LAS VEGAS — For one afternoon, on the court at least, all was right in Arizona Wildcats’ world.
In a 77-70 win over Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, the Wildcats rediscovered the talents of freshman wing Josh Green, used a balanced offense and a stiff defense to avenge an embarrassing Senior Day loss to the Huskies just four days earlier, and prompted multiple “U of A” chants from the crowd of 8,048 at T-Mobile Arena.
However, T-Mobile Arena won’t be “McKale North” anymore — even if the Wildcats turn Wednesday’s win into a four-game romp through the Pac-12 Tournament.
The conference announced about 90 minutes after the Wildcats’ win that fans will not be allowed inside the Pac-12 Tournament starting Thursday due to concerns about the coronavirus, though staff, TV partners, credentialed media and limited family and friends will be permitted.
“While we understand the disruption this will cause to our many fans, we have made this decision in an effort to do our part in helping to limit the spread of the virus,” the conference said.
So once their confidence-building win ended, moving them to 21-11 and into a Pac-12 quarterfinal game Thursday against fourth-seeded USC (22-9) at 2:30 p.m., the Wildcats couldn’t avoid the reality of what is now being called a pandemic.
Virus-related issues were the first and most often asked items in the Wildcats’ six-minute postgame news conference, with the NCAA Tournament already having announced it would not allow fans into games starting next week.
“It’s crazy,” said UA guard Dylan Smith. “Watching March Madness growing up, you always see big games, big arenas. But it’s a safety precaution. The coronavirus is a serious thing. Gotta wash your hands and bathe and hope not to get it.”
UA coach Sean Miller said he was sure whatever decisions were made would be well thought-out.
“For us and anybody that’s ever watched the tournament or participated, it would be different,” Miller said. “But obviously there’s brilliant people in our world, if that’s the decision.”
The Wildcats figure to be hurt the most by the decision.
T-Mobile Arena is usually filled with over half Arizona fans for all its Pac-12 Tournament games, and Wednesday was no exception. Though the lower bowl at T-Mobile wasn’t full, the Wildcats received plenty of “U of A” chants throughout the game, especially as they pulled ahead by double-digits in the second half and hung on at the end after Washington cut UA’s lead to just five points.
Green provided the biggest reason early to draw out that cheer, scoring 10 points over the first 10 minutes while UA jumped to early leads of 15-9 and 20-13, the latter after Green hit a 3-pointer from the left corner that rattled around and in the basket.
Arizona went ahead 35-30 at halftime, built leads of up to 15 in the second half and hung on with six free throws in the final minute, four from Smith and two from Nico Mannion.
Smith totaled 14 points and six assists for Arizona, though he was just 3 of 13 from the field after making six threes with a broken nose on Saturday against the Huskies.
Mannion added 14 points and two assists, while Zeke Nnaji had 11 points and nine rebounds.
But while those sort of contributions have been the norm, Green’s offensive production was his most significant since the Wildcats edged Pepperdine on Thanksgiving, when he was 4 for 5 from 3-point range and scored a season-high 24 points.
On Wednesday, Green was 5 for 10 overall and hit 3 of 4 3s, plus 6 of 7 free throws he attempted, in what was his third game back since missing the Wildcats’ trip to Los Angeles two weeks ago with a sore lower back.
“This might have been his overall best game of the year today,” Miller said. “It’s great to see him play well in March, especially because we missed him. You can see how much we missed him.”
Green had averaged only 11 points over his past six games but part of that reflects his more careful shot selection from long range. He took only 12 3-pointers over his last five games, but hit seven of them.
On Wednesday, Green took four and hit three of them, taking advantage of brief openings in the corners of Washington’s 2-3 zone defense.
Even though his back may have hurt in recent weeks, Green indicated that his head never did.
“It’s bad whenever you can’t even travel with your team,” Green said. “It sucks, (not) being there with them moral support. It was bad, but at the same time we have a great training stuff … and I was able to rehab back at home, feel a lot better.
“And as far as the confidence goes, I was all good. I think biggest thing was coming into March being confident and coming out with a win.”
With Green’s three 3s, plus two each from Mannion (2-5), Jemarl Baker (2-5) and Smith (2-8), the Wildcats had at least two 3-pointers from four different players for the first time this season.
But it wasn’t all about offense. The Wildcats also held Washington to 39.7% shooting and just 3 of 23 (13.0%) from 3-point range, the worst 3-point percentage performance any opponent has had against Arizona since San Jose State was 2 for 18 on Nov. 14.
Washington coach Mike Hopkins said Arizona’s pressure prevented the Huskies from moving the ball well.
The Wildcats were “overplaying, denying, those types of things,” Hopkins said. “So you’ve gotta credit them for sure.”
Miller did.
“To these guys’ credit, our defense is really, really improved statistically if you look closely at our team,” said Miller, who was flanked by Smith, Green and Mannion at UA’s brief postgame news conference. “We probably have won more games with our defensive effort than our offense and these three guys have a lot to do with it.”
The one weak spot in the Wildcats’ defense was a failure to slow Washington center Isaiah Stewart, who provided NBA scouts a show in what was likely his final college game, with 29 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field and 10 for 11 from the free throw line.
Miller even deployed lightly used center Chase Jeter in the first half, after Jeter was suspended for the Wildcats’ final two regular-season games for unspecified reasons. Jeter picked up two fouls within his first 62 seconds on the floor, and did not play in the second half.
The Wildcats again went without Max Hazzard, who is indefinitely out with what UA is calling a “personal” issue, getting all their 3-point shooting without him.
Hazzard has missed four of the Wildcats’ past games and was not on the bench Wednesday, though a team spokesman said before the game that he made the trip.
