Arizona basketball: On fumes, injuries, high flyer

On fumes 

Gabe York led all players with 55 minutes logged Saturday, but that may have not been the biggest surprise for the Wildcats.

To UA coach Sean Miller, it was the fact that he could leave Kaleb Tarczewski in the game for a full 40 minutes, just 14 days after he returned to practice from a five-week absence due to a foot stress fracture.

“It’s remarkable what he was able to do,” Miller said.

Allonzo Trier and USC’s Julian Jacobs each logged 53 minutes, while USC’s Jordan McLaughlin played 50. And, off the bench, Elijah Stewart played 49 for the Trojans.

"There were spurts where I felt tired, but we've had so much conditioning," Stewart said. "But I am losing my voice." 

Banged up 

York said adrenaline took over for fatigue in Saturday’s four overtimes but the Wildcats also suffered some slight physical damage: Kadeem Allen suffered from cramps and Allonzo Trier tweaked his hand.

“He said his hand was bothering him,” Miller said. “I don’t know. We’ll have to look at it.” 

Cooling (way) off 

Normally, Arizona brings players out of its locker room to be interviewed by print, digital and electronic media while UA coach Sean Miller does his radio interview after games.

Understandably, none of the Wildcats were in much of a mood to do that Saturday. Finally, after Miller did both sets of interviews, York popped out.

And he still wasn't real wild about things. Maybe won't be for a while.

"We gotta look ourselves in the mirror," he said. "Especially me." 

Dream job 

A longtime UA fan from Phoenix, Jeff Dean had every reason to think things couldn’t get much better than when he landed the Wildcats’ homecourt public-address duties last season.

Then he found himself courtside at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, serving as radio color analyst during the Bruins’ down-to-the-wire victory, and doing a four-overtime game on Saturday.

Dean took the job over this weekend for road games for the rest of the season, replacing Ryan Hansen.

“That first game was extremely exciting,” Dean said before Saturday's game. “It doesn’t get much more exciting than Arizona and UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.”

A veteran of 19 years in radio, Dean runs a company putting on live entertainment events, saying he’s fortunate to have partners who will keep it going while he travels for the Wildcats this season.

“It’s been an interesting ride from getting the job at McKale last year to being able to be the color analyst this year,” Dean said. “It has been a dream come true, to be honest with you.” 

Almost Petros-ish 

The booming PA voice of Petros Papadakis was missing from the Galen Center on Sunday – the former USC football player was not renewed this season amid speculation he was too critical of USC athletic director Pat Haden on his radio show – but the Trojans still had another big presence on the mic Sunday via a courtside emcee.

During the game, much of the time the tone was instructional.

“Let me hear it!"

“I need everybody on their feet standing!"

“On your feeeeeet!"

“We are Trojans!"

And, of course, as the game dragged on into four overtimes, "Are you tired yet?" 

High flyer 

If anything could top USC’s 64.3-percent shooting in the first half Saturday, it was the halftime act: A man sitting cross-legged on a chair at halfcourt “levitated” about 10 feet high to grab a basketball atop a pole, then returned to Earth.

Of course, this was magic. No help from UA’s defense was needed. 

More fun 

During timeouts, the Trojans held a number of other somewhat original entertainment bits.

Among them was when the emcee asked a pizza-munching student pizza to sing the lyrics to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’

The student butchered the words and was booed.

On the video board, USC showed a “Picasso” contest, in which the Trojan players were shown trying to guess which one of then was the player depicted in a drawing by a lower elementary school student. 

Quiet at the top 

Arizona Wildcats fans based in Southern California, or those who traveled there, annually make their presence known at the Galen Center, where plenty of tickets are usually available.

But, until Saturday's game went into four overtimes, it was a different feel. USC fans dominated the lower sections of Galen and, while UA fans appeared to occupy at least a third of the upper section, they were largely quiet until the final three minutes of regulation. 

The big numbers 

5 – Games in Pac-12 history lasting more than three overtimes, including four four-overtime games and a 107-102 Cal win over Oregon in five OTs in 1977.

5 – Seasons since USC beat a Top 10 team, last happening also against Arizona on Feb. 24, 2011. 

Quotable 

“The media, you can get caught up in 1-2 (Arizona’s Pac-12 record). I’m too smart for that. It’s an 18-game season. We haven’t played one home game yet and in an 18-game season there’s nine at home and nine on the road.” — UA coach Sean Miller.