Greg Hansen ranks Sean Elliott's top 10 games as an Arizona Wildcat
- Updated
Sean Elliott's 1989 game against UCLA tops the list.
Editor's note: This summer, Star columnist Greg Hansen is counting down the top 10 of just about everything related to Tucson sports.
Today's list: Sean Elliott's 10 best UA games.
Seventeen Arizona basketball players have scored more points in a game than Sean Elliott. Look it up: Eli Lazovich and Joe Skaisgir. Even Ivan Radenovic.
Yet Elliott scored 2,555 points as a Wildcat, then the Pac-10 record and 424 more than anyone else in UA history. Given the proliferation of one-and-dones and early-entry NBA prospects, Elliott’s career point total is probably the most unassailable of all UA basketball records.
What is less certain are the 10 leading individual performances of Elliott’s career, 1985-89.
The Cholla High School product never scored more than 36 points in a game, never truly threatened 40, a plateau reached by Skaisgir and six Wildcats, including a record 46 set by Ernie McCray in 1946.
Elliott wasn’t defined by one game, although it’s somewhat ironic that his career high, 36, came against Sean Miller’s Pitt Panthers at the 1988 Fiesta Bowl Classic.
Typical of Elliott’s steady production and the ability to rise to the occasion, he was chosen MVP of the ’88 Fiesta Bowl Classic, just as he had been in 1986 and 1987, a period in which the Fiesta Bowl tournament was among the nation’s best.
Elliott scored 36 points, had 13 rebounds and made five 3-pointers against Miller’s Panthers that night. Miller scored 12. Arizona won 88-62. In my opinion, it wasn’t one of Elliott’s 10 best games because the Panthers, 6-3, were not much of a threat.
Here’s my list of Elliott’s 10 top performances at Arizona:
Two things happened on that Saturday afternoon: Elliott broke Lew Alcindor’s Pac-10 career scoring record of 2,325 points, and Elliott’s 35-point outburst led to the worst loss in UCLA history.
"How many guys have you ever seen better than he is?" UCLA coach Jim Harrick said after Elliott’s 11-assist, seven-rebound game. "Tell me, really. How many?"
Elliott broke Alcindor’s record with a foul shot with 7:10 remaining. Bruins guard Pooh Richardson then laughingly told Elliott to "quit shooting, you’re up by 20."
Tied at 70 against the No. 9 Blue Devils with 32 seconds remaining, Elliott dribbled across half court and swished a 25-footer, a dagger in a much-awaited national-TV showdown at the New Jersey Meadowlands. Elliott finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. "You don’t wear Elliott down," said Duke coach Mike Kryzwzewski.
Bruins guard Reggie Miller guaranteed a victory two days before the Wildcats would win their first Pac-10 championship. Elliott, a sophomore, scored 28 points and made all 10 free throws he attempted as the Wildcats rallied from a 44-39 halftime deficit. "Somebody had to put it in," he said. "I just took it upon myself to try."
Attempting to clinch the Pac-10 title at Pauley Pavilion (again), the 24-2 Wildcats got the Bruins’ best shot. On the final possession of regulation, trailing 70-68, Elliott dribbled to the baseline and swished a 15-footer in heavy traffic. Arizona won in overtime. Elliott scored 24. "If you want to be an All-American, that’s what you’re expected to do," said UCLA coach Walt Hazzard.
In one of the most disappointing losses in school history, the Final Four in Kansas City, Elliott was the best player on the floor, scoring 31 points with 11 rebounds against the Sooners.
The top-ranked Wildcats registered what was then the biggest victory in school history, beating the No. 9 Blue Devils in the Fiesta Bowl Classic title game; Elliott scored 16 in the first half and finished with 31, which included an emphatic dunk at the final buzzer.
Senior Day for Elliott didn’t disappoint. He scored 22 even though the UA regulars left the game with 9:42 remaining, after Elliott’s last basket at McKale Center.
After losing at Stanford three weeks earlier, the 14-2 Wildcats read that Cardinal center Eric Reveno said "they’ve never seen a physical game like we’re going to give them." Elliott scored 31 with nine rebounds in a walkover.
In Elliott’s final Pac-10 conference game, the Wildcats wrapped up the league title at 17-1, as Elliott scored 26 points on a night he played the full 40 minutes.
Although the Wildcats were heartbroken in a Sweet 16 loss to the Rebels, Elliott was at his best in a defensive struggle. He scored 22 points (and gathered 14 rebounds) against Stacy Augmon considered by many the nation’s best defensive player.
Editor's note: This summer, Star columnist Greg Hansen is counting down the top 10 of just about everything related to Tucson sports.
Today's list: Sean Elliott's 10 best UA games.
Seventeen Arizona basketball players have scored more points in a game than Sean Elliott. Look it up: Eli Lazovich and Joe Skaisgir. Even Ivan Radenovic.
Yet Elliott scored 2,555 points as a Wildcat, then the Pac-10 record and 424 more than anyone else in UA history. Given the proliferation of one-and-dones and early-entry NBA prospects, Elliott’s career point total is probably the most unassailable of all UA basketball records.
What is less certain are the 10 leading individual performances of Elliott’s career, 1985-89.
The Cholla High School product never scored more than 36 points in a game, never truly threatened 40, a plateau reached by Skaisgir and six Wildcats, including a record 46 set by Ernie McCray in 1946.
Elliott wasn’t defined by one game, although it’s somewhat ironic that his career high, 36, came against Sean Miller’s Pitt Panthers at the 1988 Fiesta Bowl Classic.
Typical of Elliott’s steady production and the ability to rise to the occasion, he was chosen MVP of the ’88 Fiesta Bowl Classic, just as he had been in 1986 and 1987, a period in which the Fiesta Bowl tournament was among the nation’s best.
Elliott scored 36 points, had 13 rebounds and made five 3-pointers against Miller’s Panthers that night. Miller scored 12. Arizona won 88-62. In my opinion, it wasn’t one of Elliott’s 10 best games because the Panthers, 6-3, were not much of a threat.
Here’s my list of Elliott’s 10 top performances at Arizona:
Two things happened on that Saturday afternoon: Elliott broke Lew Alcindor’s Pac-10 career scoring record of 2,325 points, and Elliott’s 35-point outburst led to the worst loss in UCLA history.
"How many guys have you ever seen better than he is?" UCLA coach Jim Harrick said after Elliott’s 11-assist, seven-rebound game. "Tell me, really. How many?"
Elliott broke Alcindor’s record with a foul shot with 7:10 remaining. Bruins guard Pooh Richardson then laughingly told Elliott to "quit shooting, you’re up by 20."
Tied at 70 against the No. 9 Blue Devils with 32 seconds remaining, Elliott dribbled across half court and swished a 25-footer, a dagger in a much-awaited national-TV showdown at the New Jersey Meadowlands. Elliott finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. "You don’t wear Elliott down," said Duke coach Mike Kryzwzewski.
Bruins guard Reggie Miller guaranteed a victory two days before the Wildcats would win their first Pac-10 championship. Elliott, a sophomore, scored 28 points and made all 10 free throws he attempted as the Wildcats rallied from a 44-39 halftime deficit. "Somebody had to put it in," he said. "I just took it upon myself to try."
Attempting to clinch the Pac-10 title at Pauley Pavilion (again), the 24-2 Wildcats got the Bruins’ best shot. On the final possession of regulation, trailing 70-68, Elliott dribbled to the baseline and swished a 15-footer in heavy traffic. Arizona won in overtime. Elliott scored 24. "If you want to be an All-American, that’s what you’re expected to do," said UCLA coach Walt Hazzard.
In one of the most disappointing losses in school history, the Final Four in Kansas City, Elliott was the best player on the floor, scoring 31 points with 11 rebounds against the Sooners.
The top-ranked Wildcats registered what was then the biggest victory in school history, beating the No. 9 Blue Devils in the Fiesta Bowl Classic title game; Elliott scored 16 in the first half and finished with 31, which included an emphatic dunk at the final buzzer.
Senior Day for Elliott didn’t disappoint. He scored 22 even though the UA regulars left the game with 9:42 remaining, after Elliott’s last basket at McKale Center.
After losing at Stanford three weeks earlier, the 14-2 Wildcats read that Cardinal center Eric Reveno said "they’ve never seen a physical game like we’re going to give them." Elliott scored 31 with nine rebounds in a walkover.
In Elliott’s final Pac-10 conference game, the Wildcats wrapped up the league title at 17-1, as Elliott scored 26 points on a night he played the full 40 minutes.
Although the Wildcats were heartbroken in a Sweet 16 loss to the Rebels, Elliott was at his best in a defensive struggle. He scored 22 points (and gathered 14 rebounds) against Stacy Augmon considered by many the nation’s best defensive player.
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