Week 3 with the Pac-12: Turkey Week Tournaments
The conference took more losses this week
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Thanksgiving week was one of travel and tournaments. It was also one of inconsistent play by the Pac-12, especially by teams projected to lead the conference. When the weekend was over, only Arizona and Colorado stood undefeated at 7-0.
Oregon did not play in a tournament over the holiday week, and the Ducks’ loss on Monday was before the AP’s delayed poll last week. Both Arizona and Colorado ran the table in their tournaments. Every other team took at least one loss.
Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, and Oregon State--the four teams picked to finish one through four in the league--have all dropped two games over the first three weeks of the season. While the Cardinal and the Ducks have both played multiple Top 25 teams, the losses by the Bruins and the Beavers are harder to explain.
Whatever the problems for the top teams, it’s important for the entire league that they get them sorted out quickly. Pac-12 play starts at the end of December, and the out-of-conference losses will not help the teams’ NET rankings. Not being able to rely on the high NET of teams like Oregon State and UCLA could mean that fewer of the teams in the middle of the league get an opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament.
What happened to the Bruins and the Beavers this week?
UCLA
The No. 19* Bruins were without Charisma Osborne for one game during the second week of the season, but she returned for their trip to the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. In her first game back, Osborne scored 21 points and had two of her teammates in double figures, but UCLA couldn’t contain Kent State.
The Bruins allowed the Golden Flashes to shoot 50 percent from the floor including 52.9 percent from the 3-point line. They also sent Kent State to the free-throw line 30 times and saw both IImar’I Thomas and Kayla Owens foul out. Natalie Chou narrowly avoided the same fate by getting whistled for four fouls. UCLA was fortunate that its opponent only hit 53.3 percent of those foul shots or the 75-69 score would have been more lopsided.
Things didn’t improve for UCLA the next day when they went up against South Dakota State. Fouls were again a problem for the Bruins. Dominique Onu fouled out, and the team sent the Jackrabbits to the line 28 times. SDSU hit 23 of those shots on its way to the 76-66 victory.
Against the Jackrabbits, the Bruins turned the ball over 16 times. South Dakota State made them pay with 22 points off turnovers. SDSU also shot the ball well from outside, hitting 45 percent of its 3-point shots. The Jackrabbits scored at least 25 points in the second and fourth quarters.
UCLA was able to regroup and win its final game against St. John’s by eight points, but it was not an encouraging tournament for the team picked to finish third in the Pac-12. It also caused them to drop out of the Associated Press Top 25. They now stand behind conference foe Colorado in fourth among those receiving votes.
Oregon State
The No. 16 Beavers headed to Daytona Beach, Fla. for the Daytona Beach Invitational. It was not a very inspirational experience, at least on the court. They ended up dropping to No. 23 in the AP poll after the trip.
Perhaps it should have been a warning that OSU edged out California Baptist by just eight points on Nov. 17 before heading to Florida. They left the Sunshine State without a win, dropping games to No. 12 Michigan and unranked Notre Dame.
Neither the Wolverines nor the Beavers shot particularly well in their matchup, but UM was able to turn OSU over 23 times and take those turnovers in for 21 points. The Beavers also were enamored with the 3-point shot, launching 18 but only hitting six. It did not help that OSU hit just 55.6 percent of its free throws. The Wolverines did not shoot particularly well from the floor, but they bested Oregon State in all three other areas.
Things didn’t get significantly better on the second day in Daytona Beach. The Beavers were edged out by the Fighting Irish 64-62. Both teams had just two players in double figures, but Notre Dame had two others hovering around that mark while no one else for Oregon State scored more than five points.
Once again, the Beavers had trouble from the 3-point line, but they continued to shoot. The team went 5 for 19 from beyond the arc, hitting just 26.3 percent of those shots. They stayed close by going to the free-throw line five more times than Notre Dame and hitting a slightly higher percentage of those shots. It just wasn’t enough.
Voting for the Best
Discussing who I voted for in the conference’s weekly honors and why, as well as who won.
Player of the Week
My vote: Cameron Brink, Stanford
The winner: Cameron Brink, Stanford
My vote came down to Cameron Brink vs Arizona’s Cate Reese vs UCLA’s Charisma Osborne. Both Brink and Reese had two really strong games in their tournaments and one game with a noticeable drop in their stats. Osborne had three strong games in her return from injury and has still not scored less than 15 points in five appearances this season. It went Brink’s way for the same reason that I voted for Reese in the opening week of the regular season: Brink performed against far better competition than the other two.
Playing three Top 25 teams in just three days is not for the faint of heart. Doing so with the kind of numbers that Brink contributed is a huge accomplishment for the sophomore.
Brink averaged a double-double in three games last week with 17.3 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, and 3.3 bpg. She jumped into the Player of the Week conversation immediately with a 21-point, 22-rebound, 5-assist, 5-block performance against No. 4 Indiana. She never looked back, even though her team dropped the middle game against No. 18 South Florida.
The contest was over early this week.
Freshman of the Week
My vote: Gisela Sanchez, Arizona
The winner: Jayda Curry, California
The nominated freshmen all had a similar issue this week: they played one really good game and one lesser game or they only played one game. Sanchez was one who played in just one game, but it was a breakout game for her as Arizona put together a runaway win over Rutgers to secure a 3-0 week at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Cal’s Jayda Curry, the winner of the freshman honor the first two weeks, was a close second for me and won the vote of the panel again this week. She had one really good game in a win over Furman. In the 19-point loss to Ole Miss, she still got into double figures with 12 points, but she went 4-18 from the floor and 1-10 from the 3-point line.
It is much easier to get on the floor and stay there for a Golden Bears team that won one game last year than it is when you play for the ninth-ranked team in the country that is coming off an appearance in the national title game. It is also easier to stay in double figures when only one other player scored more than six points. After her first two strong weeks, it wasn’t enough for Curry in my estimation. I wanted to see what she did against better competition, and the Ole Miss game finally provided the first glimpse.
There is also a lot of pressure playing for a Top 10 team because the young player knows those opportunities won’t come often. Arizona’s freshmen did not see much time in the first two games of their tournament because they were closely contested. Only Aaronette Vonleh got into the games at all.
Sanchez finally got her opportunity to play against the Scarlet Knights. If a player doesn’t take advantage when the chances are given to her, she may see fewer of them even when the games are blowouts. That’s the reality that Sanchez faces, and she stepped up and seized that opportunity.
Sanchez has been a pleasant surprise for Arizona this season. The Spanish forward was a late addition to the Wildcats’ freshman class, but she has shown that she should not be considered an afterthought simply because she was not well known in the U.S.
*Unless otherwise noted, rankings in this article are from the AP poll at the time the games were played.
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Correction: This article originally described Michigan as unranked. They are currently 12th in the AP Poll and 9th in the Coaches Poll.
Michigan is not unranked. Been at 12 in the AP and No. 9 in the coaches polls for the last two weeks.