SALT LAKE CITY – Entering Sunday’s games, Arizona stands two games out of first place in the Pac-12 in the loss column, and a game behind both Utah and California.
So Arizona’s only hope for a share of the regular-season title is that the Ducks lose two out of their last three, Colorado beats Utah (at the Huntsman Center) and the Wildcats beat both Cal and Stanford.
Not terribly likely.
“It bothers us a lot,” guard Kadeem Allen said. “We wanted to come in here and three-peat the Pac-12 but we just have to more forward, win these next two games and move to the Pac-12 Tournament.”
The last part was what UA coach Sean Miller said he was most concerned about.
“I don’t think it’s about the title right now,” Miller said. “It’s about seeing if we can finish our season with two wins at home. It won’t be easy especially with Cal on Thursday, because much like Utah they’re hitting on all cylinders and they have some terrific talent.”
Cal will host USC on Sunday at 6 p.m. (Fox Sports 1) before traveling to play at McKale Center on Thursday. The Bears have won six straight games.
Oregon, meanwhile, will host Washington at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Then, if the Ducks can beat the Huskies, they'll head to Los Angeles with a chance to win the title outright with a sweep or possibly have to share it if they lose to either UCLA or USC.
If the Ducks lose two of their three remaining games, and Arizona beats Cal, the Utes can win the conference outright by beating Colorado.
The bottom line is that UA is unlikely now to win a third straight conference title and, even if there was somehow a 12-6 tie for first place, the Wildcats would not receive the No. 1 Pac-12 Tournament seed because of their 0-1 record against Utah and Oregon (ties are broken first by head-to-head records and then by record against top teams in the standings, down until the ties are broken).
Miller's decision to start Chance Comanche in the second half Saturday sent a tough-love message that the coach wasn't happy with Ryan Anderson’s defense in the first half, when Utah shot 60 percent and scored 28 points in the paint.
After the game, Miller sent that message verbally, too.
“Ryan has been a godsend for us with his ability to score points and rebound,” Miller said. “I think it’s easy to see he’ll be an all conference player. But you have to be able to do it on the defensive end because there’s so many good players that rebound and score but it’s degraded because of their defense and we’ve been on him for a long, long time and it hasn’t changed. He’s got to play better defense for our team to have a chance down the stretch of finishing strong. He knows that and that’s the way it is.”
Miller doesn’t normally add guys to his rotation late in the season unless there’s an injury but he said Comanche might be able to help going forward this season.
UA’s two poor defensive games inside, against Colorado’s Josh Scott and Utah’s Jakob Poeltl in particular, may have helped speed up that decision.
“We almost went with him in Colorado,” Miller said. “I made my mind up today to get him in there and I’m really glad that we did that.”
In 11 minutes Saturday, Comanche had four points, two rebounds and two blocks.
“Chance was really the silver lining today,” Miller said. If you “give these young players an opportunity, with the stakes where they are, you learn a lot about them.
“We’ve been watching him develop all year and when he was in there he just gave us more balance. Made things happen, did a good job, and depth this time of year is really coveted, it’s priceless, because to be able to rest good players for three or four minutes and sometimes while they’re resting, they play really well.
“I think Chance has to be with us for the long haul. We can play him at either spot the four or the five and he can guard a four or five. He gave us a boost at the beginning of the second half that we really needed.”
Our full coverage of Saturday's game: A game story, Greg Hansen's column, seen-and-heard notes and a photo gallery.
The Salt Lake Tribune described how the Utes were soaking up their first win over UA since 1998.
Deseret News columnist Brad Rock says the Utes are peaking at the right time.
With the UA-Utah postgame finished by midafternoon, Miller took off to see Josh Jackson in Napa, Calif.
Other Pac-12 games Sunday:
ASU at Colorado, 2:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks
WSU at OSU, 4:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks
