PAC-12 Men’s Basketball Weekly Watch (March 26-29)

We’ve reached the NCAA Sweet 16 round of the tournament with three of the four PAC-12 teams making it to this weekend. Last weekend PAC-12 schools went a combined 7-1 which was only overshadowed by the ACC who put five teams in while suffering one defeat.

Head coach Steve Alford and his son Bryce have been one of the biggest surprises of this NCAA tournament. Photo Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona rolled through Portland defeating Texas Southern 93-72 to open their run then dispatching Ohio State 73-58 to move onto Los Angeles this weekend. They’ll face the six seed next Xavier on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Utah and UCLA will both be heading to Houston and NRG Stadium after winning their first two games. Utah which was a trendy upset pick against Stephen F. Austin beat the Lumberjacks 57-50. In game two the Utes defeated Georgetown 75-64.

More from Autzen Zoo

• Oregon football: Ducks and Coach Prime playing it cordial leading up to Saturday
• Oregon Basketball: Non-conference slate features Michigan coming to Eugene
• Oregon football: Ducks find complete game effort in win vs Hawaii
• Oregon Ducks must get run game going against Hawaii
• 8 Pac-12 teams represented in Associated Press Top 25 after Week 2

UCLA has had an interesting road defeating SMU 60-59 on a controversial “goaltending” call to beat the Mustangs. The Bruins then got UAB who also had a big upset of Iowa State earlier, besting the Blazers 92-75. It marks back-to-back Sweet 16’s for Steve Alford.

On Friday, Utah squares off against Duke while UCLA meets Gonzaga as those games will follow one another in Houston.

Oregon was the lone PAC-12 school that didn’t march on this past weekend following 72-65 against top seed Wisconsin. The Ducks opened with a 79-73 victory over Oklahoma State in Omaha which was a fun game to watch or in my case attend.

Thursday, March 26 (1 Game) –
West Region/Los Angeles, CA: 6 Xavier (23-13) v. 2 Arizona (33-3), 7:17 pm/TBS

Friday, March 27 (2 Games) –
South Region/Houston, TX: 11 UCLA (22-13) v. 2 Gonzaga (34-2), 4:15 pm/CBS
South Region/Houston, TX: 5 Utah (26-8) v. 1 Duke (31-4), 6:45 pm/CBS

Saturday, March 28 (1 Game) –
West Regional/Los Angeles, CA: 4 North Carolina (26-11)/1 Wisconsin (33-3) winner v. Xavier/Arizona winner, TBA

Sunday, March 29 (1 Game) –
South Region/Houston, TX: 11 UCLA/2 Gonzaga winner v. 5 Utah/1 Duke winner, TBA

Polls for the Week of March 16 –

AP Top 25 (2): 5 Arizona, 19 Utah; Receiving Votes (1): Oregon
USA Today Coaches Poll (2): 4 Arizona, 18 Utah, 25 Oregon; Receiving Votes (0): None