LAS VEGAS — Arizona is one win away from the Pac-12 Tournament championship. The top-seeded Wildcats defeated Colorado 82-72 on Friday night to advance to Saturday’s conference title game.
The Cats (30-3) reached the 30-win mark for the eighth time in program history and solidified their candidacy for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
These stats explain Arizona’s semifinal win:
96%: Arizona shot 24 for 25 (96%) from the free-throw line against Colorado, tying the best free-throw percentage in program history with a minimum of 20 attempts. The Wildcats also shot 26 for 27 against San Diego Navy in 1951.
20/10: Azuolas Tubelis became the first UA player to record at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a Pac-12 Tournament game since Deandre Ayton did so in 2018. Tubelis scored 18 of Arizona’s 47 first-half points on 8-of-10 shooting.
His lone bucket of the second half came with 2:14 to go to put Arizona up 76-65. It marked Tubelis’ first 20-point outing since Feb. 24 vs. Utah.
3 of 10: Leading 66-62 with 7:51 to play, Arizona forced Colorado to go 3 of 10 from the floor the rest of the way.
22: The combined number of points (13), rebounds (5), assists (3) and steals (1) by Justin Kier, who started at point guard in place of the injured Kerr Kriisa. Kier also went 6 for 6 from the free throw line and didn’t turn the ball over in the second half.
2: Colorado’s Jabari Walker scored just two points in the second half after torching UA in the first with 17 points, going 5 for 5 on 3-pointers.
32: Colorado attempted more 3-pointers (32) than two-pointers (30) and made 16 of them — tied for the highest allowed by Arizona this season. The Buffs hit 9 of their first 15 (60%) from deep in the first half before regressing to 7 for 17 (41%) in the second half.
27 of 52: Arizona’s last two opponents (Stanford, Colorado) are a combined 27 for 52 (52%) from 3-point range. They are the only two schools to shoot over 50% from beyond the arc against the Wildcats this year.
18: UA’s 18 turnovers were its most in a game since also having 18 TOs against Washington State on Feb. 10.
19: Oumar Ballo and Pelle Larsson combined for 19 points off the bench after going 2 of 5 the previous day against the Cardinal.
9: Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd became the ninth first-time head coach in NCAA history to win 30 games in their first year with a program.
