Arizona St @ UCLA - 1/03/20

[Shades]

Los Angeles, CA - 10:00 PM ET
TV: Pac-12 Network (Anne Marie Anderson, Maylana Martin Douglas)

Video stream:
Arizona State at UCLA (tvpli)

Audio:

UCLA

Live stats:

StatBroadcast® Systems - Events for UCLA

www.uclalivestats.com

 

[Shades]

13-2 UCLA midway through the first

 

[nwhoopfan]

ASU back in it 29-27.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ASU grabs a 45-44 lead early in Q3.

 

[Plebe]

It was a 4-point lead for UCLA at the half, but ASU has gotten off to a great start in 3Q, actually looking like a competent shooting team for once.

After ASU took a 2-point lead, Chou came up with a nice steal in transition and then got an assist on the other end. ASU up 45-44 now.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Onyenwere only has 4 points on 2-9 shooting. She's had some good games, but overall she's been a bit disappointing this year so far.

 

[azfan]

56-56 at the end of 3. Ryan leading the Devils. Dean has 17. Coincidentally MacDonald had 17 in the third quarter of the Wildcats game with USC.

 

[Plebe]

Onyenwere only has 4 points on 2-9 shooting. She's had some good games, but overall she's been a bit disappointing this year so far.

Averaging 20 ppg on over 50% FG shooting? Doesn't sound disappointing to me. But tonight has been a rough one for her.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Averaging 20 ppg on over 50% FG shooting? Doesn't sounds disappointing to me. But tonight has been a rough one for her.

Huh. That's better than I thought. She got off to a slow start. I guess "disappointing" is relative, because I've seen how good she is and I have high expectations.

 

[Plebe]

UCLA had a 5-point lead but saw it disappear with a Robbi Ryan 3 and a Reili Richardson layup. All tied up with 3+ minutes left.

UCLA had a big advantage on the boards but ASU has flipped that here in 4Q. This looks like it's going down to the wire.

 

[nwhoopfan]

UCLA survives 68-66. Dean led them w/ 23.

 

[Plebe]

Holy cow. UCLA could not get a defensive rebound for the life of them. ASU got about 6 offensive rebounds on that final possession and just couldn't score. Heartbreaker for them.

 

[Alydar]

ASU took the last 5 shots, down by 2, and missed them all. UCLA remains undefeated.

 

[DefenseBB]

This was a pretty entertaining game and given all the talent that UCLA has, I was impressed that CTT was able to have her team hang in there. So yes, CTT did outcoach Cori, sorry @nwhoopfan I am still not convinced Cori can handle tight games.

After watching 4 of the PAC12 games last night, there are definitely 4 tiers of teams:
1. Oregon, OSU and Stanford
2. UCLA, Arizona, ASU
3. USC, California
4. Washington, WSU, Utah and Colorado.

Boy was Colorado exposed as a fraud with that undefeated record of cupcakes. They were so overmatched it wasn't even funny.

 

[Plebe]

This was a pretty entertaining game and given all the talent that UCLA has, I was impressed that CTT was able to have her team hang in there. So yes, CTT did outcoach Cori, sorry @nwhoopfan I am still not convinced Cori can handle tight games.

After watching 4 of the PAC12 games last night, there are definitely 4 tiers of teams:
1. Oregon, OSU and Stanford
2. UCLA, Arizona, ASU
3. USC, California
4. Washington, WSU, Utah and Colorado.

Boy was Colorado exposed as a fraud with that undefeated record of cupcakes. They were so overmatched it wasn't even funny.

But Washington just won at Cal last night?

 

[DefenseBB]

But Washington just won at Cal last night?

Oh man, I hate when that happens, ok, I fixed the original post. Not sure why I put Udub in the 4th tier anyway as @nwhoopfan has had me keeping an eye on them for the past year-brain cramp? advanced age? Overzealous to slam Colorado? Probably the latter...Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Plebe]

Oh man, I hate when that happens, ok, I fixed the original post. Not sure why I put Udub in the 4th tier anyway as @nwhoopfan has had me keeping an eye on them for the past year-brain cramp? advanced age? Overzealous to slam Colorado? Probably the latter...Thanks for the feedback.

To be sure, Washington has been inconsistent, with losses at home to Tulane and Hawai'i counterposed to a very good neutral-court win over Iowa and now a solid road win at Cal.

I look forward to seeing how Colorado matches up against teams like Cal, USC, Washington and Washington State. I do think Utah is the weakest team in the Pac this year; it wouldn't shock me if they go winless or maybe 1-17. I don't know if I've ever seen Lynne Roberts just shaking her head in disbelief at her team's poor play.

 

[DefenseBB]

I am rooting for Utah to not come in last place but fear you may be right that even lowly Colorado might be better than them as they won this past week at Utah...

I finally had a chance to see all the PAC12 teams last night as with conference play, the PAC12 network finally had games on. Why the teams don't always televise their OOC games is frustrating especially when we pay for the network! Ok mini rant over. As I said, there is a clear tiering of the teams and 6 teams definitely deserve NCAA bids. In trying to assess where the 3rd tier ranks with the Big10 and ACC teams is a bit trickier.
Thoughts?

 

[nwhoopfan]

So yes, CTT did outcoach Cori, sorry @nwhoopfan I am still not convinced Cori can handle tight games.

OK, I'll take that. CTT has been coaching pesky teams at ASU for a long time, they are usually not fun to go up against. This appears to be her worst team in a long time, but it's still ASU and you still can't take them for granted. And yes Close is not a coaching genius.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Washington St. @ Cal on Sunday is a big game, both teams desperately need a W. Before the season started I assumed WSU would finish higher than UW, but they could return from the Bay Area w/ UW 2-1 and WSU 0-3. They play again already next weekend. If UW sweeps the season series, it would be an awfully big hill for the Cougs to climb up to catch them in the standings (it would only be 3 games separating them, but both are probably gonna find wins hard to come by).

Utah does look like the early front runner to finish in the cellar, but Colorado and WSU could be in the conversation. A surprising start for UW has them looking good for finishing at least 10th or higher. Not sure where Cal or USC will fall in the standings, still a lot to be sorted out.

That UCLA vs. Arizona match up is looming large. If Arizona wins, they would be 3-0, all on the road, and against 2 teams that should finish in the upper half. That should answer some questions about the Cats, who were mostly untested in OOC.

Of the top 3, Oregon looks like they have the highest ceiling. Stanford has a lot of talent and Tara coaching, but they aren't really hitting on all cylinders. OSU plays good in stretches and then coasts too often for my tastes. And their 3 point shooting has largely been M.I.A., that's a bit perplexing. They have a nice collection of shooters but they just haven't been hitting them consistently. Goodman in particular has been almost non-existent on offense for a 6 or 7 game stretch.