Pac-12 Tournament scouting report: No. 2 Arizona Wildcats vs. Stanford Cardinal

LAS VEGAS — The Star's Bruce Pascoe breaks down the starting lineups, storylines and stats as the No. 2-ranked Arizona Wildcats face the Stanford Cardinal in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament. 

What: No. 9 seed Stanford (16-15) vs No. 1 seed Arizona (28-3); Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal

Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

When: 1 p.m.

TV: Pac-12 Network

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM 

Social media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

PROBABLE STARTERS 

ARIZONA 

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 sophomore) 

G Dalen Terry (6-6 sophomore) 

F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 sophomore) 

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 sophomore) 

C Christian Koloko (7-0 junior) 

STANFORD 

G Michael O’Connell (6-2 sophomore) 

G Harrison Ingram (6-7 freshman) 

F Spencer Jones (6-7 junior) 

F Jaiden Delaire (6-9 senior) 

C James Keefe (6-9 junior) 

HOW THEY MATCH UP 

How they got here: Arizona went 18-2 to win the Pac-12 regular-season title by three games and earn the Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 1 seed plus a first-round bye. Stanford lost seven of its final eight games to finish alone in ninth place at 8-12 but knocked off No. 8 seed ASU 71-70 in a first-round game Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals. 

The season series: Arizona beat Stanford 85-57 on Jan. 20 at Maples Pavilion in a game when fans were not allowed because of COVID concerns, then beat the Cardinal a week ago 81-69 at McKale Center. 

On Jan. 20, backup center Oumar Ballo had 21 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a game when forward Azuolas Tubelis suffered a high ankle sprain and center Christian Koloko played just eight minutes while picking up four fouls and committing three turnovers. 

On March 3, Stanford held a 39-37 lead over Arizona at halftime and trailed just 60-58 with 8:13 to go before the Wildcats went on a 13-4 run and held on from there. Koloko had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points on 8 for 14 shooting. 

Pac-12 Tournament history: Arizona is 4-1 against Stanford in conference tournament play, but the teams have not met since it became the Pac-12 Tournament in 2012. They last played in the 2008 Pac-12 Tournament, in which Stanford beat Arizona 75-64 during a quarterfinal game that was the second to last game of Kevin O’Neill’s one-year stint as interim head coach. In 2006, Arizona beat Stanford in a quarterfinal game. 

Series history: Arizona leads Stanford 70-31 all-time and had won 20 straight before the Cardinal won both teams of their series last season. 

What’s new with the Cardinal: As much as any team in the Pac-12, Stanford struggled with a COVID-19 pause and the ensuing rescheduling. The Cardinal had to stop for two weeks over New Year’s, then had to cram in 15 games over a 40-day period before they had a week off to prepare for Cal on Feb. 26. The Cardinal put up an ugly performance in that game, shooting just 23.5% from the field in a 53-39 loss to the Golden Bears, but played Arizona and ASU reasonably close in road games last week and then came back from a 17-point deficit to beat the Sun Devils in the Pac-12 first round Wednesday. 

Stanford continues to excel on the glass, having outrebounded its opponents in 26 of 31 games this season. The Cardinal outrebounded ASU 43-33 on Wednesday, turning 11 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points, while it also outrebounded Arizona 35-28 on March 3 at McKale Center. 

On Tuesday, freshman forward Harrison Ingram was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year — the only non-Wildcat to pick up one of the conference’s major awards — while junior Spencer Jones picked up honorable mention all-conference and all-defensive honors before pouring in 26 points to help Stanford beat ASU on Wednesday. 

KEY PLAYERS 

STANFORD 

Michael O’Connell 

While Stanford has frontline size to match up with Arizona, and enough combo forwards to find some mismatches, the Cardinal is lead by a steady point guard who isn’t easily disrupted. O'Connell was just 1 of 6 from the field Wednesday but had seven assists to no turnovers — and proved last week at McKale that he also can command defenses’ attention by hitting 4 of 6 3s against the Wildcats. 

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ARIZONA 

Bennedict Mathurin 

One thing the Cardinal can’t easily match up with: Mathurin’s ability to zip in and out of the lane to score at all levels. Mathurin had an efficient 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting at Maples Pavilion this season and dropped 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting on Stanford last week. 

SIDELINES 

Beskind named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of Year 

Tucson produced the Pac-12’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, when former Catalina Foothills guard Sam Beskind of Stanford picked up the honor just before the Cardinal won its opening Pac-12 Tournament game. 

A former walk-on who earned a scholarship to Stanford and is playing a reserve role this season, Beskind had a 3.9 grade-point average as an undergraduate and a 3.6 as a graduate student in management science and engineering. 

Beskind also has been active in civic activities, working with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and helped plan a "Democracy Day" on the Stanford campus on Election Day last fall. 

He also created a volunteer matching form to help match those in need with those who could donate food, supplies and toiletries to help during the pandemic.  

On the court, Beskind has played spot minutes and started four games, being counted on for energy and defense. He's averaging 0.4 points and 0.6 rebounds while averaging 6.3 minutes a game. Beskind played three minutes Wednesday against ASU. 

Not the 'COVID coach' 

By going on its 16-1 run at the end of the game Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals, Stanford gave ASU coach Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils plenty to think about during the long offseason ahead. 

The Sun Devils struggled after pausing for COVID-19 in early January, as they did twice last season, then won seven of their final eight regular-season games before letting the momentum slip away Wednesday. 

“I hope the COVID is behind us because I’m not the coach for COVID,” Hurley said. “We’ve had numerous stoppages throughout both seasons and I think of think it’s stunted our growth. Once we did get into a rhythm, we started playing some good basketball and our guys, to their credit, they fought battles and we went 10-10 (in conference). 

“It was very impressive that the team showed that type of character and it took this type of game for us to lose. So it makes you wonder what might have been if we got this done today.” 

The right answer 

Earlier this week, we asked UA center Christian Koloko which Pac-12 award he felt best about, the Defensive Player of the Year or the Most Improved award. 

His answer? 

“Pac-12 champion,” he said. 

The day the Pac-12 Tournament died 

Koloko is the only Wildcat player to have participated in a Pac-12 Tournament, and barely. 

Koloko played 13 minutes against Washington on March 11, 2020, the last day the Wildcats — or any other college basketball team — finished a game because of emerging COVID-19 concerns. 

“You didn’t know what to do. … It was a weird time.” — Christian Koloko on the last time Arizona played in the Pac-12 Tournament in 2020, when the pandemic halted sports pic.twitter.com/0Df3R5tKPY

— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) March 9, 2022

“It was crazy,” Koloko said. “We played Washington and we were about to play USC on on Thursday. So we have film in the morning. And you can see on social media all the conferences, they were canceling the conference tournaments, they postponing games and stuff like that. And coach (Sean) Miller was like `We’re going to continue to watch film until they tell us we can’t play.’ 

"So we were watching film and after we got done with film, we are going back in our rooms and we got this group text that we had a team meeting and they told us `Uh, the conference just canceled the tournament’ and it was like `What? What can we do now?’ 

"That’s how we just separated from each other. My sister was there and she was driving back from Vegas to LA and I just went back with her. All the people from Vegas just stayed in Vegas and the rest of the team (went home)  on the bus and that was the last time basically we were all together. It was crazy. It was really crazy.” 

Support system 

When Tommy Lloyd claimed the Pac-12 Coach of the Year award, he did not do so in a vacuum. 

First, his wife, Chanelle, send him a congratulatory text. Then he thanked her and the rest of his family publicly. 

“She's been great,” Lloyd said. “I mean, hey, these wives who embark on these journeys don't necessarily choose this life and it's a crazy life, even for your kids. So I'm thankful for all of them for believing in me and letting me make the decision to come down here and supporting it. 

"It really takes a team — your basketball team and a team at home because at the end of the day, I want to be normal. I’ve got kids, teenagers and not every day is perfect and, and you need a normal family that allows you to be normal. So I appreciate that.” 

Numbers game 

3 — Straight years Stanford lost its first Pac-12 Tournament game before the Cardinal beat ASU 71-70 on Wednesday. 

9 — Times Arizona has been the No. 1 Pac-12 Tournament seed, a spot at which the Wildcats are 18-4 (14-4 since the tournament moved to Las Vegas in 2013). 

9 — Times Arizona has produced the Pac-12 Player of the Year, an award Bennedict Mathurin was given on Tuesday. 

19 – Of 31 games that Arizona has recorded 20 or more assists. All other Pac-12 teams entered the conference tournament having reached 20 or more just 18 times total.