Roundup: Cal freshmen, Utah seniors have big nights
Cal men’s basketball got the best of Arizona State Thursday night in Berkeley, outlasting the Sun Devils 75-70, and Kyle Ringo of Yahoo Sports writes that Cal’s freshmen stepped up. Ivan Rabb had a career-high 20 points to go along with eight boards and six dimes, while Jaylen Brown scored 17 points.
Another slow start haunted Arizona State in the loss to Cal, writes Doug Haller. The Sun Devils fell behind by double digits in the first half for the fourth time in the last six games.
Jordan Loveridge and Brandon Taylor powered Utah to a 92-71 win at Washington State, as both seniors hit the 20-point plateau Thursday night (Loveridge 22, Taylor 21).
Here’s the CougCenter recap from Washington State’s 21-point loss to Utah.
Here’s Bruce Pascoe’s recap of Arizona’s smothering victory over Stanford. Down 40-39 in the second half, the Wildcats went on a 12-0 run to take control and held Stanford to 31 percent shooting in the 71-57 triumph.
Oregon got a much-needed home win over USC Thursday night, writes Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. The team that protects home court best will have a large say in the conference race.
Zach Helfand of the Los Angeles Times writes that while the No. 21 Trojans were upended by Oregon, they remain upbeat.
Gina Mizell features Oregon State women’s basketball center Marie Gulich, who feels a lot more comfortable in her second season in Corvallis. The Beavers play at upstart Utah Friday night.
Amy Lynch of NCAA.org whips up this intriguing feature on former UCLA softball player Yvonne Gutierrez, who is now a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Word on the street is that Washington linebacker Travis Feeney is impressing in East-West Shrine Game practices this week. You can watch the East-West Shrine Game Saturday at 1 p.m. PT on the NFL Network.
From earlier in the week… David Lombardi notes that Stanford’s offense will have a different “supporting cast” surrounding Christian McCaffrey in 2016. No more Kevin Hogan and a changing of the guard up front as well.
Here’s a Pac Profile of Colorado cross country’s Ben Saarel.