Wildcats 'really excited' to wrap season at Oregon, even if recent history suggests another stressful game

If not for that phone call from the Pac-12 last week, Arizona could have wrapped it all up pretty nicely Saturday.

A dramatic one-point Senior Day win over Washington gave the Wildcats a chance to end their season with their first two-game conference home weekend sweep, and a three-game winning streak that included an upset at USC.

Everyone could have left on a good note, taken a short hibernation during the postseason they have opted out of, and then come back to prepare for a 2021-22 season that may or may not include an NCAA-added postseason ban.

Except … no.

The Wildcats woke up on Sunday, took more COVID-19 tests, practiced and then packed their bags — to go to face the team they can never seem to beat.

All because the Pac-12 asked Arizona to make up a postponed Jan. 16 game at Eugene, creating the Wildcats’ own sort of March (First Day Only) Madness.

“Can’t wait,” UA guard James Akinjo said.

But, really? After six straight losses to Oregon? Do the Wildcats really want to play a potentially soul-sapping game against a rising team that, after two pandemic-related pauses, is now trying to bulldoze its way to a Pac-12 title?

Apparently, they do.

The Wildcats can wrap their regular season with a four-game winning streak while finally ending a string of bad memories that date back to that day in February 2018 when UA coach Sean Miller sat out and Deandre Ayton was booed relentlessly in the wake of an ESPN report that said Miller discussed a pay-for-play scheme.

“I think our guys are really excited to go to Oregon and I’m not just giving you that,” Miller said after the Wildcats beat the Huskies 75-74 Saturday.

“I mean we’ve talked to them. I think I’ve got a good feel. I mean, if you were them, it either ends today or it ends at Oregon on Monday.

“I think that they’re excited to play against a really good team, a team that’s beaten us six times in a row, a team that’s beaten us on the last possession of the game I think almost really the last three times we played them.”

There’s there’s no “almost” about it: Oregon is 12-10 against Arizona since Miller took over in 2009-10 and has won six straight against the Wildcats.

The last three have been particularly painful for Arizona.

Oregon won both of the last year’s matchups in overtime.

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The final in Eugene was 74-73 after Nico Mannion missed a six-foot floater and couldn’t get off a successful inbounds pass before time expired, with the ball landing in the hands of Ducks star Payton Pritchard. Will Richardson scored seven of Oregon’s eight points in overtime that included a game-winner with 15 seconds left.

At McKale Center last season, the final was 73-72 after Josh Green and Christian Koloko each missed a pair of potential game-winning free throws, Green near the end of regulation and Koloko with 1.4 seconds left in overtime.

Richardson dished the game-winner to Shakur Juiston that game — and then returned this season to do almost exactly the same thing.

In Oregon’s 63-61 win at McKale on Feb. 13, Richardson drove inside, found nothing, passed back and forth to Chris Duarte, and then fed Duarte again on the right wing when the Wildcats’ defense finally broke down.

Duarte hit the shot to give Oregon a 63-61 lead. The Wildcats failed to score over the final 17 seconds.

Maybe that sort of history ends Monday.

“We want to play them, and we need to finish the season with a win,” freshman Azuolas Tubelis said. “It’s a great experience to have one more game against a good team like Oregon.”

Besides, while the Wildcats had to hustle up to Eugene after two games over the weekend, the Ducks are being even more physically taxed.

Oregon is playing eight games over an 18-day period to end the regular season, the result of two COVID-19 pauses — the first of which resulted in postponing the UA-Oregon game on Jan. 16.

The Ducks will face Arizona on Monday and UCLA on Wednesday, then play at Oregon State on Sunday.

“We’ve got a really difficult week ahead,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “Our conditioning and our mental toughness will really be tested.”

The Ducks planned mostly walk-through preparation while getting rest and treatment on Sunday, and forward Chandler Lawson was confident that their key players will recover.

“I know the guys who started and played some minutes need some recovery,” Lawson said. But “I know these guys will be all right for a Monday game. We’ll be good.”

At 11-4 with three conference games to go, the Ducks still can’t get to the assigned 20-game mark because of their previous issues.

But if they manage to beat Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State this week, the Ducks will finish with the conference’s best winning percentage, and a head-to-head win in their one game with the Bruins.

“We know they’re really good and playing for a lot,” Miller said Saturday afternoon of Oregon. “So the group that we have, I don’t think I have to give them a pep talk.

“But I will tell you we have to play a lot better on Monday night here than we did here today.”