Jan 27th, 2010
What to look for in Thursday’s games involving Bay Area basketball teams:
Jorge Gutierrez (2) is recoving from a knee injury -- Photo by Nick Frandkin/Daily Cal
– Cal (13-6) at Arizona State (14-6) – Cal center Markhuri Sanders-Frison will not play because of a back problem, and Jerome Randle will play despite a sore knee, but Jorge Gutierrez is back and running around at near full speed. ASU (4-3 in the Pac-10) is 11-2 at home after its lopsided home loss to Arizona on Saturday, but a home victory against the Bears (5-2) would create at least a three-way tie for first, and as many as five teams could share the conference lead by the end of the day. Cal is just 2-5 in games played away from Haas Pavilion, although those five losses to Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas, New Mexico and Washington certainly don’t fall into the embarrassing category.
– Stanford (10-9) at Arizona (10-9) – Johnny Dawkins did not name names, but said his team is banged up, suggesting at least one player is in jeopardy of not playing. That’s on top of the fact that the Cardinal has only five players available who arrived at Stanford with scholarships in hand. The best guess is that Jeremy Green is the player with injury concerns, because he has had back, ankle and wrist problems for weeks. Arizona may be the Pac-10 team in the best position at the moment, because the Wildcats played five of their first seven conference games on the road and won three of those road games. They are the only team with a winning road record in Pac-10 games and are 2-0 since inserting freshman guard Kevin Parrom in the starting lineup. Stanford is 0-6 in games played on its opponent’s home court.
St. Mary’s (17-3) at Pepperdine (7-14) – The Gaels (4-1 in the WCC) are just a game ahead of Pepperdine (3-2), and the Waves gave Gonzaga a challenge in Spokane last week. This will not be a breeze for the Gaels, who cannot afford to lose a game like this to stay alive for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. Only two players in the conference average better than 20 points, and they are both in this game – Pepperdine’s Keion Bell and St. Mary’s Omar Samhan.
Portland (12-7) at USF (7-13) – Dons star Dior Lowhorn has scored more than 15 points in only one of the first five WCC games, but Portland’s top scorer, Nik Raivio, will not play in the game because of an Achilles tendon injury.
Gonzaga (16-3) at Santa Clara (9-13) – The game is not yet a sellout as the Broncos host a ranked team for the second time this season. The Broncos lost to UNLV by three points on Dec. 5 when the Rebels were No. 21.
Hawaii (9-11) at San Jose State (11-8) – The Spartans’ Adrian Oliver was named the national player of the week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association after scoring 39 points in a win over Louisiana Tech to end the Bulldogs’ 10-game winning streak and adding 22 points in a win over New Mexico. The Spartans are 8-1 at home.
