Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: Assessing UCLA, Arizona, USC, ASU

Bruins freshman Amari Bailey will be a key player in Thursday's Sweet 16 game against Gonzaga

UCLA is carrying the Pac-12 flag into the Sweet 16, but it has not been a good NCAA tournament for the conference.

For only the fifth time in the past 34 NCAA tournaments, since 1988, the Pac-12 failed to get more than one team to the second round. It was better than 2018, when no Pac-12 team reached round two, but with two national championship contenders (Arizona and UCLA) heading into this postseason, this was a disappointing showing.

Let’s take a brief look at each of the Pac-12’s four NCAA tournament teams, and one word that describes the postseason of each:

UCLA – Bailey

Yes, Jaime Jaquez is still the star, averaging 20.5 points on 57.6% shooting and 8.0 rebounds in the first two postseason games.

And, yes, Tyger Campbell is still the player who makes it all work. He shot 2-for-16 from the field in the first two games, yet still received kudos for his performances because he had 17 assists and one turnover while going 14-for-14 from the foul line, including 6-for-6 in the final three minutes (4-for-4 in the last 32 seconds) of the five-point win over Northwestern.

However, the X-factor has been freshman Amari Bailey, who has increased his offensive output considerably in the absence of Jaylen Clark. Although Bailey may not be the defensive presence that Clark is, he now has a bigger impact on the offensive end than Clark did. Bailey was averaging 9.6 points through March 4, the game in which Clark suffered his season-ending leg injury. In the five games since then, Bailey averaged 17.0 points on 56.6% shooting.

In the NCAA tournament, he had 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting, four rebounds, six assists and three steals in 30 minutes against UNC-Asheville, and he added 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting (2-for-2 on three-pointers), four rebounds six assists and a steal against Northwestern.

When Bailey was productive against Northwestern, the Bruins dominated. He had 13 points two minutes into the second half, and UCLA had a 13-points lead at that point. He had just one point the rest of the way, and the Wildcats made it a tense game down the stretch.

Bailey will need to come up big for the Bruins to beat Gonzaga in a Sweet 16 game on Thursday at 6;45 p.m. Pacific time. UCLA and Gonzaga have met each of the past two seasons, with Gonzaga winning in overtime in the 2021 national semifinals and the Zags beating the Bruins by 20 points in a regular-season game last year. Pac-12 player of the year Jaquez and WCC co-player of the year Drew Timme were starters in both games.

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Arizona – 4:45

Some of the sting of second-seeded Arizona’s four-point loss to 15th-seeded Princeton may have been eased when Princeton dominated seventh-seeded Missouri in a 15-point win in the second round.

But it does not erase the embarrassment of the final 4:45 of the game against Princeton.

After Azuolas Tubelis scored from close range to give the Wildcats a 55-50 lead with 4:45 left, here is what Arizona did on its remaining possessions.

3:53 (Arizona leads by three points) ---Turnover. Offensive foul on Tubelis.

3:25 (Arizona leads by one) ---Pelle Larsson jumper blocked by Caden Pierce, Pierce grabs rebound

2:44 (Arizona leads by one) – Courtney Ramey misses three-pointer

2:10 (Arizona leads by one) ---Turnover by Tubelis, on a steal by Tosan Evbuomwan

1:41 (Arizona trails by one) ---Ramey misses jumper, Ramey offensive rebound, turnover by Kerr Kriisa on a Matt Allocco steal

:50 (Arizona trails by one) ---Ramey jumper blocked by Ryan Langborg, Arizona retains possession, Tubelis misses jumper in the paint.

:14 (Arizona trails by three) ---Ramey shoots an airball on three-point shot, Arizona offensive rebound, Kriisa misses badly on three-pointer.

As No. 1 Purdue also demonstrated in its loss to Fairleigh-Dickinson, a heavy favorite tends to tighten up down the stretch when in danger of being the victim of a major upset in the one-and-down NCAA tournament. Arizona, like Purdue, lost its poise and executed poorly when it mattered most, playing scared, which spells doom.

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USC – Boogie

It’s unfair to place the blame on Boogie Ellis, an all-conference player who had carried USC the previous three weeks of the season and was the chief reason the Trojans finished tied for second in the Pac-12 standings.

But for the Trojans to do any damage in the NCAA tournament, they needed big games from Ellis. He seemed primed for postseason stardom, having averaged 24.3 points over the seven games prior to the NCAA tournament opener against Michigan State. However, he scored just six points on 3-for-12 shooting, including 0-for-3 shooting, and did not attempt a free throw. His lowest scoring output against a Pac-12 opponent this season had been nine points.

Michigan State did an outstanding job of closing off Ellis’ driving lanes while limiting his looks from beyond the arc. And the Spartans’ Tyson Walker did an excellent job defensively on Ellis. Having said that, it was still just one of those days for Ellis when the Trojans could least afford it, resulting in a first-round loss for the second straight year for USC.

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Arizona State – Unpredictable

A few weeks ago, we noted that any opponent should be scared to face Arizona State, but every Arizona State fan should be scared no matter who the Sun Devils face. They look like an NBA team at times and a CYO team at times.

ASU takes all kinds of shots, many of which seem like low-percentage attempts, but the Sun Devils made virtually everything against Nevada in the play-in game, shooting 63.6% overall, including 11-for-21 on three-pointers, while scoring 98 points in a 25-point win over the Wolf Pack.

The Sun Devils kept up their hot shooting early in the first-round game against TCU. Three minutes and 26 seconds into the second half, ASU was shooting 62.5% from the field, had committed just four turnovers and produced two awesome dunks to take an 11-point lead.

Then, without warning, the CYO version of the Sun Devils showed up. For the remaining 16:34 of the game, ASU shot 25% from the field (5-for-20) and committed nine turnovers. DJ Horne, who was 4-of-5 from long range, made a big three-pointer to tie the game with 15.6 seconds left, but the Sun Devils’ defense made it too easy for JaKobe Coles to score the game-winner on a 10-foot floater with 1.5 seconds remaining.

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Cover photo of Amari Bailey by Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports

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