LAS VEGAS — The Arizona Wildcats will have another chance to avenge a loss, since they’ll now face Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Brandon Angel had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the 10th-seeded Cardinal past seventh-seeded Utah 72-62 in the first round of the tournament Wednesday and into a quarterfinal matchup with the No. 2-seeded Wildcats at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Arizona has beaten every team that has beaten it so far except Stanford, but the Wildcats played the Cardinal only once during the regular season, an 88-79 loss on Feb. 11 at Maples Pavilion.
In that game, UA forward Azuolas Tubelis battled foul trouble throughout a 17-minute appearance, collecting only four points and no rebounds. He ended up leading the league in scoring and rebounding.
Arizona shot 45.9% from the field, with Courtney Ramey making 8 of 16 3-pointer, but Stanford shot 61.1% and dominated the Wildcats inside. Stanford outrebounded UA 34-25 and outscored the Wildcats 42-24 in the paint.
After Wednesday’s game, Stanford coach Jerod Haase indicated he was was bracing for a tough rematch.
“We have to do different things with the defensive game plan, guys are gonna have to play their hearts out and we have to rebound the basketball as well,” Haase said. “We understand (Tubelis) is a heck of a player, but they also have a team full of talented guys.”
On Wednesday, Stanford shot just 41.9% from the field against Utah but had only four turnovers and scored five more points at the free-throw line than the Utes.
Stanford, which had outscored UA 42-24 in the paint on Feb. 11, also outscored Utah there 38-24, with Harrison Ingram driving inside often en route to 15 points off 6-for-10 shooting and 3 of 5 free throws.
“Anytime I get a big switch on to me, I used to settle for a step-back 3 or dribble dribble and just not really get anything,” Ingram said. “But coach has talked to me about going downhill. I just kept attacking and they really couldn’t stop it.”
Stanford’s leading scorer, forward Spencer Jones, left Wednesday’s game with 1:29 left after suffering a jammed pinky on his left (non-shooting) hand. He received an X-ray at T-Mobile Arena but is expected to play Thursday.
