The Pac-12 schedule-makers cursed Arizona’s football team with nine kickoffs of 7:30 p.m. or later this season.
Arizona’s basketball team is feeling that pain, too, and never worse than in Wednesday night’s game against Grand Canyon.
The game didn’t tip-off until almost 9:10 p.m., the ZonaZoo was nonexistent and McKale Center was three-quarters full, particularly in the upper levels.
This game was without its student section likely because a large portion of students already returned home for winter break, and finals wrap up Thursday.
Arizona’s ticket office included the Grand Canyon game as part of a four-game holiday pack starting at $112 per ticket. The other three games: Dec. 20 against New Mexico, Jan. 5 against Utah and Jan. 7 against Colorado.
The Grand Canyon game was also included as part of a mini-season ticket plan of eight games, including four conference games, none bigger than a matchup with the highly-ranked UCLA Bruins on Feb. 25.
Arizona has two more games scheduled for 9 p.m., although one (California on Dec. 30) is on the road. The other is at home against Stanford on Feb. 8.
Then, should the Wildcats make it to the Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas on March 11, that game will tip off at 9 p.m., too.
