Wildcats' long weekend got even longer with extra night in Pullman

Even after the Arizona Wildcats lost at Washington State on Saturday, Pullman kept tugging.

Expecting to quickly end what was their last visit to the southeastern Washington town for the foreseeable future, the Wildcats instead found themselves stuck for an extra night because of non-weather issues with their charter flight home.

The Wildcats didn’t arrive back in Tucson until 10:30 p.m. Sunday, almost exactly 24 hours after they were scheduled to return. No specifics were available from UA about the flight, but a Sun Country 737 left Pullman/Moscow at 7:26 p.m. PT Sunday and arrived in Tucson at 10:28 p.m MT, according to Flightradar24.

The Wildcats had planned to take Sunday off anyway and still had two days ahead to prepare for their Wednesday game with USC.

Coincidentally, the Cougars were forced to stay overnight in Los Angeles last Wednesday after beating USC because their postgame charter flight was canceled. They returned home early Thursday afternoon and then beat the Wildcats 48 hours later.

Arizona drops to No. 12

Even though seven other top 10 teams also lost last week, Arizona still fell four spots to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday after their loss at WSU.

The Wildcats, 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12, have lost four of their past eight games but remain well-regarded in computer metrics. Having played a nonconference schedule Kenpom rates the 12th strongest and beaten four teams in Kenpom's top 20, the Wildcats are No. 2 in Kenpom and the NET while Torvik has them at No. 3. 

In the AP Top 25 poll, defending national champion UConn (15-2) took over the top spot from Purdue (15-2), which fell from No. 1 after losing at Nebraska and beating Penn State at home.

Among other UA opponents this season, Duke (13-3) jumped from No. 11 to No. 7 after beating Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech, Wisconsin (13-3) moved from No. 15 to No. 11 after beating Ohio State and Northwestern and Florida Atlantic (13-4) moved from No. 24 to No. 23 after beating Tulane and UAB.

UA was again the only Pac-12 team in the Top 25, though Oregon (13-3) and Utah (12-5) received votes. The Ducks, who will host Arizona on Jan. 27, have won six straight and are the only undefeated team (5-0) in Pac-12 play.

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Cougars sweep Pac-12 honors

After playing big roles in upset wins over USC and Arizona last week, Washington State forward Isaac Jones and guard Myles Rice picked up Pac-12 weekly awards.

Jones was named Pac-12 Player of the Week after collecting double-doubles against both the Trojans and Wildcats, while Rice averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game en route to the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award.

Rice, who scored eight of his 18 points in the final 3:13 against Arizona on Saturday, is starting to receive national recognition for his play and having overcome a battle with cancer while sitting out last season.

Jones was also named the National Player of the Week by the Naismith Award and ESPN. The honors were another sign his long road to high-major college basketball is paying off. Jones, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds while hitting 8 of 15 shots against Arizona, played three seasons in junior college and another at Idaho before joining WSU as a fifth-year player this season.

Beating teams like USC and Arizona “is huge because of who I am,” Jones said after Saturday’s game. “I’ve got a chip on my shoulder. A lot of them think I shouldn't be here or that I'm a fluke and I just get lucky. They were telling me in the game I can't score and (won’t) get a foul. I was like, “I got 20.’ “

By the end of Saturday’s game, Jones earned plenty of respect from UA coach Tommy Lloyd.

“He’s a unique player,” Lloyd said. “You’ve got a big who can handle the ball with multiple dribbles, get to post-ups from different scenarios, create foul pressure. He's got a supreme right-hand jump hook, so you try to cheat and take that away. He gets to other stuff, and he does a great job at the end of the play, going through your chin and he has soft touch. His ball goes in.

“Soft touch for a big man and a ball that goes in, that’s a premium skill.”