Pac-12 Tournament semifinals scouting report: (1) Arizona Wildcats vs. (4) Oregon Ducks

Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals — (1) Arizona (25-7) vs. (4) Oregon (21-11) — T-Mobile Arena; Las Vegas — 5 p.m. Friday — Pac-12 Network — 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable Starters

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2 soph.)

G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)

OREGON

G Jackson Shelstad (6-0 freshman)

G Jermaine Couisnard (6-4 senior)

F Jadrian Tracy (6-5 junior)

F Kwame Evans (6-9 freshman)

C N’Faly Dante (6-11 senior)

How they match up

How they got here: Arizona went 15-5 in the Pac-12 to win the conference outright by one game and earn the Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 1 seed, then beat ninth-seeded USC 70-49 in a Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal game at T-Mobile Arena.

Oregon finished in fourth place with a 12-8 record, then beat No. 5 seed UCLA 68-66 on Thursday.

The season series: Arizona beat Oregon twice during the regular season, 87-78 on Jan. 27 in Eugene and 103-83 on March 2 at McKale Center.

In Eugene, Caleb Love tied the Matthew Knight Arena scoring record with 36 points to help Arizona beat Oregon 87-78 on Jan. 27 in Eugene. The win came two days after the Wildcats were upset 83-80 at Oregon State, and snapped a string of six straight UA losses in Eugene. Arizona shot 49.1% from the field, hit 10 of 19 turnovers and scored 17 points off 14 Oregon turnovers.

At McKale, Arizona celebrated Senior Day and its regular-season finale with a 103-83 win over Oregon. Three Wildcat seniors — Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson and Caleb Love — scored more than 20 points, while center Oumar Ballo posted his ninth straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Arizona shot 60.9% from the field but allowed Oregon to shoot 52.2% from the field.

Pac-12 Tournament history: Oregon (2-3) and Washington (1-3) are the only Pac-12 teams the Wildcats have a losing record against in Pac-12 Tournament history. The two teams haven’t met in the Pac-12 Tournament since 2017, when UA beat Oregon 83-80 in the championship game. A year earlier, Oregon beat Arizona 95-89 in overtime during the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.

Overall series history: Arizona leads Oregon 55-37 and has won three of the past four games since snapping a seven-game loss to the Ducks with an 84-81 victory at McKale on Feb. 19, 2022.

What’s new with the Ducks: Since losing at Arizona, the Ducks split their final homestand, losing 79-75 to Colorado but edging Utah 66-65 in their regular-season finale before heading to Las Vegas.

On Thursday, the Ducks trailed UCLA 34-29 at halftime, then took a 10-point lead with 4:13 left before the Bruins cut it back within a point. But UCLA never regained its lead in the final minutes, with Oregon center N’Faly Dante hitting a hook shot with 35 seconds left and the Ducks making 3 of 4 free throws in the final 10 seconds.

Dante led Oregon with 22 points and six rebounds, while Oregon had four other scorers in double-figures.

Key players

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OREGON — Jermaine Couisnard

No opponent may know better how explosive the Ducks’ fifth-year guard can be than Arizona. Couisnard dropped 27 on Arizona last season in Eugene and had 39 points at McKale on March 2, hitting 14 of 24 field goals while making all seven free throws he took.

ARIZONA — Caleb Love

Love began stating his Pac-12 Player of the Year case after scoring 36 points while taking just 18 field goals at Oregon. He also had 22 points against the Ducks on 9-for-19 shooting at McKale on March 2.

Sidelines

Lloyd takes blame

After Arizona’s offense more successfully dealt with USC’s zone on Thursday than in a loss at the Galen Center on Saturday, Lloyd accepted the blame.

“A lot of that falls on my shoulders,” Lloyd said. “I kind of took a step back and I just realized that I haven’t provided enough clarity for how we want to attack and how we want to play. I was relying on these guys a little bit too much to figure it out. They’re great players, and they have a great ability to figure it out.

“And when they’re figuring things out, we’re way better than when I’m over coaching. I promise you that.”

At the same time, Lloyd also became a little defensive about his team’s defense.

“We always try to make an excuse about our defense because we’re a good offensive team,” Lloyd said. “Guys: Two of the three last years we’ve been the No. 1 ranked defensive team in the Pac-12. So do a little research. We’re a good defensive team. We’re a great defensive team, and we’re going to get better.”

According to Kenpom.com, Lloyd is almost correct. After Arizona’s win Thursday, the Wildcats ranked No. 1 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Last season, they ranked first in offense but sixth in defense, while in 2021-22 they ranked first in offense and second in defense.

Ducks against wall

Oregon coach Dana Altman said the Ducks were a “little on edge” early Thursday against UCLA, and it’s easy to see why. Entering the week at 20-11, the Ducks likely need to win the entire Pac-12 Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament field.

“That’s part of it,” Altman said, sitting next to Couisnard and Dante on the postgame interview podium. “These two guys, they’re winners. They want to compete. They want to go to the tournament. And so yeah, we know what’s in front of us. We know Arizona’s good basketball team. I can’t sugarcoat that. They beat us twice. We’re gonna have to play our tails off.

“There’s pressure on us, and they know it. But we know the position we put ourselves in. We got to swing away and try to make something happen tomorrow against a really good team.”

No time off

Saint Mary’s beat Gonzaga on Monday night to win the West Coast Conference Tournament but the truth of it, as UA coach Tommy Lloyd knows too well, is that both teams won.

They’ll have an extra five days of rest ahead over whoever plays in the Pac-12 Tournament final Saturday.

“It’s a huge advantage, a huge advantage for a team deep into a season to be able to take a little bit of breath for rest and recovery,” said Lloyd, who spent 20 years as a Gonzaga assistant before becoming UA’s head coach in 2021. “You can get mentally fresh again and actually have time to work on basketball stuff.

“The way hits for us, it’s like when we start playing in Vegas, you’re basically done practicing for the year. It’s just about recovery and in preparation for the next game.”

Numbers game

7: Pac-12 Tournament games the Wildcats have played under Lloyd, without losing any.

104: Games Arizona has played under Lloyd, all without losing two games in a row.

21.0: Points Couisnard averaged in five games leading uip to the Pac-12 Tournament, though he had only 10 on 3-for-16 shooting Thursday against UCLA.

— Bruce Pascoe

Photos: (1) Arizona defeats (9) USC 70-49 at Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament