Who: No. 14 Arizona (22-6, 12-3) at Oregon (18-10, 8-7)
Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene
When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday
Watch: ESPN
Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook
The No. 14 Wildcats enter Eugene in a state of disarray, but are still on that mission for a regular season Pac-12 title. They can clinch at least a share tonight in Eugene. Here's the scouting report.
By Bruce Pascoe / Arizona Daily Star
Who: No. 14 Arizona (22-6, 12-3) at Oregon (18-10, 8-7)
Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene
When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday
Watch: ESPN
Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook
Arizona hung on for a 90-83 win in a tense game on Jan. 11 at McKale Center in which 52 total fouls were called. The Wildcats took advantage by hitting 34 of 37 free throws, while Oregon hit 21 of just 24.
The Wildcats may not want to remember this one. Arizona lost 85-58 on Feb. 4, 2017, its worst loss since Sean Miller’s first season at UA in 2009-10, when the Ducks hit 16 3-pointers, including 10 of their first 13.
Arizona leads Oregon 51-29 overall and has won the last two after three straight losses to the Ducks.
Oregon is trying to still make a late push for the NCAA Tournament after a pair of tough losses in Los Angeles last week. The Ducks lost 72-70 at USC and took UCLA to overtime before losing. But they came back to beat ASU 75-68 on Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena when grad transfer guard Elijah Brown scored 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting and freshman Kenny Wooten and Troy Brown played well. Oregon started Wooten against UA on Jan. 11 but has started Paul White in 16 of 25 games, including Thursday’s.
The Ducks have experienced transfers and talented freshman alike but it all gets tied together by their sophomore point guard, who’s excelled in a more featured offensive role this season. He’s the Ducks’ most accurate 3-point shooter, an 83 percent free-throw shooter and averages 4.9 assists per game.
With Allonzo Trier likely out again for the Wildcats on Saturday, everyone in the backcourt will have a bigger role but wing scoring and rebounding is a must from Alkins, who hit two 3-pointers in overtime to help UA beat Oregon State on Thursday.
Despite all the off-court issues surrounding the Arizona program this weekend, this much is also true: The Wildcats can clinch a share of the Pac-12 title with a win over the Ducks today and, if Utah beats USC beforehand, they can own it outright.
While UA coach Sean Miller was not available for comment Friday, the league race implications are one reason why Oregon coach Dana Altman downplayed the expected loss of Allonzo Trier.
“They have got a lot of good players and they will make adjustments,” Altman said after the Ducks beat ASU on Thursday, according to the Eugene Register-Guard. “Sean will get them ready. They are playing for a league championship. We have to find a way to win another home game and it will be a tough one. We had a chance at their place and did not finish so we have to get ourselves in position and try to find a way to finish.”
Trier’s renewed ineligibility could be a boon for the Pac-12 Tournament, at least the way Pac-12 Networks analysts Don MacLean and Kevin O’Neill described it on their postgame show Thursday night.
“Especially with Allonzo Trier out, it kind of brings Arizona back to the pack, so to speak,” O’Neill said. “Now you’ve got a tournament that’s worth buying a ticket to because any of seven teams can win it.”
MacLean said Arizona will need a collective effort to make up for Trier because “you can’t just say ‘Throw it to (Deandre) Ayton more’ because teams will game-plan for that.”
While the Arizona bench has been shortened for much of the Pac-12 season, three players received double-digit minutes off the bench on Thursday at OSU: Brandon Randolph, Emmanuel Akot and Keanu Pinder.
Then there was guard Alex Barcello playing for only the second time in the past nine UA games, since Trier was not available to slide over to backup point guard. Barcello played seven minutes and hit both shots he took.
“It was a whole team effort,” Ayton said. “We really needed our guys off the bench, and they stepped up to the plate. I was running down the court screaming when Alex hit two midrange shots. I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ He really had that confidence going. Randolph and Akot too, especially staying in the game at clutch times.”
More Arizona win for Dusan Ristic to become the winningest Wildcat player ever with 111.
Games Oregon has lost by single digits.
Rebounds by Deandre Ayton, who broke Aaron Gordon’s school freshman record of 303 in 2013-14 when he grabbed 12 at Oregon State.
Scientists, including the one who patented Ostarine, are baffled by the reappearance of the drug in Trier's system.
One ex-Wildcat said "it's time to clean house" amid reports Friday night that Sean Miller offered Deandre Ayton $100,000 to secure his commitm…
Sean Miller quietly holds a film session to prepare for Saturday's UA-UO game.
The NCAA says it will hear expedited appeals within 48 hours of a filing.
Here's a look at Sean Miller's contract, and what it means.
The Arizona Board of Regents held an emergency executive session on Saturday to discuss Sean Miller and reports that he discussed paying $100,…
A look at some of the key figures in the FBI's sweeping investigation into the University of Arizona basketball program.
Andre Iguodala, Jason Terry, Tom Tolbert and Richard Jefferson also spoke out.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.