Washington coach Mike Hopkins envisions a dramatic conclusion for the Pac-12 Conference in its present state, which includes the Huskies’ home finale on Saturday in Seattle against Southern California.
“This league is wide open,” Hopkins said following Washington’s 94-77 rout of UCLA on Thursday. “The thing that I think everybody’s figured out is that anybody can beat anybody on any given night.
“This is the most fun, competitive league in the seven years that I’ve been a part in it. And that’s going to make this (Pac-12) tournament great.”
Washington (16-13, 8-10 Pac-12) heads into its final two games jockeying for positioning ahead of the conference tournament in Las Vegas. Both teams leave for the Big Ten Conference next season.
The Huskies are coming off one of their best offensive performances of the season, having nailed a staggering 15 of 24 shots from 3-point range on Thursday and 30 of 54 from the floor overall.
Pac-12 leading scorer Keion Brooks Jr., who is averaging 21.3 points per game, went for 32 points and hit 6 of 7 shots from beyond the arc. Moses Wood made 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range and Braxton Meah was 8 of 8 from the floor en route to finishing with 19 points.
In line with Hopkins’ assessment that “anybody can beat anybody” in the conference, Southern California comes into Saturday’s contest having nearly toppled No. 19-ranked Washington State on the road on Thursday.
The Trojans (11-17, 5-12), who sit 11th in the conference standings after Thursday’s 75-72 loss, led most of the way on the road against the second-place Cougars. Freshman Isaiah Collier scored 24 points after missing almost a month of conference play due to a broken hand.
It was the second 20-plus-point game for Collier since his Feb. 7 return to the lineup. He is averaging 16.3 points per game, second among all Trojans behind Boogie Ellis (16.5).
Ellis also missed time in January due to a hamstring injury as USC dug a hole in the league standings.
“Boogie has not looked like Boogie Ellis until (he scored 30 vs. Colorado on Feb. 17 and 24 against UCLA on Feb. 24),” Southern California coach Andy Enfield said. “He had no explosiveness, no change of speed.”
The Trojans are now at full strength, although Ellis scored just five points on 2-of-10 shooting at Washington State.
–Field Level Media