NCAA Basketball: Thursday is Showdown Day Out West
The Thursday games this week out west are going to be huge. We have a big game in the PAC 12 when the UCLA Bruins visit the #6 Arizona Wildcats. In the West Coast Conference the BYU Cougars will be at the #8 Gonzaga Bulldogs and in the Mountain West Conference, the surprising Wyoming Cowboys will pay a visit to the UNLV Running Rebels.
The Bruins bring a 15-4 record to Arizona. They are 5-1 in the PAC 12 while Arizona is 4-1 in the conference and 16-1 overall. Both teams have lost to the Oregon Ducks in PAC 12 play, UCLA’s loss coming this past Saturday. Meanwhile the Wildcats were beating their archrivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils. The winner of this game will be in second place, or perhaps even back in a tie for first should Oregon fall in their next game on Wednesday against the Washington State Cougars. The Bruins are led by Shabazz Muhammad at nearly 18 points per games and Jordan Adams at over 15 points per game. Neither were very productive in the Oregon game. Travis Wear scored 17 points in that game to lead UCLA. He averages nearly 13 points per game.
Arizona is led by Mark Lyons at 15 points per game, Solomon Hill at nearly 14 points per game and Nick Johnson at almost 13 per game. In their 71-54 win over State, Lyons had 24 points, Johnson added 19 and Hill 13. Arizona is unbeaten at home this year. One of those wins was over the #8 Florida Gators who were #4 at the time.
BYU is 15-5 and 5-1 in the WCC. They are coming off a 74-57 win over the San Diego Toreros. Their lone conference loss was a 70-69 heart breaker to the St. Mary’s Gaels last week. Tyler Haws leads them at nearly 22 points per game while Brandon Davies averages 18 points and Matt Carlino chips in 10 per game. The Zags are coming off a heart breaker of their own against the #13 Butler Bulldogs who beat them at the buzzer in an absolutely thrilling game on Saturday. The Bulldogs are 17-2 and 4-0 and are led by Kelly Olynyk with 17 points per game, Elias Harris at 15 points per game and Kevin Pangos at 12 per game.
The Wyoming Cowboys continue to surprise people under coach Larry Shyatt. The Cowboys are 15-2,2-2 and are coming off an upset of the San Diego State Aztecs 58-45. They did this without leading scorer Luke Martinez who has been suspended. Leonard Washington leads them averaging 14 points per game while Derrious Gilmore and Larry Nance Jr average 11 per game. UNLV is 15-4, 2-2 and is coming off a 66-61 loss to the Colorado State Rams. They are led by Anthony Bennett at 19 points per game and Anthony Marshall, Katin Reinhardt and Bryce Dejean-Jones who all average 10 points per game. This is a big game as the loser will fall to 2-3 in conference play while the winner goes to 3-2 and stays near the top.
