College Basketball: 12 Pac-12 things: 6-0 Oregon, crafty bigs, bad charges

In addition to recognizing the Pac-12 players of the week, this will be a weekly column with 12 notes and observations from all around the Pac-12. Let’s get right to it.

1. USC’s Aliyah Mazyck absolutely went off this past weekend. The Trojans (13-4, 3-3) really needed to sweep the weekend to stay afloat in the Pac-12 standings. Led in large part by Mazyck, USC was able to build on its 65-61 win over Oregon State back on January 7th.

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Mazyck dropped 29 points — 9-14 from the field, 6-9 on 3s and 5-6 at the line — on Colorado on Friday night as the Trojans secured the victory without Sadie Edwards (ankle). Edwards scored 16 points in her return to the lineup against Utah as Mazyck continued to light it up (20 points, 7-17 shooting, 4-8 on 3s).

Mazyck gave us many moments worth celebrating. This euro finish in Utah tops my list:

Also related, but only because USC played a game there this past weekend: How great is Utah’s court design?

The ‘U’ really pops on television and isn’t too in your face. The subtle two-toned wood arrangement adds some flair without stealing the show from the logo at center court. Which Pac-12 court is your favorite?

2. Kristine Anigwe was named Pac-12 player of the week on Monday. Mazyck and others certainly had a case, but what Anigwe did to Washington alone was player of the week worthy.

The Huskies just had no chance of challenging her if she caught the ball within 10 feet of the rim. Washington had a clear mandate to pack the paint, forcing Anigwe to see multiple bodies. That extra help didn’t make much of a difference given her size advantage and all the work she put in early to make it possible to turn and score so many times:

Those were her first two buckets of the game. Two minutes in, Anigwe was on pace to score 120 points, and I was almost ready to expect her to get there. Throughout the weekend (more on that a bit later), Anigwe battled to wedge herself into position for deep post ups or offensive rebounding opportunities.

Cal will get another shot at UCLA at Pauley Pavillion on Friday after getting housed by the Bruins on New Year’s Eve. One must for the Golden Bears: Kristine Anigwe cannot get into foul trouble. She picked up her third in the second quarter against UW and sat the final four minutes of the half.

Penina Davidson and Asha Thomas did come through, hitting big shots late as Anigwe played the entire second half. In order to stick around long enough to take down the Bruins, Cal will need its star on the floor. UCLA’s length and athleticism on defense, including this week’s Pac-12 freshman of the week Michaela Onyenwere, will make life difficult even with the Bears’ best lineups on the floor.

3. Stanford took it to Washington State and reigning Pac-12 player of the week Bobi Buckets on Friday. The Cardinal led 10-0 after three and a half minutes and by 28 at the half.

This down screen to a duck in sequence from Brittany McPhee is flat out mean:

4. Washington State dropped both games this weekend. They can prepare for next weekend feeling much better about Sunday’s performance against Cal. The game had a fun energy to it. Chanelle Molina brings some much-needed shooting to the table and just some general confidence to make a play off the bounce when things break down. She drew the start on Sunday after coming off the bench against Stanford.

A regular dose of shots like these will help alleviate the pressure on Borislava Hristova to carry the offense:

5. Speaking of Hristova, this wrinkle to free herself for an open corner three was absolutely delightful:

I do not believe I’ve ever seen a player catch it in the post, pass it out, and flow seamlessly out to the corner to take a handoff and drill a three. Dozens of stars — pick a name, really — would be wise to add this to their arsenal.

6. Washington State was in position to steal one on the road at Cal on Sunday. Kristine Anigwe scored the go-ahead bucket late for the Bears. Don’t sleep on the pass that found her, though:

Not bad for a true freshman. Smith drew the two defenders and delivered an on target pass. At the same time, Anigwe ducked in to put herself in position to receive that pass. That’s more of Anigwe knowing how and when to put her body into a defender in the paint, as mentioned earlier. Great execution by both players.

7. I present this drive and dish by Satou Sabally without comment:

8. Sabrina Ionescu puts up eye-popping numbers on a regular basis. Sunday against Washington State, it was her burst that really popped off the screen: once with the ball in her hands and once without it.

This backdoor cut happened right on time. Bonus points for finishing with the floater:

Oregon’s offense needs a lot more of that in a potential rematch with Mississippi State, UCLA, or any other team capable of really getting up into their ball handlers.

And this hesitation blow by in the fourth quarter was just downright mean. She already created enough daylight to take the three, but sensed an opportunity to get something better:

The fans in complete disbelief and awe in the background do all the selling here, not that any was necessary.

9. Arizona State could not get a stop against the Ducks in Sunday’s big showdown. They struggled at times to score, too, but Kianna Ibis did a fantastic job of keeping them close:

That’s just a fantastic job to take up that space between two defenders at the bottom of a 3-2 zone. Don’t applaud yet, though, because she did it even better moments later:

Ibis capped a nice run for herself after that with a triple. The Sun Devils have plenty to work out. They’ll get another crack at the Ducks in the regular season. If they’re to fare better next time, Ibis will need to continue to attack the seams of Oregon’s zones.

10. Ruthy Hebard is a wildly efficient scorer. She has great touch inside and seemingly never tries to force something that isn’t there. Hebard also knows that when she isn’t open, it’s time to move to create something for the team (and possibly herself):

Maite Cazorla couldn’t dump it to her as she was being fronted in the post. Hebard came up to set a ball screen. One dribble by Cazorla was enough to demand the attention of Hebard’s defender. Hebard rolls right down to the same spot, seals off her defender, catches then drives to score.

11. We saw a great finish Friday between Arizona State and Oregon State. Marie Gulich had two huge buckets for the Beavers late. First, she ran right by her defender to score in an under out situation:

Don’t take the low-hanging fruit to call Gulich a plodding type of center. Even though the game didn’t go their way at all, she worked hard to run up and down with Monique Billings in last week’s matchup with UCLA.

I understand why Gulich’s final bucket may have drawn the ire of the ASU side. First, you make the call: travel, three seconds or bucket?

I thought Gulich was going to get called for a walk on an earlier post move. The refs made the right call that first time. But on that pivotal bucket? Also not a travel.

12. Look, most block/charge calls are going to be polarizing. But I found two from the weekend to be particularly bothersome. First, Cal’s Jaelyn Brown was called for a charge because she pulled down a defensive board and turned around:

Even worse the referees elected to review it to ensure that it wasn’t a flagrant. College refs actually can penalize players for flopping on the spot unlike in the pros, where the league office steps in after the fact with all rulings on flopping. They should have done so here.

Meanwhile, Stanford’s Alanna Smith had a pretty good case to be upset over this call:

A ref, by making that call, has to be saying that the defender traveled faster than the pass caught by Smith. How else could she have positioned herself to take a charge? Smith had the lane to the right side of the rim all to herself — the defender was standing in no man’s land waiting on a prayer. Another solid acting job that should not have been rewarded.

Here’s the Pac-12 schedule for the week:

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