The Pac-12 Tournament title will be on the line this Saturday, as the Arizona Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins meet for the conference’s championship game. Will UCLA take home the victory? Or will the Wildcats be the last team standing in the tourney? Check out our preview below of this Arizona-UCLA Pac-12 Tournament championship game.
Arizona is headed to the Pac-12 Tournament finals after defeating the Colorado Buffaloes Friday night, 82-72. The Wildcats’ offense has been clicking over the past few games, and with the way they are shooting the ball, it’s going to be a tough ask for any team to contain Arizona’s attack. Arizona has scored at least 81 points in each of its last five games. UCLA is a tough defensive team, the Wildcats went 24/50 from the field and hit 8 of 22 shots from deep in a 76-66 home win over the Bruins on Feb .23. The Wildcats finished the regular season third in the nation in scoring with 84.7 points per game, thanks in large part to the 1-2 combo of Bennedict Mathurin and 6-11 power forward Azuolas Tubelis. There will be a bigger pressure for the two to carry the Wildcats this Saturday, as it doesn’t look like Kerr Kriisa is going to be able to play after suffering a lower-body injury against Colorado. With seven players averaging at least 7.0 PPG this season, someone’s going to show up other than Mathurin and Tubelis against UCLA.
The Over is 5-0 in Arizona’s last five games overall.
If there’s a Pac-12 team that can put the shackles on Arizona’s offense, it’s got to be UCLA. The Bruins are having success this season with their defense. After defeating the USC Trojans on Friday, 71-64, the Bruins are now on a four-game win streak, dating back to the regular season. Over that same stretch, UCLA has not allowed an opponent to score more than 68 points. The Bruins, apart from their tough defense, also try to make games run as slow as possible to limit their opponents’ attempts. They are 250th in the nation in terms of adjusted tempo. The Bruins’ offense isn’t too shabby either. They average 76.6 points per game and are 15th nationally with 115.7 points per 100 possessions. The trio of Johnny Juzang, Javier Jaquez Jr., and Jules Bernard will be the top guys for UCLA.
UCLA is 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 meetings with Arizona.
