LAS VEGAS βAaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh helped UCLA record an 82-74 win over Arizona on Feb. 8 that UA coach Sean Miller said was βprobably the easiestβ win by a visiting team at McKale Center in seven or eight years.
Yet neither Bruin had anything but respect to offer the Wildcats on Thursday after beating Stanford to advance to a Pac-12 semifinal game Friday against UA. (7:10 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).
βItβs gonna be fun. Theyβre at the top,β Holiday said of Arizona, which will face the Bruins in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals Friday. βTheir whole team is pretty good. Parker (Jackson-Cartwright), Allonzo Trier, (Deandre) Ayton, (Dusan) Ristic β theyβve got a good starting five. Weβve got to play defense and stop them.β
Welsh, the senior 7-footer who had 11 points and 12 rebounds against Ayton and Ristic on Feb. 8, put it this way:
βTheyβre an extremely talented team, extremely well coached,β Welsh said, then added of Ayton and Ristic: βThe fact that youβve got both of them on the floor at the same time presents a lot of challenges to your defense. Theyβre extremely gifted, extremely talented players.β
Miller didnβt have much to say when asked about those NCAA and ESPN issues that have been in the news lately.
Asked if college athletes such as Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley should be allowed to be compensated by sponsors as Olympians are, Miller said βIβm not really qualified to answer that.β
Miller was later asked if he planned to sue ESPN since he referred to its report on his alleged discussion about paying Ayton as βdefamatory.β
Miller said: "Iβve already made my statement.β
When it was noted that Miller did not mention whether he would pursue anything legally in his statement, Miller said βIβve already made my statement.β
Here's the full transcript of Millerβs comments.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said he stayed out of UAβs decision on Miller. We have a story on it here, and Scottβs full comments are here.
Freshman forward Ira Lee said he feels fine after a two-week recovery from a concussion, practicing with the Wildcats this week but not playing on Thursday.
βConcussions are tricky,β Lee said. βYou canβt take meds for it. You canβt do rehab for it. you gotta wake up and see how you feel. That was a thing we took day by day but Iβm feeling good now.β
Rawle Alkins said he knew since last summer that he was leaving after his sophomore season, after he participated in the NBA combine and received feedback from meeting with NBA officials.
He said he wasnβt surprised UA coach Sean Miller knew he and Allonzo Trier would leave β but didnβt think Miller would introduce them at Senior Day because they werenβt coming back, either.
βI was surprised we got that ovation and that single moment,β Alkins said.
When cameras caught Deandre Ayton with his shoe off on the bench in the second half Thursday, Pac-12 Networks analyst Don MacLean said "something ain't right over there with him."
UA trainer Justin Kokoskie said Ayton is fine, having just taken his shoe off to provide some relief for soreness. Ayton also appeared to be walking and standing without issue in the locker room after the game.
Oregon's 68-66 win in Thursday's late game put the Ducks in the other semifinal game against USC, a 61-48 winner over Oregon State. That game will start 30 minutes after the UA-UCLA game, and will be televised on FS1.
Since postseason rules require locker rooms be open to media after games following a cooling-off period, you may notice more players offering their thoughts via one-on-one and small-group interviews. (During the regular season, UA selects one or two players to speak after games). Hopefully that makes for better coverage.
Our full coverage from Thursday is attached to this post.