Only one of the Pac-12’s six ranked teams survived the extended weekend, which ended Monday, without a loss.
Even Stanford, the highest ranked team of the group, went 1-1 against the unranked Arizona schools. But the Cardinal still emerged from the penultimate week of the regular season with at least a share of its 27th conference title.
Stanford is two games up on USC, Oregon State and UCLA and needs one more victory for its 22nd outright championship in the Pac-12’s final season as currently configured.
Games this week are Thursday and Saturday, with Stanford visiting the Oregon schools.
The last time the Cardinal failed to win a regular season or Pac-12 tournament title was in 2019-20, when Oregon won both. Stanford tied Utah for the 2023 regular-season title and lost to UCLA in the tournament semifinals.
UCLA and Arizona were the teams of the week. The Bruins outlasted Colorado 53-45 on Monday on national television to complete a sweep of nationally ranked opponents.
After losing at home to Arizona for the first time since 2001, Stanford needed a win over Arizona State on Sunday — and a little help — to clinch a title. Both happened. All-America forward Cameron Brink returned from illness that sidelined her against the Wildcats to participate in the Cardinal’s 81-67 victory. Meanwhile, both USC and Oregon State lost, the latter to unranked Washington.
“I want to enjoy this ride,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I’m not even going to think about anything else. We’re going to enjoy these (championship) shirts. I might sleep in it tonight. We know we’re going to the NCAA Tournament. We want to be healthy and enjoy playing with each other. That’s the priority.”
Brink estimates she was 60 percent recovered from the flu against ASU — healthy enough to contribute 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five blocks to Kiki Iriafen’s 22-point, 20-rebound gem.
UCLA sweeps ranked teams in diverse ways
UCLA’s wins were as stylistically opposite as possible.
The Bruins shot 50 percent or above in three of four quarters against Utah, winning 82-52 to avenge an earlier loss. Londynn Jones went 7-for-10 from 3-point range and, with 23 points, was among four double-digit scorers.
“I thought this was our best defensive execution of a game plan all year long,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “We had some moments in the first and second quarter where we lost track of what we were doing, but our next play speed, our response to that mistake was maybe the best it’s been.”
Center Lauren Betts added: “If we play the way we did today, no one is going to be able to stop us.”
The defense was solid again against Colorado, which missed its first nine shots and was 6-of-21 from the field at halftime. But Betts couldn’t get going offensively, failing to score until the 8:49 mark of the fourth quarter and finishing with two points.
Guards Kiki Rice and Charisma Osborne combined for 34 points to get the Bruins past Colorado and into a second-place tie. Osborne’s 3-pointer with 1:28 left ended an 0-of-11 shooting stretch for the Bruins.
Colorado lost for the fourth consecutive time (all to ranked opponents) and has been outscored 79-48 in the first quarter of those defeats.
As it stands now, Colorado and Utah would be playing in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament on March 6 against Oregon and ASU, respectively.
Watkins vs. Hidalgo
There isn’t a wrong choice for national Freshman of the Year between USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.
They are second (Watkins) and third (Hidalgo) in the nation in scoring behind Iowa All-America Caitlin Clark. The 6-foot-2 Watkins has an edge in rebounding and blocks while the 5-6 Hidalgo has more assists and steals. Their shooting percentages are similar.
Watkins has scored at least 30 points in 12 games, with a high of 51. Hidalgo has eight games of at least 20 points with a high of 35, plus one triple-double. She and Iowa’s Clark are the only players from the power conferences who average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The voting could come down to media exposure. Notre Dame has 10 nationally televised regular-season games compared to USC’s one. The Pac-12 Networks also have well-documented distribution issues.
So plenty of people across the country have yet to see Watkins, who three times has swept the Pac-12 Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week awards. She has won the latter award 13 times, a record that begs the additional question: Who else deserves to be on the Pac-12’s All-Freshman team?
Three players seem certain even given their difficulty getting noticed in Watkins’ lengthy shadow: Oregon State’s Donovyn Hunter, Washington State’s Eleonora Villa and Arizona’s Jada Williams.
Williams scored 14 of her 23 points against Stanford in the fourth quarter Friday as the Wildcats closed with a 19-3 run for a stunning 68-61 victory. She followed up with 18 points against Cal, earning her first Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award.
Watkins had 42 points (on efficient 10-of-19 shooting) in a win over Colorado and 30 in a loss to Utah. She was a combined 27-of-30 on free throws and even overcame 10 turnovers against Colorado.
Arizona sweeps (teams and awards)
Because USC’s seven-game win streak ended Sunday against Utah, the Wildcats enter this week with the longest winning streak in the conference, four games.
At the opposite end, Oregon has lost 11 in a row, tying a school record set in 1992-93.
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Arizona won twice despite again being without leading scorer Kailyn Gilbert and having just seven players (before adding a walk-on to the roster on Sunday). Breya Cunningham fouled out with 2:58 left against Stanford, and the Wildcats still went on to complete the highest-ranked road win in school history.
“We believed we could walk in their house and win,” Williams said on the Pac-12 Networks.
“We’re playing like sisters. This wasn’t about me, it was about winning for my team and all the adversity we’ve been through this season. A lot of people thought we were going to bow down because we have seven people.”
Arizona coach Adia Barnes told a Tucson radio station that Gilbert “won’t be with the team for the rest of the year.” A sophomore, Gilbert could be transferring as she considered doing after last season.
Arizona is in seventh place in the Pac-12 – two games ahead of Washington State and Cal – and up to No. 33 in the NET ranking. That means an NCAA Tournament berth remains available entering into home games against USC and UCLA.
The Wildcats’ Esmery Martinez won her first Pac-12 Player of the Week award for 17- and 20-points games against the Bay Area teams. She and Williams combined to give the Wildcats a sweep of the weekly awards.
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