Did you think you knew anything about the Pac-12?
If you did, Thursday’s slate of conference games likely proved you wrong. For starters, your UCLA Bruins (8-7, 1-2 Pac-12) delivered their first win over an opponent from one of the “Power Six” conferences, all without the services of concussed sophomore center Joshua Smith against the Arizona Wildcats (10-5, 1-1).
Down three suspended players and with only six scholarship players making the trip, Arizona State (5-9, 1-1) was still able to beat USC (5-11, 0-3) at Galen Center.
Stanford (12-3, 2-1), which had the most AP votes of any Pac-12 team this week, fell to Oregon (11-4, 2-1).
California (12-4, 2-1), fresh off a beatdown of UCLA and holding the second-most AP votes in the conference, lost to Oregon State (11-4, 1-2).
Despite entering as 17-point underdogs, Utah (4-10, 1-1) needed overtime but took care of Washington State (9-6, 1-2) in Salt Lake City.
All of that makes conference newcomer Colorado (10-4, 2-0), which beat Washington (8-6, 2-1) at home, the Pac-12’s conference leader at the midway point of the second week of play.
The Pac-12 is weaker than ever and it’s becoming a growing possibility that the only NCAA Tournament bid the league will garner is the one saved for the champion of the Pac-12 Tournament in March. UCLA coach Ben Howland already admitted that his team’s only shot to make the Tournament is to win the Pac-12, and he may soon have company with that train of thought.
On to the Buzzer Beaters, looking back at UCLA’s 65-58 win over Arizona and ahead to Saturday’s matchup against Arizona State:
—UCLA delivered one of its best defensive performances of the year while barely playing any zone. Howland estimated that the Bruins played 15 percent of the game in zone and 85 percent in man-to-man. The result was a 36 percent shooting night for Arizona.
—Senior guard Lazeric Jones got an earful from Howland for chasing after an offensive rebound early in the first half. Key to the defensive gameplan was stopping the Wildcats in transition. As noted in the game story, Howland said beforehand that Arizona’s speed could be an issue so UCLA sent only two forwards to the offensive glass. Jones’ eagerness resulted in an open dunk on the other end. The Bruins quickly shored that up — Arizona finished with just four fastbreak points.
—Howland had no update on Smith’s status for the Arizona State game on Friday afternoon. He said that Smith would work out on a stationary bike following Friday’s practice, which he didn’t participate in. Smith would have to feel fine after his workout, then pass a concussion test at UCLA Saturday morning before getting cleared to play in the 7:30 p.m. game in Anaheim. “I would say less he will than he won’t, but I have no idea,” Howland said. We’ll post the update on the @DBSports Twitter account when we get it.
—Smith didn’t play, and UCLA’s previously porous man-to-man defense was the strongest it had been all season. Correlation, sure. Causation? It’s probably too small a sample size to tell. But even Howland couldn’t deny that not having Smith let his team play a little more man: “Josh played man last year. This team today, because they don’t have a true post-up player, was different. It probably did (let us play more man). Both Hill and Perry can really step out and shoot it. That would have been a hard matchup.”
—Howland was particularly disappointed because he says Smith is in the best condition he’s been so far this season. “He was down on Monday, after extra running, to the lowest he’s been in terms of his weight in a year,” Smith said. “He’s working hard getting himself in better shape. He ran three miles on Sunday, ran extra on Monday for 45 minutes, really putting the time in. It’s disappointing that we lost him for this game.”
—Arizona senior guard and noted “Bruin Killer” Kyle Fogg had put up double figures in each of his last five games against UCLA. He was held to just seven Saturday. Howland credited Tyler Lamb for his man defense.
—For the third straight game, a Bruin posted a career-best scoring mark. Saturday it was Travis Wear (20), who followed career performances from Lamb (26 against Cal) and Jones (26 against Stanford).
—Redshirt sophomore center Anthony Stover hadn’t made a free throw ALL SEASON entering Saturday. He found himself at the line six times against Arizona and made three, all in the second half when it was a tight game. He successfully drained his first and the UCLA bench, led by Smith, erupted in celebration. When Lamb went down with cramps and couldn’t shoot a one-and-one, Arizona coach Sean Miller had his choice of who to send to the line and, unsurprisingly, picked Stover. He missed the first, tossed his headband to the bench, then made the second. “He’s been talking about making his first free throw for a while,” Jones said. “He made some big free-throws, too.”
—Stover upped his free-throw percentage from zero to 27 percent. Watch out for Hack-a-Stov in the future.
—Stover’s three points were the most by a UCLA bench player. Sophomore guard Norman Powell had a bucket of his own, an alley-oop dunk from Lamb on a fastbreak. That was it for the bench scoring. However limited, UCLA had just eight players in the rotation and desperately needed every last point.
—UCLA’s starters looked really fatigued by the end of that game. That contributed to UCLA’s long field-goal drought that nearly cost the Bruins their lead. Lamb had severe cramps and Jones said afterward he was cramping as well.
—Former UCLA shooting guard and infamous cramp victim Malcolm Lee checked in on his Twitter: “I feel yo pain @LamboMars. I no a cramp when I see one lol”
—NBA update: Lee, who received a three-year guaranteed contract from the Minnesota Timberwolves, has been sidelined after having surgery on the same meniscus that was repaired at the end of his UCLA career, though the Timberwolves said the surgeries weren’t related. Tyler Honeycutt has played four minutes in eight games for the Sacramento Kings.
—Teams are starting to key in on Jones, UCLA’s leading scorer. Howland’s new game-plan is to let Jones play off the ball in more of a shooting guard role and let fellow senior guard Jerime Anderson shoulder the ball-handling responsibilities. That strategy worked Saturday with periodic success. “I’ve never played off the ball in my life,” Jones said. “Knowing Jerime’s out there takes a lot of pressure off me, too. I know that teams deny me the ball and I know Jerime can handle it.”
—Finally, the game was designated as the John R. Wooden Classic but it hardly felt like one. It strayed from the usual placement of the game in December against a marquee non-conference opponent. There was no trophy presentation. The usual in-game tributes to UCLA’s legendary coach were whittled down to just a brief video. You would have hardly been able to tell the game was special if the center court circle wasn’t changed to reflect the Classic’s logo. The lack of a home arena contributed to the inability to find an opponent so UCLA picked the Arizona game and kept it in Honda Center, the Classic’s usual home. For anyone who has watched the event over the years, it was clear that the game has lost some of its luster since Wooden’s passing in 2010. The LA Times’ Bill Plashcke put it well in his Thursday column: “This event needs to be fixed, and now.”