Seen and heard from McKale Center: Benn Mathurin returns, Sam Beskind comes home — and Sean Miller talks snow

Seen and heard from Arizona's 73-64 loss to Stanford at McKale Center on Thursday.

Mathurin returns for Arizona

Freshman wing Bennedict Mathurin’s was questionable to play Thursday against Stanford after he suffered a right ankle injury in the first half against Arizona State.

Mathurin participated in warmups and dunked without grimacing. He entered the game less than five minutes into game action. Mathurin played 26 minutes off the bench and scored 10 points on 3 of 6 shooting from the field. 

Cardinal run suffocates Cats down stretch

Terrell Brown and Dalen Terry sunk back-to-back 3-pointers at the eight-minute mark of the second half, giving Arizona a 57-52 lead over Stanford with 7:35 left to play. After that 6-0 run by the Wildcats, Stanford ended the game by outscoring Arizona 21-7. Stanford's Jaiden Delaire and Oscar da Silva combined for 16 points in the Cardinal's strong finish. 

The last time...

Stanford's win over Arizona at McKale Center was its first victory in Tucson since 2008, when the Cardinal held off the UA 67-66. Then freshman guard Jerryd Bayless scored 31 points and made all 16 of his free throw attempts, while Chase Budinger tacked on 22 points for Arizona, but the Lopez twins, Robin and Brook, combined for 37 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks. 

Since then, Stanford lost 10 straight to Arizona in Tucson before Thursday night. Sean Miller had yet to lose to Stanford until this year and lost both contests, which was the first time in 13 years Arizona was swept by the Cardinal. 

The big number

3

Blocks by Arizona's Christian Koloko on Thursday. His single-game career-high is four blocks, accomplished this season against Northern Arizona and Cal State Bakersfield.

Beskind returns home

Tucson native and former Catalina Foothills High School star Sam Beskind finally returned to his hometown, though he was unable to have family members and friends in attendance at McKale Center. The 6-foot-4-inch, 190-pound Beskind graduated from CFHS in 2018. Beskind has appeared in eight games for the Cardinal this season.

Beskind is the latest Tucsonan to come back to McKale Center as an opponent. Last season, former Empire High School star Deion James was on the sidelines for Washington State during his homecoming.

Miller's NC State connection

Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis’ shot at the buzzer to beat ASU last week in Tempe resembled the widely celebrated game-winner from the 1983 national championship, when N.C. State upset Houston’s “Phi Slama Jama” squad led by Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

N.C. State’s Dereck Whittenburg heaved a shot, later discovered to be a pass, similarly to James Akinjo’s assist to Tubelis, and Wolfpack center Lorenzo Charles grabbed the ball midair and scored at the buzzer to win the national title.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“I’d have to say the end result of that game was bigger than the one we had in Tempe the other night,” UA coach Sean Miller said.

Miller, who was an assistant coach at N.C. State from 1996-2001, was asked in his weekly news conference about  the most famous play in Wolfpack history.

Miller recalled a memorable small-world story from when Arizona played at N.C. State in 2010, his second season at the UA. Before the Wildcats entered the arena in Raleigh, Miller combed through his memory bank with Derrick Williams, and brought up the ‘83 national championship and head coach Jim Valvao, Whittenburg and Charles.

“I was going through all of that and I looked right in front of me, our bus driver was Lorenzo Charles," Miller said. "I can’t make it up, he was driving the bus, and that’s what he was doing for a living at the time.

“The next phase of that story is we get to the game, my brother, who obviously played at N.C. State and knows everybody there, he looked at me and goes, ‘Look down behind the bench.’ And who was sitting behind their bench — first seat? Lorenzo Charles. I was shaking my head.”

Arizona went on to beat the Wolfpack, 72-62. Williams finished with 22 points on 10 made free throws.

Happy birthday, Iggy!

Former Wildcat Andre Iguodala turned 37 on Thursday. Iguodala is averaging 4.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for the Miami Heat this season. “Iggy,” in his 17th year in the NBA, is the lone Lute Olson product remaining in the league.

Iguodala spent his birthday at work. The Heat played in front of their home fans for the first time since March, but fell to the Clippers 109-105 on Thursday. Iguodala did not play because of neck spasms.

Another big number

8

Combined international players on both teams' rosters Thursday night. The Wildcats had six of them: Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), Daniel Batcho (France), Tibet Gorener (Turkey), Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania), Tautvilas Tubelis (Lithuania) and Christian Koloko (Cameroon). Stanford’s international players: Oscar da Silva (Germany) and Lukas Kisunas (Lithuania).

He said it

“Don’t ever call (Tuesday) a snowstorm or anything related to snow. That one doesn’t count. Clearly living here in the winter months, I don’t know if there could be a bigger change or discrepancy between three or four months of weather in the world than living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania versus Tucson, Arizona. … If you really live (in Pittsburgh), what drives people crazy is just the grayness of the sky. You just don’t see that blue sky for what feels like months, but certainly weeks at a time. I think you really appreciate living in both places when you see that sun come up everyday here.” — Miller, on the snow in Tucson earlier this week.

See you soon?

The west side of McKale Center has been mostly empty since players' families and guests stopped being allowed before Arizona’s second home game.

But for those willing to make the trip to Salt Lake City, player guests will be allowed to watch the Wildcats next week at Utah.

Utah announced Thursday that athletes in all winter and spring sports will be allowed to receive up to four guest passes, subject to capacities at individual venues. Visiting teams are being offered the equivalent amount.

Arizona still does not allow family guests and, of the five road games the Wildcats have played so far, only ASU allowed them. That created some live cheering when the Wildcats and Sun Devils went down to the wire in UA’s 84-82 win last Thursday, while the sounds elsewhere have been almost strictly electronic.

— Justin Spears and Bruce Pascoe