As just about any coach probably would, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd said the Wildcats will face a tough challenge no matter who they play in their first Pac-12 Tournament game Thursday in Las Vegas.
But it doesn’t take long to guess which team might not be so preferable: ASU, which will play Stanford in a first-round game Wednesday for the right to face top-seeded UA in the quarterfinals Thursday, has won seven of its last eight games.
Or, as the Sun Devils are known around McKale Center, they’re the guys who mess everybody up before they play a much better game against the Wildcats. Like how they plastered Oregon 81-57 on Feb. 17 before the Ducks lost just 84-81 in what might have been Arizona’s most dramatic game of the season, and how Colorado lost to ASU by 17 on its home floor two days before beating Arizona by 16.
“ASU, they’ve been on fire,” Lloyd said. “They’re much improved. I tip my hat to Bobby (Hurley, ASU coach), and they’ve had some players like Jalen Graham — I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a kid improve as much from the start of the season to where he is now. Those guards have really settled in and they’re feisty defensively and offensively. They’re sharing the ball. They look good.”
All that is a dramatic contrast to how ASU started Pac-12 play, losing six of its first seven conference games after New Year’s, including double-digit losses to Arizona both in Tucson and Tempe.
Maybe the difference is that the Sun Devils finally regained some momentum after a 13-day break in early January brought on by COVID-19 pauses by ASU and its opponents. Or maybe the Sun Devils are finally meshing a team heavy on newcomers together and finding ways to win.
“What we have been able to do is pretty remarkable considering where we were and just how tough this league is, especially at the top this year,” Hurley said after ASU beat Stanford 65-56 last Saturday. “It doesn’t guarantee us anything as we have to have a great week going in.
“I talked to the guys after the Oregon sweep (on Feb. 17-19) that the more we win the less likelihood that we’ll find a way to lose. We’ve been in different situations. We were up a lot in some games recently. (Saturday’s game) was more of a tighter game. I think that will be more helpful as postseason is where rarely you go in and hammer somebody.”
Stanford, meanwhile, led Arizona 39-37 at halftime last Thursday and trailed by only five points with six minutes to go before the Wildcats pulled out an 81-69 win at McKale.
But at least some of that result might have been due to the inevitable mental and/or physical fatigue after the Wildcats clinched the Pac-12 title last Tuesday at USC and didn’t return home until 4 a.m. the day before facing Stanford because their charter flight was delayed.
Still, Lloyd expressed caution over the Cardinal.
“Stanford came in here and gave us a battle,” Lloyd said. “They’ve got some talent. They’ve got size across the board. They had some defensive versatility that they showed here that I wasn’t expecting. So it’s going to be a tough game no matter what, and there’s no guarantees you’re going to come out on top.”
Lewis sets Wednesday announcement
El Paso four-star guard KJ Lewis has scheduled a Wednesday evening announcement, having named Arizona and seven other schools as possible choices.
A resident of the Tucson area through fifth grade before his family moved to Texas, Lewis is also considering Arkansas, Texas Tech, Baylor and UCLA according to a tweet from KTSM-TV, while he earlier listed Memphis, Houston and Alabama in his top eight.
Lewis visited Arizona for its 72-63 win over USC at McKale Center on Feb. 5, and told the Star afterwards UA was his “dream school” and that he was impressed with Lloyd and the Wildcats’ coaching staff.
“I remember playing in little youth basketball tournaments at McKale Center,” Lewis said last month. “Coming back now is definitely a dream come true because my dream school has always been the U of A. I always pictured myself getting an offer from there, and actually getting it now is very humbling.”
Wildcats pick up No. 1 votes
Arizona picked up six first-place votes but still sat at No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll that was released Monday. Gonzaga had 52 first-place votes and No. 3 Baylor had the other three.
UCLA moved up from No. 17 to No. 13 after beating USC 75-68 on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, while USC dropped from No. 16 to 21 after losing to both UA and UCLA.
Chicago may be possible
Baylor’s emergence into a projected No. 1 seed is making Chicago a second-weekend possibility for the Wildcats, even if they remain a No. 1 seed.
As ESPN’s Bracketology projected it Monday, Baylor would be No. 1 in the South (San Antonio) and UA would be No. 1 in the Midwest while Gonzaga is No. 1 in the West (San Francisco). CBS’ projection, however, has UA No. 1 in the South and Baylor No. 1 in the East.
During the NCAA’s official early bracket reveal on Feb. 19, Gonzaga was projected as the No. 1 overall team and No. 1 in the West, while Auburn was No. 1 in the Midwest, Arizona No. 1 in the South and Kansas No. 1 in the East. Auburn has since lost to Florida and Tennessee and is now just No. 10 in the NET rankings.
Regardless of what region Arizona is assigned to, the Wildcats are expected to open NCAA Tournament play in San Diego on March 18 because of the pod system in which 1-4 seeds are usually placed as close to home as possible. If the Wildcats win two games in San Diego, they would advance to the regional site the following weekend.
Mathurin earns second-team honors
UA sophomore wing Bennedict Mathurin was named a second-team All-American by Sporting News. SN’s first team included Johnny Davis of Wisconsin, Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky, Keegan Murray of Iowa and Ochai Agbaji of Kansas
Mathurin is averaging 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 46.5% from the field.
