Entering Wednesday, Southern California was a 6.5-point underdog to Arizona State while Colorado saw their preference in sports books rise to as much as five points against Oregon State. However, according to the Pac-12 Tournament seeding, both teams’ wins were upsets.
Freshman Elijah Stewart and senior Askia Booker led the Trojans and Buffaloes respectively, with 27 and 20 points.
Down as many as 15 points in the second half, USC used a huge run fueled by Stewart and Julian Jacobs to take their first lead of the half with just under one minute to go. From there, Arizona State couldn’t make the plays needed, and ultimately watched Stewart sink two late free throws to put the game out of reach.
Just over an hour later, Colorado overcame a 40-38 halftime deficit against Oregon State behind three straight treys from Booker, eventually pulling out the 78-71 win. The win ensured Colorado holding onto the highest Pac-12 Tournament winning percentage in the conference, and prolonged the conference’s third leading scorer’s career at least one more day.
Four years ago, Colorado came into Los Angeles having lost three of their last four games, and looking at the NCAA Tournament Bubble from afar. Four days later, they had swept through the conference tournament and walked away with the auto-bid for the Big Dance.
While this year’s group seems a bit more unlikely to accomplish that feat given the strength of the conference, March is certainly a time for Madness.
USC takes on UCLA on Thursday while Colorado faces Oregon, where the two will attempt to continue the theme of upsets we have going in Las Vegas.
