LAS VEGAS – Maybe the toughest thing about winning multiple championships is deciding which one feels the best.
After Arizona beat UCLA 84-76 to win the Pac-12 Tournament championship on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, having already run away with the conference's regular-season title, standouts Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko were asked that question.
A week ago, the Wildcats celebrated at McKale Center after beating California to finish 18-2 in league play, three games ahead of the second-place Bruins. Then on Saturday, red, blue and white confetti rained on the Wildcats while thousands of adoring fans at what is sometimes known as "McKale North" cheered them on.
Both celebrations were fun, obviously. So Koloko and Mathurin smiled and laughed at the question, and finally Koloko took a stab at answering it.
Sort of.
"I mean, we cut off nets," Koloko said. "That's the most important thing. We cut nets. Yeah. That's what we do."
While Koloko did his share by collecting 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, including a dunk and a block in the final two minutes to help clinch the game, Mathurin was named the Pac-12 Tournament's MVP by putting up the same sort of performance that earned him the conference's Player of the Year honors on Tuesday.
Mathurin collected 27 points, seven assists and four rebounds, shooting 6 of 14 from the field but hitting 13 of 15 free throws to become the second Wildcat to earn MVP honors at a T-Mobile Arena event this season.
Koloko picked up the Main Event "belt" back in November after UA's wins over Wichita State and Michigan at T-Mobile, and this time Koloko was named to the all-tournament team along with Stanford's Spencer Jones, USC's Boogie Ellis, UCLA's Jaime Jaquez and UCLA's Jules Bernard.
The win gave Arizona (31-3) its first Pac-12 Tournament title since 2017-18, when the Wildcats also won the regular-season title. UCLA dropped to 25-7, and is expected to receive an NCAA Tournament seed in the 3-5 range while UA assured itself of a No. 1 seed.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd cuts down the net after defeating UCLA in Saturday's Pac-12 title game.
"It’s surreal and, to be honest, I didn't quite expect it," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said during a courtside celebration, when asked about winning the conference regular-season and tournament titles in his first season. "But when I got together with this group of misfits, I knew we had something special."
Then Lloyd credited the Arizona fans at T-Mobile Arena, who outnumbers UCLA fans by about 4-1.
"Hey, McKale North," Lloyd said. "You guys brought it."
The Wildcats won a title this time while playing their second game without point guard Kerr Kriisa, who sprained his right ankle on Friday in UA’s 84-80 quarterfinal win over Stanford, and they didn't even really have backup point guard Justin Kier, either.
Kier started in Kriisa's place but ran into foul trouble and played just 13 minutes. Instead, the Wildcats thrived with Dalen Terry and Pelle Larsson adding ballhandling help.
Terry dished seven assists and grabbed seven rebounds while scoring 15 points, all but one of them in the second half. Larsson had eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
"We told Kerr, `We got your back,' " Koloko said. "And when Justin got in foul trouble, it was next man up. ... We love each other. We trust each other. So whoever is on the court, we gonna play hard and fight together."
This sort of bond, once again, had Lloyd nearly choking up during his postgame press conference, even after the Wildcats had a chance to cool down from their on-court celebration and enjoy a table of celebratory cupcakes outside their locker room.
"Honestly, I haven't even taken a minute to figure out how we did it," Lloyd said. "I mean, UCLA is a really good team and for us to come in here and beat them straight up with Kerr out and Justin in foul trouble, it was literally just like find a way to hang in there.
"It shows the grit, the integrity, the character of these guys... I love those guys and for them to believe in me and our staff... I'll always remember these guys and I'll be thankful."
The Wildcats did it this time by turning things around quickly after UCLA kept them to just 39.3% shooting in the first half, after which the Bruins held a 40-35 lead capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Johnny Juzang.
In the second half, Arizona shot 66.7% to finish at 51.9% for the game, while also essentially winning the game at the line. The Wildcats hit 23 of 28 free throws, scoring 10 more points at the line than UCLA (13 of 17).
Arizona's Pelle Larsson, center right, celebrates with teammates after defeating UCLA.
The Wildcats went on a 22-5 run early in the second half to take a 63-58 lead. Toward the end of the run, Koloko converted a 3-point play to give UA a 56-55 lead and, after Bernard and traded 3-pointers, Koloko scored inside again to put UA ahead 61-59 entering the final nine minutes.
Arizona went on to lead 78-72 entering the final three minutes. Koloko helped the Wildcats hang on from there, dunking inside off an assist from Larsson and then blocking a shot by Jaquez on the other end.
In the first half, freshman wing Adama Bal helped keep the Wildcats in the game with his two 3s from the right wing, having earned spot minutes since the Wildcats' regular-season finale against Cal last week.
Lloyd said after the Cal game that Bal wouldn't necessarily be joining the rotation but he also played Bal two minutes against Stanford on Thursday and a minute on Friday against Colorado.
Meanwhile, throughout Saturday's game, the Wildcats had Mathurin at his best.
The Pac-12's top player had nine points in the first half, shooting just 2 of 7 from the field but hitting all five free throws he took before halftime. Then he poured in 18 points in the second half while hitting 4 of 7 shots and getting to the free throw line 10 times and making eight free throws.
Lloyd raved about the two "unbelievable" 3s that Mathurin hit off baseline screens, then jokingly tried to take credit for them.
"I told our staff that those were great play calls," Lloyd said, trying to keep a straight face. "I'm totally joking -- because those are impossible. To have a player who can spin off a screen like that and rise up and stick a jumper ... it's pretty special.
"Benn rose up today and he's been great. He's got a great competitive spirit and i'm so happy of everything that's coming his way. He's well-deserving."
But while sitting with a net around his neck at the postgame interview podium, licking cupcake frosting off his fingers, Mathurin mostly talked about others.
"It was my first time playing in the Pac-12 Tournament with all my teammates and I'm really happy to be on a great team," Mathurin said. "It was pretty fun to come out here and play three games back to back to back. It was a challenge but at the end of the day it's about us. I'm pretty happy with the results we got."
And, as all of the Wildcats can do with their two Pac-12 titles, Mathurin can also someday choose which MVP award he likes best. Or maybe just keep winning those things, too.
