LOS ANGELES β The Pac-12βs marquee basketball matchup is back, in a COVID-kind of way at least.
When No. 3 Arizona plays at No. 7 UCLA on Tuesday, the biggest Pac-12 game in Pauley Pavilion since the top-ranked Wildcats visited in 2013-14 wonβt be the indoor highlight of a sunny SoCal Saturday afternoon. It wonβt even be played in a traditional Pac-12 late Thursday night window.
And the ESPN βGameDayβ crew wonβt be anywhere in sight.
Instead, the game was crammed into a random Tuesday, after its original Dec. 30 date was postponed because of the Bruinsβ COVID-19 issues. And fans werenβt even told they could show up until late last Friday.
But ESPN managed to find a slot for the matchup and dispatched its top West Coast duo, Dave Pasch and Bill Walton, to call the action. Plus, the Bruins are expected to pull in a near-capacity crowd to Pauley Pavilion, thanks possibly in part to a traffic-friendly local tip time of 8 p.m. (9 p.m. in Arizona).
Everyone just had to change plans and deal with it.
βWe were flying back from the (Dec. 22) game at Tennessee thinking our next game was gonna be at UCLA, β said UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Bruins. βWeβve prepared for UCLA a couple of times now β¦ But I just think when you havenβt had a game like we all kind of did there around New Yearβs, youβre just happy to be playing games.β
Especially this game.
βItβs going to be a fun one,β UCLAβs Johnny Juzang said Monday. βItβs going to be intense.β
While UCLA has been draped with hype ever since it returned nearly everyone from last seasonβs Final Four, then added a McDonaldβs All-American (Peyton Watson) and a key transfer (Myles Johnson), the Wildcats were unranked and under just about everyoneβs radar entering the season.
But Bruins coach Mick Cronin was among those who noticed that the Wildcats were in position to make last seasonβs NCAA Tournament if not for the schoolβs decision to self-impose a tournament ban, and that the core of that would-be tournament team returned to Tucson this season.
All it took was new coach Tommy Lloyd to fold those Sean Miller-recruited guys into his system, add a few helpful pieces from the transfer portal, and here we are.
No. 3 vs. No. 7. Pauley Pavilion. ESPN.
Just like old times.
βI knew last year when we were playing them that they were going to be a problem this year,β Cronin said. βYou could just see they were close. They were just a little too young.
βThey were a tournament team last year. But theyβve obviously gone to a whole new level. Guys get better and obviously, Coach Lloydβs done a tremendous job.β
But even with all that said, neither Cronin and Lloyd were making too much about this one game. Both indicated that Tuesdayβs game is really just one data point in a season full of them.
βI donβt think the game will affect the outlook for either team,β Lloyd said.
UA super senior point guard Justin Kier, a newcomer to the Pac-12 but a veteran college player who spent last season in the SEC, also downplayed the significance of Tuesdayβs game.
βIf you look too deep into these games, thatβs where you go out and try to do things that youβre not supposed to do and you kind of feel that tension,β Kier said. βWeβre not going to change up anything or ask a guy to do more. Weβre gonna all put it together and win together.β
Still, a win at UCLA unquestionably will boost the Wildcatsβ chances of winning the Pac-12 and picking up a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed. And in the short term, it could help the Wildcats make an argument for the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, after they remained at No. 3 on Monday while Auburn leapfrogged Gonzaga into the top spot.
But things could change in the following week, when Arizona will face the Bruins again on Feb. 3 at McKale Center. Then thereβs the possibility of a UA-UCLA matchup in the Pac-12 Tournament and, who knows, maybe even one deep into the NCAA Tournament.
This could be just the beginning to a series of games that will define both teams and their chances for a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
βYou can potentially play them three more times,β Cronin said. βThe thing thatβs different is that theyβre better than most teams. But obviously itβs great for both programs, great for the Pac-12 and hopefully great for ticket sales.β
Itβs just that Cronin wished it was being showcased like big UCLA-Arizona games used to be. Because even before COVID-19 shuffled the Pac-12 schedules around this season, the Bruins and Wildcats were scheduled to play both of their regular-season games on Thursdays.
That puzzled Cronin.
βIβd like to play them on a Saturday, with βCollege GameDayβ in Westwood,β Cronin said. βIf the Pac-12 would have asked me last summer β which theyβre not going to, and I donβt blame them by the way (because) they shouldnβt be asking any coach β Iβd have given them my opinion of how good Arizona was going to be. They got the transfers. They got everybody back and they hired a good coach.
βTo me, there was no doubt that they were going to have a top team in the country. So I would have put in to have the game on a Saturday and tried to have βCollege GameDay.β β
Oh well. Tuesday night it is. ESPN, but no βGameDay.β
Bring your own hype, if necessary.