The week in review: Week 5 in Pac-12 women’s basketball
There were big games on the schedule. Everyone who follows the conference knew that. The biggest was the match-up between two ranked teams sporting 16–1 records.
The №6 Stanford Cardinal would be travelling to Salt Lake City to face the newly-ranked Utah Utes. Even considering the anticipaction, the results were probably greater than anyone expected.
When the dust settled on a weekend of hard-fought contests Sunday evening, there had been a little bit of everything. Upsets. Triple overtimes. Historic firsts. Buzzer beaters. What more could you ask for?
Utah’s Big Day
Going into Sunday’s match-up with Stanford, the Utes were looking for their first ever win over the Cardinal. After an uninspiring non-conference schedule and an relatively easy start to conference play, they were also looking for their first big win of the season.
Prior to this weekend’s games against Stanford and California, Utah’s best win was against Arizona at home. The Wildcats sit at №39 in our ratings. Their only two games against the top 50 teams were the Arizona win and a home loss to Arizona State (No.14 in Her Hoops Stats’ ratings). How would that translate to Stanford, a top-10 team in both the national polls and our ratings?
Very well, it turns out.
The Utes held the Cardinal to 22.2 percent shooting in the first quarter while connecting on 50 percent of their own shots. Stanford recovered to shoot over 58 percent in the second quarter, but they let Utah go 5 for 8 from beyond the arc.
The Utes were tough from three-point land all game, hitting 11 of their 24 shots from outside. Meanwhile, the Cardinal went 8 for 28.
Utah also won the free throw battle, getting 21 opportunities to 15 for Stanford. The 16 free throws hit by Utah were more than the total number of attempts for the Cardinal.
The Utes were able to succeed at every aspect of the game. Not only did they outshoot the Cardinal from the arc and the line, they matched them on the boards and in the turnover game. They got eight steals to only three by Stanford. They hit every note they needed to in order to pull off an upset over a team like the Cardinal.
When the buzzer sounded on the 75–68 ball game, the Utes had not only pulled off their first win ever over the Cardinal, they had put themselves in a good position to compete for the conference title.
Utah is in a tie for second in the standings behind only unbeated Oregon. Since it was the only game between Stanford and the Utes this season, it also gave them the inside track against the Cardinal for conference tournament seeding.
UCLA Wins the Tough Ones
The Bruins have had an up-and-down season. They lost to Loyola Marymount only to come back and beat a ranked Georgia team two games later. They were blown out by North Carolina, then took Kentucky to overtime in the very next game.
They entered the weekend at 9–9 overall and 2–4 in the Pac-12. They had just lost at home to USC, who was winless in conference prior to that.
Going into Friday morning’s game against Arizona State, it was difficult to know which UCLA team was going to show up.
The Bruins used an 18–13 third quarter to tie the game up as they headed into the last period. With nine seconds left on the clock, Japreece Dean hit a three-pointer to give UCLA a two-point lead. The Sun Devils weren’t able to respond, giving the Bruins the 61–59 win.
Two days later, UCLA was in Tucson facing the Wildcats. It was a close affair throughout. The Bruins outscored Arizona by two in the first quarter. Arizona came out on top by five in the second. They tied in the third.
It appeared that Arizona might win when Lucia Alonso hit a three-pointer to give the Wildcats a two-point margin. But UCLA used their superiority on the offensive glass to get a put-back from Michaela Oneywere off one of her 11 offensive boards.
After only being called for one foul in the fourth period, UCLA was able to foul Aari McDonald twice to keep her from getting a shot off. It was off to OT with UCLA outscoring the Wildcats by three in the fourth.
About those overtimes. There were three of them, which was the most needed in a Pac-12 game since Jan. 7, 2001.
The extra periods unfolded much like regulation with neither team able to take control. Ten points by each team in the first OT, with a McDonald three-pointer going long at the end. Thirteen points each in the second, this time McDonald getting the three at the buzzer off a play Arizona lifted from the Bruins. Then, the final period, a 14–9 advantage for UCLA for the final margin.
It was quite the game between two teams that are fairly evenly-matched in many of the metrics. Half a point separates them in points per game. The difference in points per 100 possessions is a mere one-tenth. It’s only a 0.3 variance in possessions per 40 minutes. Sunday’s competition demonstrated that.
With the show the two teams put on last weekend, it’s unfortunate that there won’t be a second act in Westwood. Due to the unbalanced schedule, the Bruins and the Wildcats won’t play again this season unless it’s in the Pac-12 tournament.
After the exciting weekend, UCLA has put themselves at .500 in conference play. For a team that was picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12, it’s a step back towards the NCAA Tournament and meeting expectations.
Who’s Ranked?
After the upset in Salt Lake City this weekend, both Stanford and Utah saw movement in their rankings. Stanford fell two spots in the Associated Press rankings and one spot in the USA Today/WBCA poll. They’re now №8 in both major polls. Utah jumped seven slots in both polls, from №21 to №14 in the AP and №24 to №17 in the coaches poll.
Oregon also moved up one spot to №4 in both polls, while Oregon State stayed steady at №9/11.
The close loss to UCLA caused ASU to tumble five spots to №21 in the AP. The coaches moved them down four spots to №20.
California was the lone representative in the “others receiving votes” list, getting two points from the AP and 12 from the coaches after a road split against Utah and Colorado.
The Players of the Week
After sweeping the Bay Area schools, Utah’s Megan Huff was named Pac-12 Player of the Week. The versatile senior averaged 20.5 ppg and 11 rpg in the home sweep. She shot 12 for 28 from the field and 14 for 15 from the line over the weekend. The recognition was Huff’s second this season.
Huff is №28 in scoring this season with 19.7 ppg on 50.6 percent shooting. She has shot at least 40 percent from three in 11 of her team’s 19 games this season.
Utah’s senior forward is averaging nearly a double-double with 9.6 rpg. Her work on the boards has her sitting at №50.
The Pac-12 Freshman of the Week went to Arizona’s Cate Reese for the second straight week. It was Reese’s third recognition this season, as she went for 15.5 ppg in the home split against the LA schools. She also averaged 8 rpg and shot 54 percent from the field over the two games. She has scored in double figures in five of her last six games.
Reese’s 12.4 ppg has her leading all Pac-12 freshmen in scoring and sitting at №25 overall. She also leads the league’s freshmen on the boards, pulling down 7.8 rpg. That’s good for tenth overall.
