Arizona scouting report and notebook: Wildcats face UCLA Bruins for Pac-12 Tourney title

ARIZONA SCOUTING REPORT

No. 2 seed UCLA (25-6) vs No. 1 seed Arizona (30-3)

• Pac-12 Tournament championship game • T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas • 7 p.m. • Ch. 11 • 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

PROBABLE STARTERS

ARIZONA

G Justin Kier (6-4 senior)

G Dalen Terry (6-6 sophomore)

F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 sophomore)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 sophomore)

C Christian Koloko (7-0 junior)

UCLA

G Tyger Campbell (5-11 junior)

G Jules Bernard (6-7 senior)

F Jaime Jaquez (6-7 junior)

F Johnny Juzang (6-7 junior)

C Myles Johnson (6-10 senior)

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. The Wildcats beat Stanford 84-80 in the quarterfinals on Thursday and Colorado 82-72 in the semifinals on Friday.

UCLA won six of its final seven regular-season games to finish second in the Pac-12 at 15-5, earning the No. 2 tournament seed. The Bruins then beat Washington State 75-65 in the quarterfinals on Thursday and beat USC 69-59 in the semifinals on Friday.

The season series: Arizona and UCLA split the series, each winning on its home floor.

UCLA beat Arizona 75-59 at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 25, when UA guard Kerr Kriisa was scoreless while missing all 12 shots he took and Bennedict Mathurin was just 2-for-16 from two-point range. Johnny Juzang and Jules Bernard each had 15 points to lead UCLA.

Arizona won 76-66 on Feb. 3 at McKale Center, with five Wildcats scoring in double figures and UCLA shooting just 3 of 14 from 3-point range.

Pac-12 Tournament history: Arizona and UCLA are 5-5 in Pac-10/12 play and 4-5 since the tournament was reinstated in 2002 in Los Angeles. The Wildcats were 1-3 in the Los Angeles games but have a 3-2 edge over UCLA since the tournament moved to Las Vegas in 2013. The teams last met in the Pac-12 Tournament in the 2018 semifinals, when Arizona won 78-67 in overtime en route to capturing the event title the next day against USC.

Overall series history: UCLA leads Arizona 46-62 but had a six-game winning streak over the Wildcats snapped on Feb. 3 at McKale Center.

What’s new with the Bruins: With a previously banged-up lineup that is back to full health, UCLA is starting to look like the team that returned nearly everyone from last season’s Final Four, leading to immense preseason expectations. After losing at both Arizona and ASU during the first week of February, the Bruins have only lost twice—at USC by three points and at Oregon by five points.

Inside, the return of Cody Riley from a knee injury has eased the pressure on defensive-minded big man Myles Johnson, while guard Jaylen Clark returned to being one of the Pac-12’s best defensive players after missing both Arizona games with a concussion. Forward Johnny Juzang, a preseason conference player of the year candidate, is also back after dealing with an ankle injury and also having hip soreness that resulted from a fall off a scooter.

Juzang, Jaime Jaquez and guard Tyger Campbell were all named to the 10-player Pac-12 first team, while Jaquez particularly has been on a roll lately. He earned the Pac-12 Player of the Week award on Monday after averaging 28.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in UCLA’s sweep at WSU and Washington, and this week had 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting against WSU and had 19 points on 6-for-9 shooting on Friday against USC.

He said it: “They have a lot of healthy guys and their defense is playing off the charts. They're doing a great job defensively, with ball pressure on top and great rim protection. They put Myles Johnson back in the starting lineup, so they have him as a defensive anchor and bring Cody Riley in as an offensive thrust down low off the bench. Now they really are working in a combination. Johnson looks more comfortable in their system. In the beginning of the season, he was a transfer finding his footing and there was really no true backup. So he's much more aggressive defensively now, contesting shots at the rim.

“Jaylen Clark is a great defender and Jaquez looks to be much healthier. They’re running their offense through him. So they're getting healthy. They're playing great defense and they still have that offensive confidence that they always have.

--UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Bruins.

KEY PLAYERS

UCLA

Jaime Jaquez

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Arizona managed to keep one of UCLA’s mismatch nightmares to just 23 total points over two games during the regular season, but that isn’t the way the Bruins’ savvy, hard-nosed junior forward is trending these days. One of the reasons for UCLA’s recent success has been because it is turning more often than ever to him.

ARIZONA

Bennedict Mathurin

The stage is set once again for the Pac-12 Player of the Year, against a team that has made him work pretty hard for his 27 points combined in two previous games against UCLA. Mathurin had 16 points and 10 rebounds on Jan. 25 at UCLA but shot 5 of 22 overall from the field. He had 11 points and seven rebounds on Feb. 3 at McKale.

SIDELINES

Lobbyists

After UCLA beat USC 69-59 in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals Thursday, possibly keeping the Trojans in the 6-7 seed range, USC coach Andy Enfield didn’t even really have to lobby for a better NCAA projected seed.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin did it for him.

“Their projected seed is ridiculously low,” Cronin said.

Later, after Cronin finished talking about the Bruins’ semifinal win, Enfield came in the interview room and was told what Cronin said.

“I’m not sure where we’re projected,” Enfield said. “What was it? (CBS’) Jerry Palm had us projected as a (No.) 5 seed so I think it’s all over the place. But we’re 26-7 and half our wins are from away from home. You look at teams around the country winning half their games on the road and not a lot have done it.

“So I think overall, we’ve had a really good season to be 26-7. Impressive for our team, for our guys. Really proud of that.”

Former lobbyist

But, after complaining about his team’s absence from the NCAA Tournament conversation on Thursday despite a fourth-place finish in the Pac-12, Colorado coach Tad Boyle all but gave up after Arizona beat the Buffaloes 82-72 on Friday.

Now 21-11, Colorado appears headed to the NIT.

“We’re probably not going to be in the NCAA Tournament, but hopefully we'll get a chance to play in the NIT, and we'll relish that,” Boyle said. “That’s not guaranteed either, but we'll hopefully have that opportunity, and we're gonna maybe the most of it and finish this thing strong.”

The Buffs’ projected absence is expected to leave the Pac-12 with just three teams in the NCAA Tournament field: Arizona, UCLA and USC.

The Pac-12 also had just three in 2017-18 and 2018-19 but had five last season, including three that reached the Elite Eight: USC, UCLA and Oregon State.

Health matters

When asked what the key is to a defense that has helped UCLA win eight of its past nine games, Jaquez didn’t point to any one strategy as much as a plain old reversal of some bad luck.

“Being healthy is one (reason) for sure,” Jaquez said. “I don’t think we had one game during the regular season where we had everyone 100% healthy. Now that we know it’s coming, it’s great. We’ve got a lot of guys in the rotation who can step up and make plays defensively and offensively.”

Heavy shoulders

During a stretch when he’s missed three of UCLA’s past eight games — and continuing to host NBA draft buzz around him — guard Johnny Juzang has hit only 1 of 12 3-pointers. He took only seven shots against WSU, hitting four, and was 4 for 11 while scoring 10 points on Friday against USC.

“I worry at times especially about Johnny with so much on the draft speculation,” Cronin said. “I’m a big believer in mental state. …. I know if I was him and maybe that (the NBA) was a possibility, how much pressure I’d be putting on myself. Pressure is a good thing but if you’re stressing out about that type of stuff, and that’s in your mind when you’re trying to shoot the ball, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

DT is the 'glue'

While three Wildcats made the conference’s 10-player all-league team earlier this week, guard Dalen Terry was named captain of The Athletic’s “Glue Team,” and quantitatively praised for the same thing by EvanMiya.com.

The head of that analytics site, Evan Miyakawa, rated Terry the No. 9 overall most impactful player and top player with a “much bigger impact on their team’s performance than their individual stats would indicate.”

Terry entered Thursday’s game averaging 7.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists, with a 2.7-1 assist-turnover ratio.

“The spirit and effort and energy he plays with is really inspiring,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “He’s one of the hardest playing players I've ever been around and he could do it for an extended period of time. He does it every day and I honestly think Dalen’s best days are ahead of him. It’s a testament to him and what a good player he is and what a good person he is.”

Numbers game

1 — UCLA’s defensive efficiency rating in the Pac-12, allowing conference opponents to score just 93.4 points per 100 possessions.

1 — Arizona’s offensive efficiency rating in the Pac-12, scoring 113.8 points per 100 possessions against conference opponents.

4 — Years since Arizona has appeared in a Pac-12 Tournament championship game, with the Wildcats beating USC 75-61 to win the 2018 event.

8 — Years since UCLA has appeared in a Pac-12 Tournament championship game, with the Bruins beating Arizona 75-71 to capture the 2014 event.

— Bruce Pascoe