While Bruin athletes continue competing in Westwood, here’s a look at some of the biggest news from the rest of the Pac-12.
Men’s basketball
TuAnh Dam, Sports editor
Down went the last undefeated Pac-12 team Saturday. Then-No. 13 Oregon pummeled then-No. 5 Arizona in Eugene, Oregon, 85-58 behind a relentless barrage of 3-pointers. The Wildcats were the only team who had yet to drop a conference game, before falling to the Ducks.
Coach Sean Miller’s squad was one of eight top-15 teams that lost last week, bumping UCLA back into the top 10. The No. 10 Bruins still trail the No. 5 Ducks and the No. 9 Wildcats in the rankings, but with a home game against Oregon coming up Thursday, UCLA will have a chance to climb back into the top five.
Women’s water polo
Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor
No. 1 Stanford (7-0) swept its competition this weekend at the Stanford Invitational, which comprised ranked opponents.
The Cardinal’s Olympic gold-medalist freshman, Makenzie Fischer, led the team with seven goals Saturday when Stanford beat No. 20 Loyola Marymount 19-8 and No. 8 Hawai’i 12-5.
The performance brings her season total to 12 goals, seven less than her Olympic teammate at UCLA, Maddie Musselman. After her offensive outburst, Fischer only scored one more over two games Sunday, tying sophomore Kat Klass for the weekend scoring title.
Klass was one of the Cardinal’s driving forces behind Stanford’s 10-7 win over its rival No. 4 California in both teams’ final game of the weekend. Both Klass and senior Jamie Neushul recorded hat tricks, and the Cardinal offense took center stage from the get-go.
Stanford scored the first four goals of the game. The Bears got even by halftime, but the Cardinal closed on a 6-2 run over the final 21 minutes, according to Stanford Daily.
Men’s tennis
Hanson Wang, assistant Sports editor
The other conference representative in Gainesville, Florida, this weekend for the Pac-12/SEC Showdown, USC men’s tennis, finished with the same results as UCLA.
The No. 8 Trojans (6-1) fell to the No. 11 Florida Gators 4-3 on Saturday and defeated the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs 4-0 on Sunday.
USC captured the doubles point in both matchups, but lost four consecutive singles matches against Florida. No. 28 Logan Smith, No. 88 Nick Crystal, No. 114 Thibault Forget and unranked Riley Smith all fell in straight sets, but No. 20 Brandon Holt and unranked Jack Jaede won their matches in three sets.
Against the Bulldogs, the Trojans reversed their singles results, as Holt, Jaede and senior Rob Bellamy won in straight sets.
USC will return home for a doubleheader this weekend against UC Davis and the University of San Francisco before traveling to Charlottesville, Virginia, for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships the following week.
