Pac-12 Basketball: UCLA strength, “buy game” losses among early takeaways

Notable upcoming games

Washington State vs. UCSB, Monday, November 15

The Cougars are 2-0 and looked pretty good in their opening games against Alcorn State and Seattle University. Their offense has yet to really take off, with Noah Williams scoring 13 and 8 in the first two games of the season and transfer Marcus Flowers shooting just 33% from the field.

Redshirt junior Tyrell Roberts has picked up the slack, leading the team in scoring with 17 and 16 point performances. For Kyle Smith’s team to reach their potential, they’ll need to reliably score in the half-court offense (Wazzu is 266th in tempo according to KenPom).

Oregon vs. BYU, Tuesday, November 16

The Ducks get their first test of the season against a veteran Cougars team that have the size and length to match up against their interchangeable defense. BYU is coming off two wins against decent foes in Cleveland State and San Diego State and is comfortable playing as slow as Dana Altman’s team likes to play. Richardson and Young will be squaring off against an equally adept Alex Barcello, who is averaging 20.5 points per game and 57% shooting from the perimeter.

Arizona State at San Diego State, Thursday, November 18

Perhaps Hurley’s team needed a wake up call–which could also be considered a further indictment on the coaching of the roster–but it will be hard to say that the Sun Devils slept on the Aztecs when they head to Viejas Arena.

We should get a full picture of the ceiling of this Arizona State game once they play an elite defense.