The No. 7 Arizona Wildcats gave the UCLA Bruins a taste of their own medicine on Friday to advance to the Pac-12 title game. The Wildcats shot a sweet 50-percent clip from both the field (28-of-56) and the three-point line (10-of-20) to upset the No. 3 Bruins, 86-75.
Arizona’s biggest stars, Lauri Markkanen and Allonzo Trier, scored over half of the team’s points in the victory. Markkanen’s 29 points was one shy of a career high, while Trier chipped in with 20 points of his own.
But in spite of their torrid shooting performance and UCLA’s Lonzo Ball not at the top of his game (eight points on 2-of-7 shooting), the Wildcats made just 20 of their 32 shots from the charity stripe to have the struggling Bruins hang around for most of the contest.
The Pac-12’s co-champions of the regular season will meet their other half this Sunday when they take on the top-seeded Ducks. Arizona must find a way to light up the scoreboard again against Oregon’s imposing defense, and that’s really easier said than done (more on that below). Then again, the Wildcats blew away the Ducks, 80-52, in the 2015 conference title game, so they definitely have big-game experience just as much as their rivals heading into the weekend.
Make that three-consecutive Pac-12 Tournament finals appearances for the No. 5 Oregon Ducks, who convincingly beat the California Golden Bears in Friday’s semifinal clash, 73-65.
Oregon standout Dillon Brooks finished with a humble 10 points and six rebounds due to foul trouble early in the second half, but the team got huge boosts from a couple of other key players. Sophomore Tyler Dorsey scored 23 points on 5-of-6 shooting from downtown, while senior Dylan Ennis had 16 points and made all nine of his free-throw attempts.
And although forward Jordan Bell had just six points in Friday’s contest, he truly embodied what Oregon’s all about this season with his 15 rebounds and five huge blocks. The Ducks, the nation’s leader in blocks during the regular season, just broke their own school record for blocks in a single season with 223, and are just one shy of setting a new Pac-12 record as well.
Given Arizona’s fantastic shooting performance against UCLA, though, the Ducks may find it tougher to contain their fellow regular-season champions this Sunday. Then again, they’ve pretty much owned them these past couple of seasons. Oregon won the last three head-to-head meetings against the Wildcats, which includes last month’s game that saw the team knock down 16 three-pointers en route to an 85-58 beat-down.
Writer’s Prediction
Oregon (-2) wins its second Pac-12 title under head coach Dan Altman with a 78-71 victory.
