After a turbulent five days of losses, uncertainty and controversy, the Arizona Wildcats settled into their cozy home court Thursday and celebrated a few wins.
By beating Stanford 75-67 at McKale Center, the Wildcats clinched a share of the Pac-12 title and the No. 1 Pac-12 Tournament seed, with a chance to win the conference outright if they beat Cal in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
The win also meant Dusan Ristic became the winningest UA player ever, and he did so in style, with a team-high 21 points on 10-for-15 shooting. Ristic has now played a role in 111 Wildcat wins over his four-year career, moving a game ahead of previous record-holders Kaleb Tarczewski and Matt Muehlebach, who fittingly provided analysis on FS1’s coverage Thursday.
“I’m just privileged that I’ve accomplishing something like that,” Ristic said. “I’m just happy about it.”
And, of course, the program celebrated twice before the game, too.
First the Wildcats welcomed coach Sean Miller back after an ESPN report said he allegedly discussed paying Deandre Ayton $100,000, a report that sent UA officials and Arizona Regents into discussions while Miller stayed away from UA’s overtime loss at Oregon last Saturday and this week’s practices.
UA fans gave Miller a standing ovation as he walked on the court for the national anthem shortly before the game began.
“I really didn’t know what to think about it, other than it’s just very, very emotional,” Miller said. “Tucson and our fans they’ve always been the very, very best to my family and myself and have supported our basketball program like no other. To see them do that was very emotional, and something I’ll never forget.”
And the Wildcats celebrated again, just two hours before the game, when junior guard Allonzo Trier won his appeal with the NCAA for a PED-related suspension. They might also soon welcome reserve forward Ira Lee back, who sat out a third straight game with a concussion but, Miller said, could be cleared by Saturday.
While discussing how proud he was to have become the winningest Wildcat ever, a distinction created in the Miller era to honor long-term players on good teams, Ristic also made it clear he was quite relieved.
Relieved that Miller was back, that Trier was back and that everything appeared normal, including a home-court win.
“It was tough,” Ristic said of the week. “It was really tough. We lost our coach and we lost Allonzo on the Oregon trip. That was a completely new thing for all of us. We didn’t know how to react, what to do. There was a lot of stuff going down outside of our program, outside of our team, and it was affecting us, but I think we handled it really well.
“This team showed great resiliency. I think we showed how tough we are, not only on the court but off the court as well.”
It may have helped that both Miller and Ristic said there were no issues transitioning back from associate head coach Lorenzo Romar.
The former longtime head coach at Washington, Romar coached the Wildcats at Oregon and during practices all week leading up to the game. Miller stayed away from the team starting Saturday, a day after the ESPN story broke late Friday night, and wouldn’t directly say if UA officials made him stay away from the team.
“I just did what I was supposed to do,” Miller said.
Miller credited Romar, assistant coach Mark Phelps and acting assistant coach Austin Carroll for coaching the Wildcats in his absence and noted that “We’re running our system — the things they do are going to be similar, especially in a short period of time.”
But it wasn’t quite a romp, an easy victory lap to celebrate the title and the returns of Trier and Miller,
That’s because Stanford hit 54.3 percent of its two-point shots, getting inside for some easy layups and dunks, while forward Reid Travis powered his way in for 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Arizona led by nine at halftime and up to 12 in the second half before Stanford cut the Wildcats’ lead to just five points with 1:10 left on a 3-pointer from Daejon Davis before Arizona hung on with six free throws in the final 42 seconds, four from Trier.
That’s why Miller said, even as he agreed with a question suggesting the recent controversy might galvanize the Wildcats going forward, he did so with some hesitation.
“It didn’t really feel that way tonight,” he said. “I credit Stanford. Both times (UA played Stanford), I felt they could be an NCAA Tournament team.”
But while the Cardinal remains outside the bubble at 16-14 overall and 10-7 in the Pac-12, the Wildcats have no such worries. They earned the No. 1 Pac-12 Tournament seed, since they lead USC by one game and own the tiebreaker because they beat the Trojans last month at McKale.
Arizona is now 23-7 overall and 13-4 in the Pac-12, with a chance to win the conference outright while holding Senior Night against Cal on Saturday.
“It certainly wasn’t your normal day,” Miller said. “But we got to the game and I think with the results of tonight’s game, I think we feel very good about what we’ve done. Part of when you’re coaching and playing at Arizona, you don’t want to ride the coattails of past teams and past players and their accomplishments. You want to create your own legacy.”
