The latest All Sports Tucson Talk Podcast features an update from Troy Hutchison of GOAZCATS.com from Las Vegas following Arizona’s 84-80 win over Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Hutchison is formerly a reporter with AllSportsTucson.com.
Hutchison and I discuss the win over Stanford and Friday’s matchup between the No. 1-seeded Wildcats (29-3) against No. 4 Colorado (21-10) at 7 p.m. Tucson time, at T-Mobile Arena, in a semifinal game. No. 2 UCLA will play No. 3 USC in the other semifinal at approximately 9:45 p.m., Tucson time.
Pac-12 Tournament vs. Colorado: Arizona leads, 5-1
TV: Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Bill Walton, Jordan Kent)
Radio: 1290AM & Varsity Network (Brian Jeffries & Reggie Geary)
Elimination Basketball: Arizona survives scare vs. Stanford, waits to see on injury to Kerr https://t.co/IVF7kBTh74
— Steve Rivera (@SteveRivera95) March 11, 2022
NOTES
• After Thursday’s 84-80 win over Stanford, Arizona is now 19-4 all-time as the top seed and 15-4 when the conference tournament is in Las Vegas. The Wildcats are 10-1 all-time in T-Mobile Arena since it opened in 2017. The Cats have also now won 10 straight quarterfinal games in the Pac-12 Tournament.
• Arizona has advanced to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament for a 16th time in 24 total trips to the conference tournament, including nine of the last 11 seasons. The 36 all-time wins at the Pac-12 Tournament lead all conference schools.
• Arizona is 5-1 against Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament, having won the last five meetings (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018) after losing the first meeting in 2012 (title game).
• Arizona is 4-0 in games decided by four points or less this season.
• With 20 games of 20-plus assists, Arizona leads the country in that category. The other 11 Pac-12 teams have combined for 19 games with 20+ assists.
• The Wildcats ended the half on an 8-0 run in the final 1:54 of Thursday’s game and then made a bucket on the first possession of the second half to extend it to a 10-0 run. It marks the 28th game out of 32 with a run of at least 10-0.
• With a win against Colorado in today’s game, Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd would become the ninth first-time head coach in NCAA history to win 30 games in year one. It would also be the 8th season in Arizona history with 30+ wins and first since 2016-17 (32).
• Bennedict Mathurin led all players with 14 points in the first half of Thursday’s quarterfinal versus Stanford. It matched his highest-scoring first half of the season against a Pac-12 opponent, following his 14-point first half at USC (March 1, 2022). He finished with 20 points for the game, his 12th 20-point game of the season and 15th of his career.
• Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko each eclipsed the 20-point mark on Thursday afternoon, giving Arizona its first Pac-12 tournament game with a pair of 20-point scorerssince Lauri Markkanen (29) and Allonzo Trier (20) in the 2017 tournament championship game versus UCLA.
• Christian Koloko set a career high in scoring with 24 points in Thursday’s win, eclipsing his previous high of 22 also set in T-Mobile Arena in Arizona’s win over Michigan in November.
• Stanford shot 54.2% from the floor against Arizona Thursday, the highest opponent field goal percentage in an Arizona win since Utah shot 56.6% on Jan. 5, 2019.
• As a team, Arizona has shot 50% or better in 39 of 64 halves played this season, and at or above 50% for the game on 19 occasions.
• With 42 points in the paint yesterday against Stanford, it was the 23rd game this year with 40+ paint points – the most by any Pac-12 team in the last 15 seasons.
• UA leads the nation in assists/gm (20.1) assist rate (65.4%) and total rebounds (1,331).
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