored just 23 points and went 7-31 from the field. The shooting got better in the second half, but the damage was done at this point. Isaac Jones and Andrej Jakimovski produced 16 and 14 points, respectively, while both of them came one rebound short of a double-double. I would imagine this game was a bit of a wake-up call for the Cougars, and they will come out strongly against Boise State.
7. UCLA Bruins
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
Record: 5-4 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Ohio State (67-60)
Next Week: vs CSUN (Dec. 19 – 10 p.m.), vs Maryland (Dec. 22 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
UCLA continues to struggle after a defensive first half against Ohio State. The Bruins led 23-22 going into the break, but the Buckeyes came out strong in the second half and scored 45 points to lead them to victory. UCLA had just three players score more than 10 points, and Sebastian Mack was the highest scorer with just 14 points. The Bruins three-point shooting was absolutely abysmal as they shot just 10% from behind the arc with Will McClendon sinking the only triple during the game. It’s back to the drawing board for the Bruins who have work to do this week against CSUN and Maryland.
8. USC Trojans
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Record: 5-5 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Auburn (91-75)
Next Week: at Alabama State (Dec. 19 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Kansas State
Bad Losses: UC Irvine, Long Beach State
Two games with Bronny James available off the bench and two losses for USC, something that nobody could have imagined. Outside of Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier, this group just looks like it has no momentum whatsoever. Ellis and Collier combined for 35 points against the Tigers, and Oziyah Sellers was the only other member of the Trojans who was above double digits. Auburn not only found ways to consistently score, but it took care of the basketball as well. The Tigers had about half the number of turnovers compared to USC, and that certainly made a difference.
9. Oregon State Beavers
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
Record: 7-3 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs UTSA (66-65)
Next Week: vs Idaho State (Dec. 21 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
It was another nail-biter for the Beavers against UTSA as Oregon State did not have the best of first halves. UTSA looked to be the much better group, but the Beavers persevered and used a 39-point second half to scrape by with a win. While Jordan Pope produced 19 points, Dexter Akanno quietly had a 15-point effort along with KC Ibekwe scoring 11. Those two are depth pieces that have not produced consistently this year, and Oregon State will certainly welcome them to have more performances like this one heading into Pac-12 play.
10. Arizona State Sun Devils
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Record: 6-4 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs TCU (79-59)
Next Week: vs Northwestern (Dec. 20 – 8:30 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
The Sun Devils were certainly far from their best against TCU as the Horned Frogs were spearheaded by 53 points in the second half. Arizona State forced Jamie Dixon’s group to be just 1-9 from behind the arc in the first half, but that strong defense was quickly pushed to the side. Adam Miller and Jose Perez had strong games for the Sun Devils who continue to fight every night in the midst of their rebuild. The challenge doesn’t stop here though as Northwestern is the next task at hand after just being dropped from the top 25.
11. Stanford Cardinal
Last Week’s Ranking: 11
Record: 5-4 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Idaho (82-64)
Next Week: at San Diego State (Dec. 21 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: Santa Clara, UNI
The win over Idaho was a step in the right direction for Stanford who have been struggling to say the least. The Cardinal finally showed some consistency on offense even though it wasn’t quite there defensively. Andrej Stojakovic 17-point game and a 12-point, 13 rebound double-double from Maxime Raynaud helped the Cardinal put together a solid team win. Stanford was the much better team on the boards especially in their own backcourt. The Cardinal have to find a way to protect the ball better as 14 turnovers against Idaho isn’t going go over well against better teams. It’s a start for Stanford though, and something it can build upon moving forward.
12. California Golden Bears
Last Week’s Ranking: 12
Record: 3-7 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Ole Miss (88-78)
Next Week: vs UC San Diego (Dec. 20 – 5 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Santa Clara
Bad Losses: N/A
Cal suffered against Ole Miss the same way most young teams do against a tougher opponent: one bad half of basketball. For the Golden Bears, that bad half was the first when the Rebels scored 46 points and shot 59.3% from the field. Those numbers against you even for a half will never allow a team to win basketball games. Cal stepped up in the second half in all aspects of the game, and it found a way to actually score more in the second half than Ole Miss. Jaylon Tyson scored 22 in the loss, but competing against an undefeated team like Ole Miss shows that Cal is slowly but surely getting better.