The Arizona Wildcats are hosting the UCLA Bruins tonight in college basketball action. The Wildcats look like the class of the conference this season and they already own a victory over UCLA on the road. It just knew that it happened.
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The Pac-12 doesn’t get as much love as the Atlantic Coast Conference, but it still has some pretty impressive men’s basketball teams this season. In all aspects, UCLA succeeded.
OR also holds an even bigger edge over UA for the right to stay in the West Region in the NCAA Tournament (while it is no longer a foregone conclusion that Gonzaga will be the No. 1 in the West after the Zags lost to BYU, that’s irrelevant to the Pac-12 placement because only one of the top four Pac-12 teams can stay in the West).
Parker Jackson-Cartwright has nine for the Wildcats.
Will UCLA pull off the upset tonight when it takes on Arizona at 8:15PM ET? “It hasn’t happened to us in a long time and I credit UCLA”. The UCLA Bruins are averaging 92.1 points on 53.1 percent shooting and allowing 75.7 points on 41.6 percent shooting.
TCU (17-12), which had tied the game on Alex Robinson’s free throw with 9.1 seconds left, had one more chance but Desmond Bane’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was well short. Either way, UCLA looks bound for the NCAA Tournament.
What: No. 4 Arizona Wildcats (26-3, 15-1) vs.
Let’s not forget the offense, of course.
Tyler Cook had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (16-13).
UCLA guard Aaron Holiday missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22 seconds remaining, but Arizona guard Kadeem Allen air-balled a 3-point attempt in the final seconds. But, Arizona was all but in a scramble mode given it had no timeouts left and UA needed a basket.
Not everything went great for the Bruins, though.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Moe Wagner scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half to lead MI. The road team has also cashed in six of the last seven meetings between these two teams while the underdog is 11-1 against the number in the last 12 meetings. Bringing Ball back into the game didn’t help, as the Wildcats ended the half on a 7-0 run to take a 43-39 halftime lead.
It was the seventh time UA had been beat on the rebounding end but only the second time it has lost under that circumstance.
No. 11 Kentucky 76, No. 13 Florida 66: In Lexington, Ky., Malik Monk scored 30 of his 33 points in the second half and Bam Adebayo added 18 points with 15 rebounds as Kentucky took over the Southeastern Conference lead. Arizona’s McKale Center will be loud. The Wildcats shot 5 for 18 from beyond the arc, and 2 for 10 in the second half against the zone.
Despite the loss, Arizona remains one of the best teams in the nation led by Allonzo Trier, who scored 28 points Saturday, and freshman 7-footer Lauri Markkanen. It’s hard to stop this team if Thomas Welsh is playing well. UCLA had 13 more shots. The reason? Offensive rebounds. The UCLA Bruins are allowing 36.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 37.5 rebounds per game.
But I can’t definitely tell you which is better than the others. But I’d still have all three in the top 10.
With Allonzo Trier back and Lauri Markkanen starring as a freshman, Arizona had been close to unstoppable, winning 19 of 20 games since a December 3 loss to Gonzaga (the one loss in that span being blowout defeat at Oregon).
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An awesome offense has carried UCLA to a terrific season. Tip-off is set for 8:00 PM PST.
