Hansen: Wildcats' win over Xavier is rated R

Arizona arrived at the Sweet 16 knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door. They got the wrong address. For 38 minutes Thursday, Staples Center was a basketball hell.

It wasn’t X-rated, but it could have been. The basketball censors would give Arizona’s 68-60 victory over Xavier an R, as in Remember and Relish how difficult this wonderful tournament can be.

The Musketeers showed up with a bunch of guys who looked as if they had gotten lost on the way to the Rec League. If the so-called “eye test” had any currency, Xavier would have been sent home in a blink.

But it was Arizona that seemed temporarily blinded, baffled by Xavier’s zone defense and stymied by the Musketeers’ bespectacled Uber driver, beefy Matt Stainbrook, who for 30 minutes sent a chill down a second-seeded team’s spine.

Stainbrook scored his 15th and 16th points with 11:41 remaining, outplaying Arizona’s bigs — all of them — and the Musketeers presented Arizona with a big, wide wonderful jolt of reality.

Some of it was Arizona’s fault. The Wildcats played with little energy in the first half, and by then the Musketeers had seized the momentum.

“I told our team in the days leading up to playing Arizona, that regardless of outcome and score, the only thing I wanted is people from California all the way to Florida at end of game say we were the tougher team,” said Xavier coach Chris Mack.

“I told our guys in the locker room, ‘I don’t know if they said that,’ but I also know they wouldn’t say that Arizona was the tougher team.

“We gave one of the best teams in the country everything they wanted and more.”

Xavier came off as the Doctors of Dunk. Four times early in the game the Musketeers dunked over Arizona big men. Arizona had yielded just 36 dunks all year, one per game.

The Musketeers outscored Arizona in the paint 34-18, which was shocking. The Wildcats had given up just 21 points in the paint, on average, all season.

But the game began to turn in the final 11 minutes. That’s when Stainbrook seemed to hit a wall. He scored just one point in that stretch. The rest of the Musketeers also seemed to be a bit gassed.

Arizona rose to the occasion, as you’d expect a No. 2 seed to do.

“I thought there were a couple of trying moments in the game, if we didn’t have the resolve and experience of the last couple of years, we could’ve folded,” said UA coach Sean Miller.

That’s probably the working theme for this Arizona team. After losing at Arizona State on Feb. 7, the Wildcats have gone 14-0. Only four of those games were at McKale Center.

And it will only get more difficult Saturday against Wisconsin

The Road Show, 10-0 since Tempe, has been as much the T.J. McConnell Show as anything. He was able to laugh off a rare stumbling first half in which he had three turnovers and shot 2 for 7 afield. “You’d have thought I played for Xavier with as many mistakes as I made,” he said with a chuckle.

But in the final five minutes, McConnell swished a three-pointer that made it a two-possession game and a 58-54 lead. He was thereafter mistake-free as the pressure intensified. Not once did he get the ball into the wrong place against Xavier’s last-ditch defense.

“A lot of teams would’ve folded in our position tonight,” he said. “Big time players made big-time plays.”

Miller and his former Xavier assistant Mack engaged in a high-profile chess game. Mack believed the Musketeers could win by scoring over Kaleb Tarczewski, Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

Almost nobody had tried that approach this season, believing that Arizona was too strong inside to attack consistently.

“That’s where we really thought we could win the game,” said Mack. “We thought they’d struggle to guard Stainbrook and (Jalen) Reynolds. We’re an inside-out team. Our bigs have been able to score on anybody this year.”

But Xavier also lost 14 games. In its long NCAA tournament history, Arizona’s worst loss had been to 13-loss Wisconsin in a 2000 second-round game. Ultimately, Miller found the Musketeers’ weaknesses.

“Great teams adjust,” said Mack. “They were driving it more than we’d seen.”

Mack was particularly impressed with McConnell probing the 1-3-1 zone in the second half, slashing inside, breaking it down. Ohio State paid the same price last week in Oregon. McConnell figured out the Buckeyes’ zone, too.

Against most Big East teams, Xavier was able to get Stainbrook to collapse the interior defenses and then look on helplessly as he fed the ball to an open three-point shooter.

The Musketeers got just one kick-and-three from Stainbrook on Thursday. Give that X in the X-and-O game to Miller.

Ultimately, Tarczewski saved his best for last. He had a 12-12 double-double (with no mustard). Ten of those points came in the second half when the game turned.

“There aren’t many guys who can guard Stainbrook one on one like he did,” said Miller. “The reason we won, in my opinion, was Kaleb’s double-double.”

Stainbrook shook his head when asked about Arizona’s defensive adjustments in the second half.

“I got to where I wanted to,” he said. “But it’s disappointing because I couldn’t finish it.”

Miller seemed relieved that his Family Circle Bracket is over. For some reason, the NCAA assigned Miller to play his coaching cronies, Mack and Ohio State’s Thad Matta, the last two weeks. As if these games aren’t emotional enough.

“I’ve felt bad the last couple of weeks playing against the people and places I’ve been,” said Miller. But he soon moved on, talking about Wisconsin and putting Xavier ties to rest.

“We’ve had all year to think about Wisconsin,” Miller said. “We’ve both had very good two-year runs. We are 69-8 in that time.”

After what the Wildcats encountered on Thursday, and what it expects to run into Saturday, counting to 70 has never been more difficult.