Tag: Pac-12 tournament

USC cooks Oregon, reaches Pac-12 Baseball Tournament semis

USC baseball is two wins away from an unlikely NCAA Tournament bid.

In the 2024 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, the USC Trojans, the fourth seed, achieved an impressive eighth consecutive victory this season. USC defeated the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament winner, the Oregon Ducks.

In the starting role, junior pitcher William Watson allowed only one run over his six innings of work. The game was a pitcher’s duel as Watson and Oregon pitcher RJ Gordon kept the contest scoreless through five innings. USC scratched out a few runs to take the lead. In the ninth inning, Josh Blum closed out the game for USC, blanking Oregon to earn his ninth save and secure the 4-2 victory for the Trojans over the Ducks. This triumph secured USC’s spot in the semifinals, where they will face sixth-seeded Cal at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time on Friday.

The Trojans have to take care of business if they want a shot at the NCAA Tournament. If they can beat Cal, they will sit back and watch Friday’s second semifinal between the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats and the eighth-seeded Stanford Cardinal, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Pacific time.

While USC ended the regular season with a remarkable six-game winning streak, the Trojans’ fluctuating performance throughout most of the season eliminated their chance of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As a result, their hopes of extending their season and qualifying for the tournament rest on winning the next two games and claiming the automatic bid reserved for the Pac-12 Tournament champion.

USC baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz is in his second season of a rebuild at Troy. After a disappointing and slow start to the 2023-24 season, going 7-13, the Trojans  climbed out of that massive hole to get over .500 during the regular season by going 21-14. Stankiewicz has won 17 conference games in back to back seasons, the first time the Trojans have accomplished this since Mike Gillespie’s 2001 and 2002 squads, per USC athletics. Two more wins, stretching the steak to 10, would put an exclamation mark on a solid sophomore season for Stankiewicz.

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Oregon baseball goes down to Utah in conference tourney opener

The Ducks were limited to just four hits as the Utes score late to stun Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament opening game.

So far in the Pac-12 baseball tournament, having a higher number beside your name is a huge plus.

The 7-seeded Utah Utes scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to stun Oregon 4-2 in the conference tournament opener for the Ducks. Utah lost to USC the day before.

With the loss, Oregon’s hopes to advance to the semifinal are slim, but they have to defeat the Trojans Thursday afternoon to even have any thoughts of possibly repeating as tournament champions.

Utah’s pitching staff that consisted of Bryson Van Sickle and Merit Jones held the Duck bats to just two runs and four hits. It’s no surprise this was a pitcher’s duel as Van Sickle was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year on Monday. He lived up to the billing as he allowed the two runs and the four hits while striking out six.

Instead of going with their usual Friday night starter RJ Gordon, the Ducks went with Brock Moore, who did an admirable job. He went four innings and gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out seven Utes.

Logan Mercado went two innings, including an inning-ending double play that saved a run in the sixth. Bradley Mullan went the rest of the way, but was touched up for the two runs in the seventh that gave Utah the lead.

With the bases loaded and two outs, the Utes third baseman Matt Flaherty hit a ball up the middle that snuck under Mullan’s glove and into center field.

Unfortunately for Oregon, that was more than enough for Jones who earned a two-inning save, his first save on the season.

Now the Ducks will face USC at 2:30 pm Thursday where they have to win and hope the tiebreakers work out in their favor. If they don’t, the Ducks will fly home and wait to see where they go in the NCAA tournament.

Ducks sweep Cougars to end baseball regular season

Oregon has a shot at the 2-seed in the Pac-12 tournament with a three-game sweep over WSU at PK Park.

Every college baseball team wants to be peaking around post-season time and like last season, Oregon Ducks baseball seems to be doing just that.

The Ducks ended the regular season on a high not as they swept Washington State in a three-game weekend series at PK Park. In the finale, Mason Neville crushed two home runs to lead Oregon to the 10-4 victory.

Starting pitcher Kevin Seitter threw 5 1/3 innings, and allowed four earned runs and six hits while striking out four. The bullpen consisting of Ryan Featherston and Bradley Mullan went the rest of the way.

Oregon broke through in the third inning on Neville’s big fly to right field to make it 2-0. But the Cougars took the lead right back in the top of the fourth with three runs to take a brief 3-2 lead.

It was brief because the Duck struck back right away in the bottom half of the fame on Maddox Molony’s home run to left and it was 4-3. Oregon wouldn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

The Ducks added two in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the eighth to end the scoring.

Home runs was the name of the game for the entire series. Neville hot two  bombs in the first game to lead the Ducks to a 9-2 win and in Game 2, Bryce Boettcher’s three-run homer ended a seven-run eighth inning to rally the Ducks past WSU 8-4.

Now Oregon will prepare to go down to Scottsdale, Ariz. to play in the Pac-12 tournament where it will be the defending champs. The Ducks will be the 2-seed if Oregon State defeats Arizona Saturday night. But if the Wildcats beat the Beavers, the Ducks will be the 3-seed.

The nine-team tourney begins on Tuesday, May 21.

Photo Gallery: Ducks cap magical run with Pac-12 Tournament championship

Photo Gallery: Oregon defeats Colorado to win last Pac-12 tournament

Well, that a bit unexpected. But Oregon isn’t going to turn down a dance invitation.

The Ducks are officially in the NCAA tournament after defeating Colorado 75-68 in the last Pac-12 tourney in Las Vegas. It was the first time Oregon has won three straight games since January and it picked a heck of a time putting it all together.

And it wasn’t like they beat three lowly teams. Oregon was a combined 1-5 against UCLA, Arizona, and the Buffaloes before this weekend. After the win, most of the attention was on it being the last game for the Conference of Champions with memories and highlight videos dominating Vegas. Advancing to the Big Dance was almost an afterthought.

But the Ducks are dancing and will find out who they play, where they’ll play and what seed was assigned to them on Sunday afternoon. Here are some of the best photos from the big celebration from Sin City.

USC beats Washington in first round of Pac-12 Tournament, gives itself a chance

USC’s season continues for at least one more day. Can the Trojans make it three more days? We’ll find out soon enough.

The USC Trojans prolonged their season by one game. They hope they can continue to extend their season throughout the week in Las Vegas at the Pac-12 Tournament. USC beat Washington on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. The 80-74 win sends the Trojans into the quarterfinals on Thursday at noon Pacific time against top-seeded Arizona.

This game against Washington was close all the way. Washington managed a five-point lead at 59-54 with just over eight minutes left in regulation, and the Trojans were in trouble. Then they responded.

USC produced a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to grab a 69-64 lead near the 5:30 mark. Washington tied the game at 65, but the 10-0 run stabilized the game for USC and rescued the Trojans from an alarming situation. UW’s Sahvir Wheeler fouled USC’s Bronny James on a 3-point shot attempt with 3:29 left. Bronny made all three foul shots to give USC a 68-65 lead. The Trojans built their lead to two possessions and led by at least four points for the rest of the game, which ends Washington’s season and also coach Mike Hopkins’ tenure in Seattle. Hopkins will not be retained, and UW will begin its search for a new head coach.

USC was led by 25 points from Boogie Ellis. Isaiah Collier handed out 7 assists. Kobe Johnson did a little of everything for the Trojans, scoring 14 points, grabbing 8 boards, handing out 4 assists, and collecting 3 steals. USC shot 50 percent from the field, 28 of 56.

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USC is playing it best basketball down the stretch, hopes to build on it at Pac-12 Tournament

USC is playing its best ball of the year right now. Can it continue one more week?

The USC Trojans are banking on the reality that they are getting hot at the right time, just before the Pac-12 Tournament this week in Las Vegas. USC smashed Arizona by double digits on Saturday night, winning the last Pac-12 men’s basketball regular-season game in their existence before moving to the Big Ten next season. The win is notable less for the fact that it was the Pac-12 finale, more for the fact that Arizona had given USC a very hard time under coach Tommy Lloyd.

The Wildcats’ size and power has often frustrated USC in the paint and on the glass, but that did not happen on Saturday. USC was the consistently tougher and better team. Arizona guard Caleb Love struggled to hit from the field, and when Love struggles, Arizona usually follows suit. USC’s perimeter defense was outstanding, and with USC looking healthier and more vigorous than it had in previous weeks during an injury-riddled season, the Trojans put together their best game of the year versus the regular-season Pac-12 champion.

National and regional commentatators are saying that if three teams have a shot at the Pac-12 Tournament, USC is one of them alongside Arizona and Colorado. USC could face Arizona in a potential quarterfinal on Thursday, but the Trojans must first beat Washington in the first round on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas. That game starts just after noon Pacific time.

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Photos from USC women’s basketball’s historic Pac-12 Tournament championship

USC won its first Pac-12 Tournament since 2014. McKenzie Forbes was the Most Outstanding Player. What a weekend in Vegas!

Many weekends in Las Vegas are lost and wasteful. A roll of the dice, the wrong cards at the table, or a bad spin of the roulette wheel create that losing feeling and a pit of misery. It was exactly the opposite for the USC women’s basketball team, which had one of the most successful and productive weekends anyone could possibly have in Vegas. What happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas — it reverberated through the USC community and through the national college basketball landscape. USC’s capture of the Pac-12 Tournament championship — the school’s second all-time and its first since 2014 — has very likely lifted the Trojans to a No. 1 seed in the upcoming Women’s NCAA Tournament.

This was an electric occasion and a very special moment for the team, particularly Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player McKenzie Forbes, who was overcome with emotion after this historic victory and her majestic 26-point performance. Here are photos of a great moment in USC sports history, with Forbes and USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb taking center stage as the Trojans enter March Madness with full momentum and belief:

USC men’s basketball remains undefeated in March with a victory over No. 5 Arizona

USC won the last Pac-12 men’s basketball regular-season game and did so against a top-10 team.

The USC Trojans came into the final game of the regular season with a chance to improve their record to 14-17, and 8-12 in  Pac-12 games. All they had to do was beat the first-place team in the conference and the No. 5 team in the nation, the Arizona Wildcats. USC had surrendered the last six meetings to the Wildcats, including an 82-67 loss in Tucson back in January.  This previous game was played without USC’s two leading scores and primary ball handlers, Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier.

USC got the upset victory on Saturday night. It was the first time the Trojans have beaten a team in the top five since a 2008 road victory at their crosstown rivals, the No. 4 UCLA Bruins, at Pauley Pavillion. Isaiah Collier had a solid game (16 points and five assists). D.J. Rodman also had another productive night, setting a season-high with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting while grabbing 7 rebounds to lead the team in both categories.  Rodman’s relentless motor and his near perfect shooting propelled the Trojans to a double-digit lead.  

USC’s defense was the difference. The Men of Troy held Arizona’s talented offense, which boasts the second-highest points per game average in the country (90.4 ppg), in check. The Trojans were especially effective in limiting the production of Arizona’s talented backcourt trio of Kylan Boswell, Pelle Larsson, and Caleb Love, who managed to score only 12 points combined. Love, who is fourth in the conference in scoring with an average of 19.63 points per game, was held to just two points throughout the night.

Kobe Johnson, a junior guard for USC, had a standout performance, contributing 19 points, 4 assists, and 6 steals (23 steals in his last six games).

After the game Johnson explained USC’s plan on how to slow down Love and the high-scoring Arizona offense:

“Every time we play Arizona, we know it’s gonna be a physical, physical game, so we knew  coming into it right away that we needed to be the more physical team. The game plan the whole week, so we did focus a lot on Caleb Love because we know how good of a player he is and how good he can be. So we tried to pressure him, trying to make them take some tough shots, which I think we did perfectly. So I think we all follow the game plan exactly how we should have and I think the results show for themselves,” Johnson said.

USC had a season-high 15 steals in the game, reaching double-digit steals for the ninth time this season. Arizona struggled to find a shooting rhythm against USC’s formidable defense, scoring only 65 points and shooting just 38.7% from the field, which is the Wildcats’ second-lowest shooting percentage and its low point total of the season.

Stat of the game: The Wildcats had 14 offensive rebounds — led by rebounding machine Oumar Ballo — but had only two second chance points on the night.

USC has won four of its last five games and five of its last seven to finish ninth in the Pac-12. They will face the Washington Huskies  (17-14, 9-11), the No. 8 seed in the conference, on Wednesday, March 13, in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

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Lindsay Gottlieb promotes USC women’s basketball as Trojans chase Pac-12 Tournament title, No. 1 seed

Lindsay Gottlieb has shown USC fans what elite basketball coaching looks like. She’s talking about USC on podcasts and everywhere else.

Right now is a great time to be Lindsay Gottlieb, the head coach of the USC women’s basketball program. The Women of Troy are in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, facing Stanford on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas. USC is firmly in the discussion for a No. 1 seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament. The Trojans beat crosstown Los Angeles rival UCLA for a second time this season. They have lost only five games all season long. They will host Women’s NCAA Tournament games at the Galen Center in two weeks, marking the first time in school history that has happened (hosting at the Galen Center, to be specific). Gottlieb has USC in a great place, to be sure.

Then again, is there ever a bad time to be Lindsay Gottlieb? She won at Santa Barbara. She won at Cal. She did well as a Cleveland Cavalier assistant in the NBA. She’s a winner and an elite coach. USC fans have her in their corner. They’re lucky to have Gottlieb coaching their team. We can all see the difference Gottlieb makes.

With USC now front and center in the national women’s basketball conversation, take a look at some quotes and pull up some podcasts Gottlieb has recently appeared on, spreading the gospel of USC women’s basketball, including but not limited to JuJu Watkins:

USC and UCLA hope to create a historic Pac-12 Women’s Tournament semifinal

The biggest game at the 2024 Pac-12 Women’s Tournament might not be the championship game. That and more in this Pac-12 notebook.

There’s a lot to talk about at the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. The show is underway on Wednesday afternoon, with USC and UCLA playing Thursday night in the quarterfinals. If they both win — and it’s far from a lock that they will — they would create a historic and hugely important Pac-12 Tournament semifinal matchup late Friday night in Sin City. We’re not taking this matchup for granted — good teams could easily play spoiler and prevent this matchup from happening — but if it happens, we want you to know how big a game it will be on Friday. We’ll lead with that item but then continue with some other discussion topics in this Pac-12 women’s basketball notebook, with help from UCLA Wire:

If USC and UCLA meet on Friday night in the Pac-12 semifinals, the two rivals would meet for bragging rights and a victory in the three-game season series. The teams split the first two meetings, so this would be the decider. That’s meaningful on a personal level for both teams and fan bases, but the real prize on Friday — if these teams do meet — would be a possible No. 1 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The winner would have good odds of getting that top seed even if it loses in the Pac-12 Tournament final on Sunday. The winner would be near-certain to get a top seed if it then wins the Pac-12 Tournament title on Sunday.

USC and UCLA, if they meet, would play the second (late) semifinal Friday night. ESPN has the final on Sunday. That means this is the last Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball game ever shown on Pac-12 Network. What a way to end the Pac-12 Network era if the Trojans and Bruins meet on Friday.

USC could face Arizona or Washington. UCLA could face Utah. Which quarterfinal is tougher? UCLA Wire’s Matt Wadleigh said “It doesn’t matter who faces USC. JuJu Watkins is that good. UCLA will have a tougher game assuming Utah is the matchup. This tournament seems to be pretty chalk early on, but things can get interesting later on.”

Do UCLA fans want USC to lose before Friday’s semifinals? We don’t think so. UCLA Wire’s Matt Wadleigh agrees.

“I think UCLA fans want part three,” Wadleigh told us. “Sure, an easier matchup is always the hope. Then again, adding another signature win would help their chances of landing a 1-seed in the field of 68. L.A. showdown part three will be fantastic.” 

UCLA hammered Utah not that long ago. Will this meeting be different?

“Not much different,” Wadleigh said. “UCLA is playing arguably its best basketball of the season.” 

Which is the tougher matchup for USC in the quarterfinals on Thursday?

“Washington,” Wadleigh said. “That Huskies loss (earlier in the season) hurts, but perhaps the Trojans have figured out a way to get it down.” 

Wadleigh weighed in on a great coach of the year race in the Pac-12:

“It’s a four-person race: Scott Rueck, Lindsay Gottlieb, Cori Close, and Tara VanDerveer. VanDerveer has the best team, again. Cori Close has dealt with numerous injuries and is on the verge of a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Lindsay Gottlieb has the Trojans looking dangerous, although she has the best player in the conference in JuJu Watkins. I’ll go with Scott Rueck. Oregon State finished second to last a year ago, and they have been a top-25 team and can be a real threat in the Big Dance.”

Wadleigh told us that “Cameron Brink, Alissa Pili, and Lauren Betts all deserve consideration. However, I’ll go with JuJu Watkins. As we have all seen, she is a generational talent that has been key to turning around this USC program. Winning both the freshman player of the year and conference player of the year is extremely rare. But, JuJu is that good.”

Wadleigh summed up JuJu Watkins’ greatness this way:

“She is arguably the second best women’s player in the country behind Caitlin Clark, and any other year she would be at the top. She has been out of this world and just isn’t slowing down.” 

Wadleigh:

“The Oregon state beavers … somehow. The Beavers are destined for the Big Dance after going 13-18 and finishing second to last a year ago.” 

Wadleigh:

“The Oregon Ducks. They won 20 games a year ago and are now losers of 20 games. It’s a tough basketball season all around in Eugene.”