We’re entering a pretty sleepy period in the college basketball calendar.
Most of the headliner non-conference matchups are in the rearview mirror with a handful of exceptions. For most of the Big Ten, the best resume building opportunities now lay ahead in the rigors of conference play. But there’s still basketball games that count left this month.
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Here’s a few on Wednesday:
Arizona State Sun Devils at UCLA Bruins
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Time/TV Channel: 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PST on FS1
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KenPom Spread: Bruins by 8
Two former Pac-12 rivals clash here.
Arizona State is… perfectly okay? The Sun Devils are coming off off back-to-back losing seasons, which makes this one feel like a prove-it campaign for Bobby Hurley. He’s doing perfectly fine so far with just two pretty understandable losses against Gonzaga and USC.
UCLA, like Arizona State, also has a loss to Gonzaga on its resume. The Bruins’ statistical profile stacks up favorably against the Sun Devils, who aren’t necessarily elite at much but have shot the ball remarkably well. I think UCLA is able to limit that and get another win on its resume as its less-than-ideal non-conference performance draws to a close.
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UTSA Roadrunners at USC Trojans
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Time/TV Channel: 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PST on Big Ten Network
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KenPom Spread: Trojans by 23
Acronyms, huh.
Well, UTSA is bad. Like, remarkably so. The Roadrunners have one of the worst performing offenses in the country and the defense is sagging as well. They’re sitting at 4-6 with losses to Abilene Christian and SIUE, getting played off the court against Alabama and Colorado.
USC is enjoying a second year bump under Eric Musselman. The Trojans are pretty balanced on both ends of the court and nobody gets to the free-throw line quite like they do, with a staggering nation-leading rate of 54%. The defense doesn’t create a lot of steals but does force plenty of mistakes and has done well around the rim.
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The Trojans should eat the Roadrunners for lunch with room to spare.
Portland Pilots at Oregon Ducks
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Time/TV Channel: 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PST on Big Ten Network
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KenPom Spread: Ducks by 15
Portland had Oregon on the ropes last season before falling by 10 in overtime.
The Pilots could certainly stand to be better. The WCC has its titans, for sure, and most of Portland’s results up to this point are pretty understandable but, eh. Sub-200 in both offense and defense on KenPom isn’t an inspiring formula.
Speaking of struggles, oooooof Oregon. The Ducks snapped a 5-game losing streak this past weekend with a home win over UC Davis. Those losses came against Auburn, San Diego State, Creighton, USC and UCLA, so none of them were particularly unforgivable but there were just so many of them. Nate Bittle has been playing sparingly with injury concerns, so it’s not all on the roster or the staff or anything like that.
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These Ducks don’t really do anything at a high level save for offensive rebounding, which can prove valuable but has a ceiling if there’s not much else going. They should beat Portland, but the regular season outlook seems pretty bleak.
