Arizona basketball: York's milestone, ex-Cats' visit, Air Gordon

Reaching four digits 

At the 16:25 mark of the first half, Gabe York hit a milestone.

With a layup to give Arizona an early four-point lead, York crossed the 1,000-point barrier for his career. He had 999 coming into Sunday.

A senior, York became the 50th player in Arizona history to reach that mark. Kaleb Tarczewski crossed that plateau earlier this season.

After he made the basket, during a stoppage in play the PA announcer told the crowd of York’s feat. Fans cheered and York acknowledged the crowd with a quick raise of his hand.

It took York 115 games to get to this point, with the bulk of the scoring coming the last two years. York barely played as a freshman in 2012-13, and only averaged 6.7 points per game as a sophomore.

Other Sean Miller players to hit the mark here: Solomon Hill (1,430 points), Kyle Fogg (1,341) and Derrick Williams (1,227). Nic Wise scored 1,285 points in his career, but played only one season under Miller. 

The big number 

1,016: With 17 points in the win against USC, York has 1,016 points for his career, placing him 47th in UA history. 

York's best 

Perhaps the most impressive points of York’s 1,016 came against USC on Sunday, as he made a difficult 3-point attempt with eight seconds left in the first half, the shot clock winding down, a defender right in his face, and after he pivoted twice and faded away. 

In the house 

Former Wildcats Stanley Johnson and T.J. McConnell both returned to McKale Center after coming in on Friday to take in the win over UCLA.

Also, a surprising face was in the crowd — Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose was spotted, as he’s spending time in Tucson during the NBA All-Star break. It’s believed that Rose’s girlfriend is from Tucson. 

Air Gordon 

Aaron Gordon captured the nation’s attention on Saturday night when he wowed with his performance in the NBA’s dunk contest.

As when Andre Iguodala lost to Nate Robinson back in 2006, the general consensus seems to be that a former Wildcat was robbed. This time, Gordon was a runner-up to ex-UCLA guard Zach LaVine.

Before Sunday’s game, the UA showed clips of Gordon’s dunks to the crowd, leading to cheers and a chant of Gordon’s name from the ZonaZoo. 

Taking in the town 

The night before the game, USC coach Andy Enfield was spotted enjoying a meal at Gentle Ben’s with two people.

No word on if the coach went to Dirtbags after. 

Friendly faces 

Speaking of Johnson, it made sense for him to return to McKale for the USC game.

Trojans guard Katin Reinhardt is a good friend of Johnson’s from high school. The two of them played together at Mater Dei, winning a couple of state titles.

In fact, it was Reinhardt that introduced Johnson to his personal trainers, Shea Frazee and Charlie Torres, when he was just a young freshman in high school. Even then, Johnson was physically imposing.

“I asked if he was on the football team since he was 6-5, 200 pounds,” Frazee told the Star in March. “(Reinhardt) was like, ‘No, he’s a freshman on the basketball team.’ I said, ‘What do you mean he’s a freshman? He’s huge.’” 

Anderson's OK 

It’s no secret that Ryan Anderson, Arizona’s most consistent player, leading scorer and rebounder, had his worst game of the season at USC in January, only scoring five points in the four-overtime loss.

Within four minutes of Sunday’s game, Anderson had already surpassed that. His first points came on a game-opening dunk.

He finished with 14 points and six rebounds.