Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, right, drives the ball against Arizona State forward Alonzo Gaffney during the first half of their game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, Friday, March 10, 2023, in Las Vegas.

 Chase Stevens, Associated Press

LAS VEGAS – Arizona’s revenge tour through the Pac-12 Tournament continued Friday, and the Wildcats can’t wait for the final stop.

After beating ASU 78-59 in the Pac-12 semifinals Friday at T-Mobile Arena, Arizona will face UCLA for the tourney championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday just a week after the Bruins took care of the Wildcats at Pauley Pavilion.

Fittingly, perhaps, the championship game comes a day after the Wildcats avenged a heartbreaking 89-88 loss to ASU on Feb. 25Β β€” potentially damaging the Sun Devils’ NCAA Tournament hopes in the processΒ β€” and two days after the Wildcats avenged a Feb. 11 loss at Stanford by beating the Cardinal in the Pac-12 quarterfinals.

One. Two. And maybe three.

Line β€˜em up.

β€œWe love it,” UA forward Cedric Henderson said. β€œWe couldn’t ask for anything better. We get the teams that we want to play. These are personal games. It's different.”

Friday night, Arizona (27-6) at least temporarily erased the memory of Desmond Cambridge’s 60-foot game-winner at the buzzer at McKale by holding Cambridge to 3-of-10 shooting and the Sun Devils (22-12) overall to just 32.2%.Β 

On the other end of the floor, Arizona stuffed the ball repeatedly in the post. The Wildcats outscored ASU 40-22 in the paint and shot 57.4% overall from the field, with center Oumar Ballo posting a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while forward Azuolas Tubelis had 17 points and nine rebounds.

The Wildcats also mixed in 10-of-16 3-point shooting to spice things up further and take some pressure off sore-shouldered point guard Kerr Kriisa.

Arizona State guard Frankie Collins (10) drives to the basket against Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa (25) during the second half of their game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, Friday, March 10, 2023, in Las Vegas.

Kriisa returned Friday with red tape over his right shoulder after saying Thursday he β€œkind of dislocated” it during contact with Stanford’s Brandon Angel. He vowed to be β€œ100%” Friday and, except for predictably struggling with his outside shooting, put in a full-time effort.

Kriisa shot just 2 of 8 from the field, going 1 for 7 from 3-point range, but still managed five assists to no turnovers in a 29-minute effort.

β€œHe's doing exactly what he's supposed to do,” Henderson said. β€œ Maybe he's not hitting a shot, but he's still being the leader he is. We trust him to run our offense, to start us, to get us all in the right places. That's what he does. He throws great passes. He still runs us well, and we still play well.”

Even though he had an excuse, Kriisa wasn't thrilled with his shooting. Especially because ASU was all but daring him to shoot, with Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley admitting afterward that β€œwe were not really guarding him like we normally would.”

That might seem like an understatement to Kriisa.

β€œI never have been so wide open on all my 3s,” Kriisa said. β€œIt was kind of like Draymond Green guarding (Russell) Westbrook. I was like, 'Holy sh--.’ β€œ

Kriisa missed the first six 3-pointers he tried, but by the time he hit the seventh, the Wildcats were already beginning to turn what was a mostly close game into a blowout. After hitting the shot, Kriisa extended his arms out while the overly pro-UA crowd roared in delight.

β€œI don't know how it went in,” Kriisa said. β€œIt just happened. I was wide open. Pretty relieved.”

Kriisa’s 3 gave UA a 68-54 lead with 4:23 to go, and the Wildcats coasted the rest of the way. They led for 37 minutes but for most of the game only by single digits.

Up by seven at halftime, Arizona couldn’t extend its lead early in the second half while ASU made eight of its first 14 shots after halftime. ASU also pulled within seven, 56-49, at the 8:46 mark, after Arizona committed four turnovers in less than four minutes.

Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) blocks a shot from Arizona State guard Devan Cambridge during Arizona’s Pac-12 Tournament semifinal victory over the Sun Devils on March 10, 2023, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Sun Devils made it 56-52 after Devan Cambridge scored inside, but UA rattled off seven straight points over the next 73 seconds: Ballo made a layup and hook shot, then blocked a shot from ASU’s Frankie Collins that led to a 3-pointer in transition from Pelle Larsson.

While the Wildcats’ previous two games against ASU this season featured wild swings on both sides, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said they benefited from being more β€œeven-keeled” this time.

β€œIt wasn’t a crazy high-emotion game,” Lloyd said.

The 7-0 run might have been a byproduct of it, the Wildcats finding a rhythm naturally instead of forcing it.

β€œThese guys have a knack for understanding moments,” Lloyd said. β€œAnd Pelle’s 3 in transition is a great shot.”

Even though UCLA and Arizona have assured themselves preferential seeds in the NCAA Tournament, emotions still figure to be plenty high on Saturday.

While UA beat the Bruins in a 58-52 slugfest on Jan. 21 at McKale Center, UCLA came back from an early 13-2 Arizona lead to beat the Wildcats 82-73 on March 4 at Pauley Pavilion.

That makes Saturday’s matchup a perfect script for an Arizona team with an obvious taste for revenge.

β€œWhen the tournament started, we were just looking at how the games were lined up and how we could get a revenge game each time,” freshman guard Kylan Boswell said. β€œWe were super excited. It’s nice to get another revenge game for the championship.”

Tommy Lloyd, Cedric Henderson and Azuolas Tubelis discuss Arizona's win over Arizona State in 2023 Pac-12 Tournament.

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