Arizona, USC still atop Pac-12 for highly anticipated matchup; here's why it doesn't feel that way

When the Pac-12 basketball schedule was finalized back in mid-September, Feb. 10 immediately jumped out.

USC at Arizona. Projected No. 2 vs. Projected No. 1. Two Final Four contenders, meeting for the only time during the regular-season thanks to the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule.

A sold-out crowd at McKale Center. National ESPN coverage, with Bill Walton and Dave Pasch on the call.

It’s still all that.

But, as UA coach Sean Miller said about being in first place after the Wildcats lost 82-74 to UCLA on Thursday, “it doesn’t feel that way.”

Here’s why:

Just seven days after the Pac-12 announced its schedule, luster immediately fell off Saturday's matchup when the federal investigation into college basketball became public — and both teams were named.

Arizona and USC were both alleged to have been involved in schemes to funnel money to players from sports agents in exchange for steering the players to them for future professional representation.

That led to the firing of assistant coaches Book Richardson of Arizona and Tony Bland of USC, both of whom were known for offering a soft touch with players when needed.

While the UA has not sat out any players for reasons it says are related to the federal investigation, it did suspend assistant coach Mark Phelps for two games and senior forward Keanu Pinder for one game because of unspecified NCAA violations.

For USC, the federal investigation led to the season-long suspension of USC guard De’Anthony Melton, a family friend of Melton’s allegedly accepted $5,000 in exchange for directing Melton to the agents in the future.

It was a decision USC coach Andy Enfield and his players have been publicly disappointed in.

Enfield said Melton did nothing wrong, while Metu wore a “#FREEDMELT” T-shirt to a news conference and, after USC’s decision last month to extend his suspension for the rest of the season, turned to Twitter.

"He didn't do anything wrong but let's suspend him bc we're selfish and have to protect our image" ...makes sense 👌🏾

— Chimezie Metu™ (@Chimezie_Metu) January 11, 2018

With just over three weeks to go, the Pac-12 race is a mess. At 9-3, Arizona still holds a full-game lead in first place, but the schedule is turning against the Wildcats, and USC is only one of three teams just behind them in second place with four losses. Washington and UCLA each have four, while Oregon and Stanford have five losses in league play.

That’s why Miller said it didn’t feel like the Wildcats were tied with USC at the time, that he had any sort of dominant team at the moment.

In fact, Miller spoke in a subdued tone during his postgame news conference Thursday about a defense that slipped to the 111th best in the country, having tried without success to spark it with some uncharacteristic looks.

“We tried different things and anytime you try to go out of your comfort zone it may work for a short stint,” Miller said. “But they’ll eventually pick that apart because your guys aren’t as good, even with something new.

“I was in search of answers between switching ball screens across the board, to playing a 2-3 zone, to mixing in a press. Anything to maybe spark a comeback but we didn’t have it.”

Even if USC and Arizona manage to secure top four seeds and the accompanying first-round bye in the conference tournament, they both feature the kind of inconsistent defense that wouldn’t make a quarterfinal loss a shock.

While Arizona has now lost two straight games for the first time since its Battle 4 Atlantis debacle, the Trojans have now lost two straight one-possession games just after they received forward Bennie Boatwright (foot) back on a roster that suffered several early-season injuries.

The Trojans lost at UCLA 82-79 last Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, then kicked away a seven-point lead in the final 2:28 in an 80-78 loss at ASU on Thursday.

“They made some tough shots and we had some uncharacteristic mistakes," USC coach Andy Enfield said after the ASU game, according to the Los Angeles Times. "It was a tough way to lose."

It is possible that neither USC nor Arizona will be named as one of the top 16 NCAA Tournament seeds to date on Sunday, when the NCAA Tournament committee makes its to-date selection reveal, despite the fact that both were in the preseason top 10.

Ranked No. 10 before the season in the AP Top 25 poll, USC lost four nonconference games then began Pac-12 play with a home loss to Washington. The Trojans have been unranked since Dec. 11.

Despite being the preseason No. 3 team, Arizona has thoroughly dominated only doormats Cal and Washington State in Pac-12 play and has now lost a conference game on its home floor, Thursday against UCLA.

In that game, UA center Dusan Ristic found a disconcerting tightness to the Wildcats' efforts, too.

“We have to play more aggressive and even have more fun,” Ristic said afterward. “I don’t think today we even enjoyed the game. We were more worried not to lose instead of trying to win and that’s the difference maker, I think.

“Everybody needs to understand this is just a game and you have to have fun playing it. if you worry about making mistakes then you’re going to keep making mistakes. So from this point on, we need to just get better, we have to show we on the right track. I think we are.”

Ristic said he thought the Wildcats’ confidence level dropped Thursday but that it should recover.

And, well ... must recover.

“We have to fix it. We don’t have a choice,” Ristic said. “We don’t have like 20 games left in the season.”