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Kaleb Tarczewski against Cal’s David Kravish worth watching (YouTube screen shot)
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WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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NO. 5 ARIZONA (28-3) VS. CALIFORNIA (18-14)
Tip Time: 12 p.m. MST
THE SERIES
Overall: Arizona leads, 58-30
At Neutral Sites: Arizona leads, 4-3
Current Streak: Arizona won 3
Last Meeting: Arizona won, 99-60, on March 5, 2015
Sean Miller vs. California: 7-3
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Top three storylines for tonight’s game:
1. Chairmen of the boards.
Arizona ranks second in the nation with a plus-8.7 rebound margin and first nationally in defensive rebound percentage at 77.4 for the year. That means the Wildcats allow opponents second opportunities on the offensive glass on only 22.6 percent of their misses.
Sean Miller’s team heads up court after an opponent miss almost 8 times out of 10.
Cal gets an offensive rebound only 28.8 percent of the time following a miss. Arizona, by comparison, pulls down offensive rebounds 39.1 percent of the time following a miss.
It’s obvious that Arizona must be active on the glass, especially on the defensive end, to subdue Cal once again after beating the Bears by an average of 26 points in the two regular-season wins.
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SHUTTING DOWN OPPONENT
How Arizona has fared against top scorers of Pac-12 teams this season (scoring average is current mark) (source: AllSportsTucson.com):
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2. Cold spells spelled doom for Bears in losses to Arizona.
Cal went through long stretches of poor play on offense in both losses to Arizona during the regular-season.
The Bears were not so golden, shooting 38.1 percent from the field last week in the loss at McKale Center and 43.4 percent in Berkeley. Cal had only 19 points by halftime in the game at Cal on Jan. 24.
A 27-8 run between the end of the first half and the start of the second put Arizona in control of that game.
In the rematch at McKale, Arizona achieved the most one-sided victory of the season with the 99-60 win. It was also the most lopsided loss for Cal this season.
Cal kept up very briefly, then Arizona turned it on, outscoring the Bears 29-8 to go up 41-20 with 3:13 left in the half.
The 27-8 run in the first game and 29-8 in the second led to Cal’s collapse.
3. David Kravish vs. Kaleb Tarczewski Part 3
After Wednesday’s win over Cal, senior post player David Kravish now has the third most rebounds in Cal history after grabbing eight rebounds. He passed Brian Hendrick and now has 905 career rebounds.
After scoring 25 points today, Kravish moved past Ryan Anderson (1,236 from 2007-08) and Brian Wethers (1,239 from 2000-03) and into 20th on Cal’s all-time scoring list. He has 1,260 career points.
Kravish’s 25 points is a new career high. His previous career high came earlier this year when he had 23 against Stanford on Feb. 21.
Tarczewski fared well against Kravish and Cal in the two regular-season games. He made 8-of-15 shots from the field (53.3 percent) and averaged 12 points and 5.5 rebounds.
Kravish averaged 13 points and 7.5 rebounds against Arizona. He made only 13 of 27 attempts from the field, however. The percentage of 48.1 is about the same as his 48.8 mark, which is low for an interior player.
Something to keep an eye on in the Pac-12 tournament: Tarczewski (879 career points) is only 21 points away from becoming the 60th Arizona player to reach 900 career points.
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Good morning!
Who's ready for #4MoreGames today at the MGM? #pac12hoops
Preview: http://t.co/UswTY1SZNy pic.twitter.com/ny3CwfMji1
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) March 12, 2015
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also has published articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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