Pac-12 Tournament: Arizona faces Washington in win or go home rematch
Arizona is set to begin Pac-12 Tournament play in Las Vegas on Wednesday against a familiar foe. The Wildcats lost at home to the Huskies last weekend. The setback capped what proved to be a frustrating and puzzling regular season for Arizona that saw the Wildcats open the year a perfect 9-0 before finishing 11-11.
The end result was a fifth place finish in conference and the No. 5 seed in the league tournament.
Last Saturday against Washington, Arizona saw a meaningless game result in a meaningful loss. The game was meaningless in respect to their seed line this week in Sin City. Prior to the game’s tipoff, Arizona’s fate was sealed in terms of conference tournament seeding. However, the loss proved meaningful in cementing the fact that these Wildcats remain an unpredictable bunch.
Arizona’s unpredictability is unlikely change.
Washington is more than capable of defeating Arizona for the second time this season. There’s not a single Wildcat fan paying attention that would not be surprised to see that happen. Still, the same Wildcat fans will also say that if Arizona can find its rhythm, they can not only beat Washington but easily race their way to the conference tournament title.
Interestingly, Arizona’s seeding in the Pac-12 Tournament has set the Wildcats up for somewhat of a revenge tour. The Wildcats definitely owe the Huskies some payback. If they win, Arizona will then face a USC team that knocked them off two weeks ago in Los Angeles. A victory on Thursday would likely pit Arizona against No. 1 seed Oregon, a team that defeated the Wildcats in overtime twice this season. If Arizona somehow survives its side of the bracket, they would likely face either UCLA or Arizona State in the championship game. The Bruins upset the Wildcats in both meetings this year. Meanwhile, ASU overcame a 22-point deficit midway through the second half to rally and beat Arizona, 66-65, in a game that seemed to produce a hangover effect the remainder of the season.
Dreams aside, a dose of reality is Arizona immediately faces the same Washington team that knocked off the Wildcats 69-63 on Senior Day in Tucson.
To win, Arizona simply needs to play better for longer.
Honestly, it’s the same old story, with Arizona going scoreless for extended stretches thanks to woeful shooting from the floor, ho-hum free throw shooting and enough sloppy turnovers to make Sean Miller hot under the collar.
Washington will deploy the same zone defense, which extends high in the half court and allows for easy catches near the free throw line. This time around, Arizona needs to take advantage of those catches and make something happen by being aggressive in the painted area, attacking the middle defender or passing out of double teams to open shooters. The Wildcats then need to knock down the same open shots they keep missing.
Offensively, winning is that simple.
Defensively, Arizona hopes to get some sort of boost by the return of Chase Jeter, who was suspended during last week’s home stand against the Washington schools and has battled injury for more than a month. Between Jeter, Ira Lee and Christian Koloko, the Wildcats need to string together some sort of production off the bench to help keep Washington’s interior scorers in check.
The X Factor is Arizona’s Nico Mannion. The true freshmen point guard was really beginning to string together some solid performances after what amounted to a month-long struggle. However, against Washington, Mannion’s heady play in games against UCLA and Washington State quickly devolved into another rough outing where few things went right on the offensive end of the floor.
A second X Factor will be keeping Washington off the offensive glass. The team than can win on second chance points will have an excellent shot at winning the game.
The final X Factor is this: for an up and down Arizona team, the Wildcats need to be up to win on Wednesday.