SAN DIEGO — For the third straight game, the Arizona Wildcats were without starting point guard Kerr Kriisa.
Kriisa, who suffered a right ankle injury in the Pac-12 Tournament, was described as a “gametime decision” heading into top-seeded Arizona’s 87-70 win over No. 16 Wright State on Friday at Viejas Arena, but didn’t log any minutes despite taking part in pregame warmups. Kriisa worked closely with UA trainer Justin Kokoskie during pregame shoot-around, however graduate transfer Justin Kier started in place of him.
Following Friday’s win over Wright State, coach Tommy Lloyd said Kriisa is “closer to playing than not playing.”
“The calculus today was simple,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t feel like he was quite ready to play. And was hoping that we could get through this game without needing him. Fortunately. we were. Now we’ll kind of roll up our sleeves and see what tomorrow brings, keep attacking the thing. He’s closer to playing than not playing. So hopefully soon.”
Kier, wing Dalen Terry and freshman Adama Bal manned ball-handling duties for the Wildcats on Friday. As a team, Arizona finished with 19 assists, the third-most by the Wildcats in an NCAA Tournament game. The last time Arizona had 19 assists in the Big Dance was the first-round loss to Wichita State in 2016.
Koloko makes history
Arizona center Christian Koloko had one of the best postseason performances in program history on Friday, finishing with 17 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five blocks, becoming the only player in NCAA Tournament history to have that line.
“It feels good. I don’t know what to say,” Koloko said. “I was playing basketball and it just happened and so I’m just happy.”
It was the ninth double-double of Koloko’s career; his five blocks are tied for fifth for the program in NCAA Tournament history. Other Wildcats to have five blocks in a game are Kaleb Tarczewski, Aaron Gordon and Channing Frye (twice).
First session includes Arizona connections
The opening session of games included a pair of matchups from the West Region, and both contests had UA ties.
In third-seeded Texas Tech’s 97-62 win over No. 14 seed Montana State, former Arizona center Daniel Batcho had no points, four rebounds and an assist in 15 minutes off the bench. The Red Raiders will play 11th-seeded Notre Dame, which outlasted No. 6 seed Alabama, on Sunday at Viejas Arena.
Alabama played most of Friday without starting point guard and former UA commit Jahvon Quinerly, who suffered a knee injury in the first half.
Lloyd uses high school gym to inspire Wildcats
The day before Arizona took the court at Viejas Arena for practice and shoot-around, the Wildcats practiced at a nearby high school — a place that Lloyd said “was loud and had dirty backboards.”
Considering Steve Kerr opened the Golden State Warriors’ practice facility for the Wildcats during their Bay Area trip in the regular season, it’s safe to say Arizona has practiced in better, high-profile facilities than the high school gym leading up to the NCAA Tournament.
Lloyd used the moment as a source of inspiration.
“Guys, a lot of us started in gyms like this — or Christian (Koloko) and Oumar (Ballo) started playing outdoors,” Lloyd said he told the team. “’What would that kid back then tell the man you are now? He would tell him to go for it. Understand how far you’ve come, be excited about it and don’t hold back and go out and be excited for this moment, and attack it.’”
Seeing the Cats comes at a cost
Friday’s Session II prices — with admittance to both Arizona-Wright State and Seton Hall-TCU — hovered around $100 (including fees) when purchased through the NCAA website. Prices for Sunday’s session which features Texas Tech-Notre Dame and Arizona-TCU are currently going for $160 (including fees).
Viejas Arena featured numerous food stands and a large popup tent with plenty of March Madness paraphernalia. Short-sleeve T-shirts featuring the Arizona block “A” and the March Madness logo sold for $35; long-sleeve tees went for $60.
Late entry
As Arizona-Wright State tipped off, thousands of UA fans remained stuck outside the arena waiting to go through security.
Viejas Arena didn’t open until 4 p.m. — 27 minutes before UA’s start time.
Much of the Arizona-heavy crowd didn’t find their seats until midway through the first half, at which point the Wildcats already led by double-figures.
“When you start a big game like this and the arena is 33% full, it’s weird.”
Obama, Barkley like Wildcats going deep
Even though he hasn’t served in office in nearly five years, former President Barack Obama has kept his annual tradition of filling out brackets just like the millions of other Americans every year.
For the men’s NCAA Tournament, Obama selected the top-seeded UA to beat No. 16-seeded Wright State, No. 8-seeded Seton Hall, fourth-seeded Illinois and second-seeded Villanova to represent the South Region in the Final Four. Obama also has the Wildcats beating fellow No. 1-seeded Kansas in the Final Four, before falling to Gonzaga in the Tommy Lloyd-Mark Few reunion in the national title game.
During the pregame show on TNT featuring the “Around the NBA” panel, Arizona resident and former NBA star Charles Barkley picked the Wildcats to beat the Zags in the national championship.
In Obama’s NCAA Women’s Tournament bracket, he picked the fourth-seeded Wildcats to beat UNLV on Saturday, but thinks they’ll lose to North Carolina in the Round of 32. Obama’s Final Four prediction is South Carolina, Baylor, Stanford and UConn.
Around the South Region
If the Wildcats win two more games and qualify for the Elite Eight, they’ll play either No. 11 seed Michigan, No. 3 seed Tennessee, No. 7 seed Ohio State or No. 2 seed Villanova.
With a chance to win its first postseason game since 1997, No. 13 seed Chattanooga fell in the final seconds to fourth-seeded Illinois. With the final seconds of the Illinois-Chattanooga game on the video board at Viejas Arena, once the Fighting Illini won, there was a collective groan amongst UA fans.
He said it
“It feels amazing. That’s why you come to Arizona. You come to Arizona to play in the NCAA Tournament. This is my third year. And this is my first time playing in this tournament. It just feels amazing. I hope we’ll get the win on Sunday, too.” — Koloko, on winning his first NCAA Tournament game=
