Game info

Who: No. 11 Arizona (17-4, 7-1) vs. Utah (13-7, 5-4)

Where: McKale Center

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Watch: Ch. 11

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

Probable starters: Utah

How they match up

The last time

Rawle Alkins had 22 points and seven rebounds, and Parker Jackson-Cartwright had a season-high 19 while hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers, to help Arizona beat Utah 94-82 on Jan. 4 in front of what UA coach Sean Miller called a “nasty” crowd in Salt Lake City. Deandre Ayton hit 8 of 10 shots in the second half to help UA overcome a sluggish start to the second half.

The last time at McKale

Dusan Ristic had 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and eight rebounds to help Arizona win 66-56 on Jan. 5, 2017. UA allowed the Utes to shoot 52 percent in the first half but held them to 36.4 percent with what Miller called a “Jekyll-and-Hyde” defense.

The series

Arizona is 32-29 all-time against Utah and 11-1 against the Utes since they joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12.

What’s new with the Utes

Utah lost three straight after Jan. 4 but has since won three straight, including an 80-77 win at ASU on Thursday. Utah also swept a pair of home games against the Washington schools last weekend.

Against ASU, Sedrick Barefield led Utah with 17 points, including a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. The Utes have lately often played Barefield off the bench, while starting point guard Justin Bibbins leads the Utes in scoring (16.9), steals (1.2) and assists (5.9) in conference games. Up front, David Collette (12.5 points, 4.8 rebounds in conference play) and Tyler Rawson (11.3, 6.4) lead the Utes.

The 6-10 Rawson had 16 points and five rebounds for Utah against Arizona on Jan. 4 and stretched outside to hit 4 of 7 3-pointers. He’s shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range in the Pac-12 games.

Key player: Sedrick Barefield

The SMU transfer hasn’t always had it easy adjusting to the addition of Justin Bibbins, which moved him mostly off the ball. But he can score it in bunches, getting 20 second-half points against Arizona on Jan. 4 to make it a tie game with just under four minutes to go.

Key player: Parker Jackson-Cartwright

The Wildcats’ careful-shooting point guard has made just two of his last nine 3-pointers, which is allowing defenses to get away with focusing defensively on his other teammates. But PJC thrived against the similarly sized Justin Bibbins on Jan. 4 in Salt Lake City, scoring 19 points.

Silver lining

If there’s been any good news for the Wildcats in the reoccurring pain of Rawle Alkins’ foot, it’s the emergence of sophomore wing Dylan Smith while starting in his place.

Smith hit 7 of 10 3-pointers combined against Cal and Colorado as a starter, with 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting at Cal on Jan. 17. Against Colorado on Thursday, he had 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting. He was 3 of 6 from 3-point range.

“For two games Dylan has really filled in and done a nice job,” Miller said.

But when asked if starting helped his playing rhythm, the soft-spoken Smith didn’t make big deal out of it.

“Not really,” he said. “I’m just out there playing. I get a better rhythm but I’m out there just trying to play hard.”

7-foot ballhandler

Dusan Ristic on his improved spin move in the post: pic.twitter.com/oofheoT2UH

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) January 26, 2018

Arizona center Dusan Ristic not only made a spin move to the basket that fired up his teammates Thursday against Colorado, but he also took the ball almost completely downcourt on one possession when he initially had nobody to pass to.

When Miller was jokingly asked if Ristic would become his point guard, he answered:

“That’s that deal when you watch one dribbler. You watch three (dribbles). You watch five. And then you just say he better make sure he hands the ball off, right?

“But Dusan has a lot of confidence and … very few (Arizona players) have come as far on the spectrum of who he was when he got here and who he is today, and it’s great to see a kid have that kind of confidence.

“Seniors are a throwback in college basketball. We have three but especially Parker (Jackson-Cartwright) and Dusan, they’ve played their heart and soul for us and it’s great to see both guys be at the forefront of what we’re doing.”

Finding his niche

A Southern Californian who played for the same Compton Magic travel club as point guard Justin Bibbins, Utah’s Sedrick Barefield played a welcome host to Bibbins when he took an official visit to Salt Lake City as a graduate transfer last spring.

But while Barefield may have helped reel in the dynamic 5-8 point guard, doing so changed his role immensely. He was moved off the ball because of Bibbins’ arrival and entered the week shooting just 27.5 percent from 3-point territory and 33.7 percent overall.

Then he was taken out of the starting lineup.

“Sedrick was really welcome to the idea,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “I don’t know if I just woke up in the middle of the night a couple nights ago, but I thought, man, he’d be a heck of a punch coming off the bench.”

He was on Thursday. Barefield went 5 for 7 while hitting all four threes he took in the Utes’ overtime win at ASU.

“It’s all about just staying ready,” Barefield told the Tribune. “I played, I think, seven minutes in the first half and I came in at a crucial time when Bibbs fouled out. For me, it just proves to myself that I’m capable, and that I just have to keep my head right and stay ready.”

Numbers game

3.5

Average made 3-pointers per Pac-12 game by Utah’s Justin Bibbins, most in the conference.

18

Arizona wins in the Wildcats’ last 19 Pac-12 home games at McKale Center.

95.7

Arizona’s free-throw shooting percentage Thursday against Colorado (22 of 23), the best percentage it has posted since going 16 of 16 in a 60-58 win at California on Feb. 1, 2014.