Pac-12 Tournament: Washington and Colorado move on

Washington/USC

Washington came to Las Vegas as the favorite to win the Pac-12 Conference tournament. USC doesn’t have those kind of expectations, but the Trojans wouldn’t mind surprising some people. Through the first half of play it was a ton of zone defense and not a lot of fouling.

Washington led at the half by a score of 43-38. USC had come to play and wasn’t going to lay down for the Huskies.

Husky fans had to be concerned about which Washington team would show up on Thursday afternoon. Would it be the balanced offensive team or the team that had lost two out of its last four games.

The former showed up today.

Washington had David Crisp with 18 points, Nahziah Carter had 13 points off the bench, and the Huskies were lead by Jaylen Nowell with 24 points.

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USC who most likely had their season end with the loss also had balanced scoring.

Kevin Porter had 17 points, Jonah Matthews had 17 points, and Nick Rakocevic had 17 points.

However, it wasn’t enough.

The Huskies survived with a 78-75 win and will move onto the Pac-12 Conference Semi-Final game.

Colorado/Oregon State

This was the last team Oregon State wanted to see in their opening game and Colorado proved why.

Colorado busted out to a huge 21 point lead and the Beavers could not make a shot. It took Oregon State just about 10 minutes of game clock to get into double digits on the scoreboard.

The energy the Buffaloes showed was evident. The lack of energy the Beavers was just as noticeable. Colorado was getting every loose ball, converting Beaver turnovers into points, and forcing Oregon State into bad shots.

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The Buffaloes went into halftime up 37-18.

The second half was a different.

Oregon State went on a couple of 10-0 runs to chop into the Colorado lead. It also helped that the Beavers turned up the defensive intensity. The Beavers made many possessions a real struggle for Colorado. It also helped that the Buffaloes missed their first seven shots from the floor to start the second half.

That 21 point lead that the Buffaloes once owed was cut to a six point.

It was at this point that the valiant comeback from the Beavers had run out of gas. Colorado got back in control of the game and that was it for Oregon State.