While Bruin athletes continue competing in Westwood, here’s a look at some of the biggest news from the rest of the Pac-12 and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Men’s basketball
Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor
After now-No. 7 Arizona upset now-No. 8 UCLA in the Pac-12′s prime-time matchup of the weekend Saturday, there were four other games with less buzz that still had significant Pac-12 implications.
No. 10 Oregon took down Stanford 69-52 for the Ducks’ seventh conference win, pulling them even with the Wildcats for first in conference standings. They’ll play Feb. 4, potentially for the conference lead.
UCLA, now with two Pac-12 losses, sits in third place, half a game ahead of Utah. The Runnin’ Utes beat Washington 94-72 Saturday evening thanks to a career-high 24 points from freshman Devon Daniels and from senior Lorenzo Bonam, overcoming a 30-point performance from the Huskies’ Markelle Fultz.
Junior Kyle Kuzma added 22 of his own for Utah, and finished with 15 total rebounds for the game’s only double-double. The three Utah players combined for 70 of the Utes’ 94 points. Fultz has scored at least 30 points in three consecutive games, which according to the Seattle Times makes him the first male Husky to do so in the past 15 years.
Men’s volleyball
Grant Sugimura, assistant Sports editor
This week, in the world of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball, seven MPSF teams hold top-10 slots in the American Volleyball Coach’s Association poll, with No. 2 UCLA and No. 9 Pepperdine bookending the group.
No. 5 University of Hawai’i scraped together a victory, defeating No. 7 UC Irvine in four sets. The Rainbow Warriors traveled to the West Coast to partake in a three-match road trip but lost their first two games prior to Irvine.
On the heels of UCLA, No. 4 Long Beach State now has three conference victories and one loss, while the Bruins have remained perfect through their four conference games.
No. 3 BYU continued to assert its dominance over lower-ranked MPSF teams, taking down No. 15 Cal State Northridge twice, both in four sets.
Meanwhile, No. 8 Stanford entered MPSF play with a win over Pepperdine in four sets.
Women’s water polo
Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor
Besides No. 3 UCLA, 13 other teams were in Santa Barbara this past weekend for the UCSB Winter Invitational.
Stanford, the No. 1 team in the country, had the weekend off, but top-10 teams No. 2 USC, No. 5 Hawai’i, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 UC Santa Barbara and No. 10 Pacific all had meetings with each other.
The Trojans, much like the Bruins, rolled through all of their competition. Even the top-10 opponents they played – Michigan, Hawai’i and Santa Barbara – couldn’t come within five. The Rainbow Wahine came the closest, losing 13-8, but the Wolverines and the Gauchos fell 11-3 and 19-5, respectively.
Of the top-10 matchups, the UCSB-Michigan one was the closest. The Gauchos held the lead in the middle of the third quarter before the Wolverines scored three unanswered goals over the remaining 14 minutes of the game, and they eventually won 7-4.
That result was in line with the national rankings, with Michigan at No. 8 and Santa Barbara at No. 9, and there weren’t any upsets among the games where the top-10 teams played each other.
No. 15 Indiana did upend No. 5 Hawai’i 8-5 early Sunday morning. It was the Hoosiers’ first game after losing to the Bruins 20-5.