Roundup: Oregon women's basketball, Arizona State wrestling and Stanford women's swimming and diving win Pac-12 titles

Feb 26, 2018

Eric Evans Photography / Chuckarelei / Eric Evans Photography

Oregon women’s basketball won the Pac-12 regular season title, its first since 2000, after beating Arizona 74-61 Sunday in Tucson behind 24 points from Ruthy Hebard. As such, the Ducks are the No. 1 seed for the Pac-12 Tournament, while Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA also receive first-round byes as top-four seeds.

Arizona State won the Pac-12 wrestling championship Sunday night in Corvallis, earning its first back-to-back conference crowns since 2005-06. The Sun Devils had six individual champions – Ali Naser (133), Jason Tsirtsis (149), Josh Shields (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Zahid Valencia (174, still undefeated, by the way) and Kordell Norfleet (184).

Stanford won the Pac-12 women’s swimming and diving championship for the second consecutive year on Saturday. Swimmer of the Meet Katie Ledecky led the way with three individual conference titles and set the NCAA and American records in the 400-yard individual medley.

In a statement given to the media Sunday, the attorney heading Arizona’s internal investigation into the FBI probe, Paul Kelly, says that Deandre Ayton has not broken any rules and should be eligible to play. The statement, in full in the Sports Illustrated link above, Kelly says that “Mr. Ayton has credibly and consistently maintained that neither he nor any member of his family, not any representative thereof, received any money or extra benefit to influence his decision to attend the University of Arizona.”

Washington pitcher Joe DeMers threw the first perfect game in school history on Saturday, needing just 84 pitches to blank UC Riverside in a 2-0 win (NCAA.com). It was the first perfect game thrown by a Pac-12 pitcher since Oregon State’s Drew Rasmussen accomplished the feat in 2015 against Wazzu.

Washington State women’s basketball’s game Sunday against Stanford was cancelled after the passing of strength and conditioning coach David Lang. Lang — who worked at Washington State for 20 years — died suddenly Saturday afternoon.

Seniors Dominque Collier and George King lifted Colorado to an 80-76 win over UCLA on Senior Day in Boulder, writes Pat Rooney. The Buffs will look to wrap up conference play with a .500 record when they closes out the regular season this Saturday at Utah on Pac-12 Networks.

Oregon State women's basketball climbed to No. 10 in this week's AP top-25 poll, Andrew Greif details. The Beavers and No. 6 Ducks are both ranked in the top-10 for the first time in poll history. Oregon's quite a hotbed for women's hoops talent.

Chimezie Metu scored 14 points to lead USC men’s basketball to a 74-58 win at Utah on Saturday (The Associated Press). Metu was cleared to play after his name popped up in a Yahoo! Sports report as one of many players receiving impermissible benefits.

Utah men’s basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak defended Kyle Kuzma while speaking with reporters following the loss to USC. “Until somebody tells me what Kyle Kuzma supposedly did, he’s not guilty in my mind,” Krystkowiak said, further noting that Kuzma did things the “right way” during the recruiting process.

Here’s the Pac-12 Networks recap of Cal women’s gymnastics upsetting No. 4 Utah at Haas Pavilion Sunday afternoon. The Golden Bears were led by Toni-Ann Williams, who won the all-around title with a 39.700 mark.