Seen and heard from No. 4-ranked Arizona Wildcats’ 91-79 win over rival Arizona State Monday night in Tempe.
TEMPE — One of the most celebrated Wildcats of all time in Mike Bibby was in attendance for Arizona’s 91-79 win over Arizona State on Monday night at Desert Financial Arena.
The former UA point guard and Phoenix native, who helped lead the Wildcats to a national championship as a freshman in 1997, sat behind Arizona’s bench with his son Michael Bibby accompanying him. Bibby shook hands with every member of Arizona’s coaching staff and stopped to acknowledge UA fans as he walked out of the arena in the closing minutes.
Bibby briefly coached Arizona forward Dalen Terry during the second-year wing’s senior season at nearby Hillcrest Prep after leading his alma mater Phoenix Shadow Mountain High School to four consecutive state titles.
As a player at Arizona, Bibby went 4-0 against the Sun Devils before he became the second overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft.
The big number
105: All-time Pac-12 Player of the Week selections for Arizona, which leads the Pac-12; UCLA is second with 82, while California (62), Oregon State (60) and Stanford (59) round out the top five.
UA forward Azuolas Tubelis was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 16 points and eight rebounds against UCLA and USC over the weekend. It’s the first time Tubelis has earned conference Player of the Week. He joined fellow UA teammates Christian Koloko and Bennedict Mathurin (twice) as players to receive Pac-12 Player of the Week nods this year.
On Monday, Tubelis earned his second double-double of the season with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds.
The last time …
The previous time Arizona was ranked in the top five of the Associated Press Top 25 poll when playing the Sun Devils multiple times in a season was in 2014. But the last time Arizona swept ASU in the regular season as a top-five team was in 2003, when the UA was the top-ranked team in college basketball in both matchups.
Tommy Lloyd also became the first UA head coach since Lute Olson in 1984 to sweep the Sun Devils during his first season at the helm.
Arizona’s 12-point win is the Wildcats’ largest margin of victory in Tempe since the 2016-17 season.
Another big number
25: Points Arizona outscored ASU by following the Sun Devils’ 16-3 run to begin the game. The Wildcats outscored ASU 88-63 to end the game.
Shade in the Valley
Each ASU student received a game preview for Monday’s game, which had rosters of both teams split side-by-side. At the bottom of the card under the “Get to know the Wildcats” section, ASU printed “70-7,” the final score of the 2020 Territorial Cup game, along with former Sun Devil James Harden having more NBA MVPs “than all U of A alumni combined.” The last factoid in the preview: “Despite their mascot being a Wildcat, their motto is ‘Bear Down.’”
ASU AD Ray Anderson gets heckled by Sun Devils fan for state of football program
During pregame warmups, ASU athletic director Ray Anderson strolled the lower level of Desert Financial Arena and was heckled by a Sun Devils fan who expressed his frustration with the current state of the football program, which is currently under NCAA investigation for impermissible contact with recruits during the 2020 season, resulting in five assistant coaches — including former Wildcat and ASU defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce — depart from the program.
As a result, the Sun Devils have the worst-rated 2022 recruiting class in the Pac-12 on the Rivals and 247Sports national recruiting websites.
In a video posted on Twitter, ASU fan Aaron Hill asked Anderson, “How’s that football recruiting class coming?” and then stated, “Worst recruiting class in the history of ASU football.”
Anderson responded, “You think so? You’ll be wrong.”
Hill then said, “Way to screw up football, Ray. We had a good thing going.”
Anderson turned to the fan and said, “Hey, we don’t need you here. We can do without you,” as he walked away.
Hill got the final word in and said, “Now that’s a good attitude, Ray.”
He said it
“That looked like that team in early December, which is special.” — Lloyd on Arizona’s second half against ASU and how the Wildcats responded to the early 16-3 deficit.
