Penn and Teller could not have pulled off the disappearing act that Arizona State’s three-headed monster did on Thursday in a 79-58 loss to Stanford.
Jahii Carson, one of the best players in the conference, managed 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Jermaine Marshall, who has been an offensive stud at times, was worse, with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting. Jordan Bachynski had seven points, but only one block, and was little presence in the post.
That was nowhere near enough to shut down a Stanford squad led by Chasson Randle, who tied the Not-So-Big Three with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
Cats regain their stride
For 21 games, Arizona faced little adversity. Then Brandon Ashley went down, and three losses later, the Wildcats face a constant struggle to improve.
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Not that they’ll learn much from their 71-39 throttling of Utah on Thursday.
“After the injury, we had the lapse when we went down,” Rondae Hollis-Jefferson said. “We weren’t progressing. We got together, started working, and things started picking up. That’s basketball, though — you have adversity but you have to pick things up.”
Buffaloes own boards
It’s not often a team has a 16-rebound individual effort and still loses the battle on the glass by nine.
But aside from Richard Solomon, Cal had zero success rebounding in a 59-56 loss to Colorado. The Buffaloes outboarded the Bears, 38-29, despite Solomon’s fantastic night in the post.
No other Cal player had more than four rebounds as Colorado offered a balanced attack — Xavier Johnson had eight rebounds and Wesley Gordon and Josh Scott each had six, while the team was credited with six boards.
“For the most part, our guys battled,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “Richard Solomon is a beast on the boards. He’s one of the best rebounders in our league, if not the best this year, so all you can ask for out of your team is that they battle and compete, and our guys did that today.”
Anderson’s stud, dud
As exciting a first half as UCLA and Oregon played in the Bruins’ eventual 82-63 win, things sure ended with a dud in the opening stanza.
The Bruins were set with the final possession of the half, until Kyle Anderson muffed a pass and time expired with neither team getting off a shot.
That’s OK, because Anderson made up for it less than a second earlier with perhaps the play of the tournament, soaring for a dunk while drawing a foul by Richard Amardi.
The Artis
Either way, Dominic Artis was going to be playing at 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
The only question was, against Kyle Anderson or alongside him?
The Ducks’ second-year guard was originally committed to UCLA before rescinding his commitment after Anderson — also a point guard, despite an eight-inch height advantage over Artis — pledged to the Bruins.
Artis, who played his senior year at nearby Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., worried about his potential playing time and flipped to the Ducks, where he’s had an up-and-down beginning to his career.
After starting 25 games and averaging 8.5 points and a team-high 3.2 assists as a freshman, he was suspended for a portion of his sophomore year for selling team-given shoes. He’s averaged just 4.2 points and 2.3 assists in 17.4 minutes per game this season.
Loyd of Las Vegas
Artis wasn’t the only Southern Nevada product to take the floor on Thursday.
Johnathan Loyd, of Las Vegas’ vaunted Bishop Gorman, was at his feisty best on Thursday, particularly in a short sequence late in the first half. First he picked UCLA’s Bryce Alford, then went down the court and passed it behind his back to a cutting Mike Moser for the layup.
