After the Wildcats celebrated the Pac-12 regular-season championship by cutting down the nets at McKale Center, UA coach Tommy Lloyd grabbed the mic.
“I’ve heard this rumor,” Lloyd said Saturday, “that T-Mobile (Arena) becomes McKale North up there.”
Las Vegas becomes Wildcat Country in March, when flocks of UA faithful fly or drive from all over the country to watch their team play in the four-day conference tournament.
The Star talked to UA fans about what makes the Pac-12 Tournament — and Las Vegas — special:
‘We had to go to this one’
The last time Arizona played in the Pac-12 Tournament was 2020. The Wildcats beat Washington in the first round, and were scheduled to face USC in the quarterfinals when the game — and the rest of the tournament — was canceled due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Connor Phelan and his father, Rick, were in the stands that day. Connor, then a freshman at the UA, was experiencing the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time.
Last year’s conference tournament was played, but it was hardly fun for Wildcats fans. The UA did not participate after self-imposing a postseason ban, and tournament attendance was limited to family of players anyway.
“So we had to go to this one,” Phelan, now a junior in the Eller College of Management program, explained. “I feel like the atmosphere is going to be a lot more insane.”
Phelan’s connection to Arizona runs deep, as both his parents are alumni. Phelan and his dad will fly in prior to Thursday’s quarterfinal game and plan to buy additional tickets for each round the Wildcats advance. They expect UA to win it all.
“I don’t think right now that there’s any team in the Pac-12 that can really compete with us,” Phelan said.
‘Pretty much a sea of red’
Robin Gwozdz, a Tucson native and UA grad, has been a passionate Arizona fan for more than 50 years.
“I stay loyal no matter what the wins or losses look like,” she said.
Gwozdz is a member of the self-described “Vintage Vegas Vixens.” Gwozdz, her sister, Janet Bostick, and their friend Terry Anderson make up the trio; they wear earing jerseys, beads and more at every UA Pac-12 Tournament game. They make their own T-shirts to wear.
The Vintage Vegas Vixens have been to every Pac-12 Tournament except for one since it moved to Las Vegas in 2013. Gwozdz described the environment as one large community taking roots in a city for the week.
“It’s pretty much a sea of red inside of the arena and out in the streets,” she said. “It’s like one big party that went from Tucson to Vegas.”
Gwozdz’s sister is unable to attend this year, so Gwozdz convinced her husband to go with her. She has admired the way the Wildcats have played this season and didn’t want to miss a chance to see them play in person again.
“I just love (Tommy Lloyd’s) positivity,” Gwozdz said. “He seems to really sincerely care about players and the basketball strategy, too.”
UA student works OT to pay for Vegas trip
UA junior Tyler Robertson has been to every Arizona home game this season.
He knew he wanted to attend the Pac-12 Tournament, too — no matter the cost. Robertson convinced his manager at The Seasons Apartments to let him work additional overtime leading up to break.
“I’d rather see them lose in person than see them win it all on TV,” Robertson said.
Robertson and 10-15 other ZonaZoo members will be at every game the Cats play in the tournament and hope to see them cutting down the nets Saturday.
“I expect them to make a pretty deep run, if not win the whole thing,” he said.
Spencer Corben, right, poses with incoming UA freshman Ray Smith after Arizona won the 2015 Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.
Right down the road
The trip to T-Mobile Arena will be an easy one for 32-year-old Wildcat grad Spencer Corben; he lives five miles from the Strip. Originally from the East Coast, Corben moved to Tucson and and graduated from the UA in 2012.
Since moving to Las Vegas after college, Corben and a group of close friends have made the Pac-12 Tournament a nearly annual thing.
“We do tailgates before the (UA) games, go to an alumni event or two and just get the full experience here since we can’t make it back to Tucson,” Corben said.
Corben notes the gradual increase in Arizona fans throughout the week. Some fans trickle in early to get ready; by the weekend, all Corben sees are fans in red and blue.
“It’s visually evident that we just take over the city,” he said.
