Just another crazy finish in Pac-12 basketball, is all. You can thank Justin Cobbs for continuing that trend, as his jumper with 0.7 seconds left lifted Cal to a gritty 48-46 victory over No. 23 Oregon in Eugene. At 9-5 in Pac-12 play, an NCAA tournament berth and Pac-12 championship is well within Cal’s reach (highlights of Cobbs’ game-winner included in the link). Who’da thunk we’d be saying that five weeks ago?
A tough loss to swallow for the Ducks, but Cal basketball has been golden against Oregon. This article was written before the game, so last night’s loss to Monty and Friends made it 11 straight decisions dropped to that team from the East Bay (gotta go Bobby Knight on ‘em with a streak like that).
Colorado got some revenge against its Mountain rivals with a 60-50 victory over Utah to even the season series. A key to the win? The Buffs answering the Utes’ halftime insult - Utah banged on the Colorado locker room at the half as Boyle was preparing his team for another 20 minutes, so leave it to Beau Gamble to break up the Utes’ fun before the start of the second half. No fisticuffs, fortunately. In some less combative news, André Roberson pulled down his 1,000th rebound during the game, becoming the second Buff to do so. The women’s hoop team is pretty good in Boulder, too, and Linda Lappe’s frontcourt is key to the success of Colorado women’s basketball. You know who’s a part of that frontcourt? André’s sister, Arielle Roberson, who knows how to pull down a board or two as well.
Utah was right there with Colorado, leading most of the first half, but 15 turnovers plagued the Utes in the loss to the Buffaloes, writes the always-entertaining Tony Jones. The gridiron gang made news a couple of weeks back by hiring Dennis Erickson as co-offensive coordinator alongside Brian Johnson, and a healing Erickson hopes to mend the Utes’ offense.
In the final game of the night, Stanford beat Oregon State 82-72 behind a double-double from Josh Huestis. Great Falls’ Finest finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds and can become the first Cardinal player to average a double-double for a season in more than a decade. Remember the name Curtis Borchardt? With Stanford beating Oregon State 81-73 in Palo Alto earlier this year, these teams combined for 164 points in both games.
After the loss last night, Craig Robinson said it appeared as if Stanford wanted it more than his Beavers, who have dropped to 3-11 in conference play. In happier Oregon State basketball news, Ahmad Starks is a long-distance success story for Oregon State, as the diminutive guard from Chi City became the school’s all-time leader in made 3-pointers last week.
Tough times for Lorenzo Romar’s Crew – the Huskies have lost eight of ten after winning their first four conference games. So yes, it’s bad, but it has been worse for Washington, writes the venerable Percy Allen.
Battle: Los Angeles Part Deux on the men’s side takes place Sunday in the land of Troy. The Trojans have had a lot more offensive success under Bob Cantu, and you can trace a lot of the uptick back to Jio Fontan, whose knee and coach is no longer restricting him. Additionally, with the NFL Combine going on, former Trojan wide receiver Robert Woods hopes to grab some attention.
The Bruins will need to get a win in the Galen Center to even up the series with USC, and like the Trojans, the Bruins have been scoring a lot more recently, as evidenced by the 88-spot they dropped on Stanford. I guess you could say that UCLA’s simplified offense is running more smoothly.
Don’t know how I missed this for Thursday’s roundup, but check out the Sun Devils getting in on the Harlem Shake craze after beating Washington State Wednesday night.
Arizona softball is spending the weekend in Palm Springs for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, and a comeback victory over Long Beach State capped a first day split for the Wildcats. After losing 5-0 to No. 2 Oklahoma, the Wildcats scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh (the last inning of regulation in a softball game) to beat The Beach 4-3. The rally started with nobody on and two out as well.
CougCenter’s Air Raid playbook series continues with a look at defensive coverages in action in what is part two of a series leading up to Mike Leach’s Spring Game.