INSIDE PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL PODCAST:
The Inside Pac-12 Men's Basketball Podcast hosted by Mike Yam provides a new level of detail and nuanced insight into all things Pac-12 hoops, deep-diving into current conference play, Pac-12 alumni in the NBA, professional potential of current Pac-12 student-athletes, and much more. All-time Pac-12 scoring leader Don MacLean offers a unique perspective on the collegiate and professional basketball landscapes, stories from his career, and projections on student-athletes around the conference.

 

1 - The Pac-12 continues to be the closest Conference race in the country as only one game currently separates the top five teams in the Pac-12 standings as of Feb. 25.
• The next closest Division I races among a league’s top five teams are the Big Ten and MEAC at 2 games.
• ARIZONA STATE is in sole possession of first place - the first time the Sun Devils have led the league this late in a season since joining the Conference in 1978-79.
• ASU is the sixth team to hold at least a share of the Pac-12 lead through eight weeks this season.

 

6 x NET 50 - As of Feb. 25, the Pac-12 boasts six teams ranked inside the top 50 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) - tied for the third-most in the nation.
• With eight in the top 75, Pac-12 programs currently have a combined 20 Quadrant 1 and 10 Quadrant 2 opportunities in the final two weeks of the regular season, including 10 Q1 and five Q2 chances this week.

 

7 & 5 -  Two of the hottest teams in college basketball will meet Thursday night as ARIZONA STATE puts its seven-game win streak on the line at UCLA, winner of its last five contests.
• Among major conferences as of Feb. 25, only Kansas (13) has a longer current win streak than ASU.
• UCLA’s five-game streak trails only KU, ASU and Kentucky (six) among major conference programs.

 

9 OT - There have been nine overtime games contested through 88 Pac-12 league games, the sixth-most in a season in the Conference’s 18-game era (1978-79) and the most since a record-tying 13 in 2013-14.
• OREGON has played six overtime games in total this season to tie Arizona State’s 1985-86 team for the most in a season among current Conference members. The Ducks are 5-1 in those contests.

 

4,019 - The 354th playing of the Civil War - the most contested series in NCAA Division I - on Thursday will feature a matchup of two of the top 30 scorers in Conference history between OREGON STATE’s Tres Tinkle (8th all-time, 2,153 points) and OREGON’s Payton Pritchard (27th, 1,866).
• Tinkle is just 20 points shy of passing Gary Payton (2,172, 1987-90) for the OSU career record.

 

PAC-12 TIPOFF
CALL IT A COMEBACK: 18 times in Pac-12 play this season has a team overcome a double-digit deficit to win.

Winning Team - Opponent (Largest Deficit)
Arizona State vs. Arizona (22)
USC vs. Stanford (21)
Colorado vs. Stanford (16)
Oregon at Washington (16)
Colorado vs. USC (14)
California vs. Washington State (14)
Oregon vs. Colorado (14)
Arizona State vs. USC (13)
Oregon State at Colorado (12)
Stanford vs. Washington (12)
UCLA vs. Washington (12)
UCLA vs. Washington State (12)
Utah vs. Washington (12)
California vs. Stanford (11)
Oregon vs. Arizona (11)
Washington State vs. UCLA (11)
Oregon State vs. Oregon (10)
USC vs. Utah (10)

TRACKING LEAGUE PLAY: Through 88 league games as of Feb. 25, the average scoring margin is 11.2 points.
• 46 games have been decided by single digits
• 14 games has been decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 9 overtime games (10 total OT periods)
• 5 games decided on a team’s final possession
• 0 games decided on game’s final possession

ROAD SWEEPS: They have proven difficult - only five so far in 2019-20 and just 57 in total in 424 tries since the Pac-12 expanded for 2011-12.
• For the first time since expansion to the Pac-12, there were no January road sweeps in league play.
• ARIZONA leads the league with a pair of road sweeps this season (Bay Area & Washington). UCLA (Mountains), ARIZONA STATE (Bay Area) and STANFORD (Washington) have one each, including the first ever in the Pac-12 era for the Sun Devils and the second ever for the Cardinal.
• A school-by-school total of road sweeps in the Pac-12 era:
ARIZ - 15
ORE - 10
UTAH - 7
CAL - 6
UCLA - 5
WASH - 4
USC - 3
COLO, STAN - 2
ASU, OSU, WSU - 1

CAREER/SEASON RECORDS WATCH: Several Pac-12 standouts are climbing in all-time stats lists:
• OREGON’s Payton Pritchard (642) is 10 assists shy of moving into ninth in league history, and four 3-pointers shy of moving into the career top 10.
• OREGON STATE’s Kylor Kelley is 10th in both career (199) and single-season (95) blocks.
• USC’s Onyeka Okongwu (70) and WASHINGTON’s Isaiah Stewart (61) rank fifth and 11th on the league’s single-season freshman blocks list.
• OSU’s Tres Tinkle is ninth and 10th in league history in free throws (547) and free throws attempted (696).