Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament: No First Round Surprises

After the first round of the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, it looks like everyone came to play. The tournament opened with an overtime win by 8th-seeded Arizona State over 9th-seeded Stanford. Even though ASU shot 56% and went 10 of 22 from three point range, the Sun Devils still couldn’t take the game in regulation. Stanford's Michael Humphrey hit a jumper with 3.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime. For only the third time in 16 seasons, ASU won in the Pac 12 tournament (yes, you read that right) and lives another day to play top-seed Oregon in the quarterfinal kick off game tomorrow at noon.

Thanks to Jabari Bird, 5th-seeded UC Berkeley was able to eek out a 67-62 win over 12th-seeded Oregon State. Ivan Rabb’s second half contributions also propelled UC Berkeley to the win, and the Bears will face 4th-seed Utah at approximately 2:30 pm tomorrow.

After an abysmal first half, 7th-seeded Colorado was able to pull out the win over 10th-seeded Washington State with a final score of 73-63. Midway through the first half, the Cougs were up 25-9, but by the end of the half, the Buffaloes had closed in with a score of 41-27. Second half adjustments gave Colorado the win, and they will play 2nd-seeded Arizona tomorrow night at 6:00 pm.

The game Bruin fans were watching was, of course, 6th-seeded Southern Cal and 11th-seeded Washington. It was the game that would determine UCLA’s quarterfinal opponent. In the first half, Washington came out strong, despite the absence of future NBA star Markelle Fultz. Washington held a small lead for most of the first half and kept it close in the second, but Southern Cal pulled away just enough for the 78-73 win. UCLA now has the opportunity to break the tie with Southern Cal and show America which basketball team owns L.A. As most of us predicted, the Bruins are on the road to playing every team they lost to in the regular season.

Here is an updated bracket, courtesy of the Pac-12:

Pac-12.com

Go Bruins!