Arizona Wildcats Basketball: USC and UCLA are Coming to Tucson

Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Dusan Ristic back at practice as the Wildcats get ready for a big weekend against the SoCal Teams: USC and UCLA

The hype of ESPNU’s College Game Day coming to Tucson for the UCLA game is at an all time high. Students will need to show up around 4:30am to try to get a seat behind the broadcasters with their signs all dressed up. But first the Wildcats will take on the last place USC Trojans (3-15) who are coming off of a win on Valentines Day over the Oregon State Beavers (OSU) who beat Arizona earlier in the season. USC just broke a nine game losing streak.

Craziness actually, one cannot predict the outcome of a Pac-12 game these days solely based on “who beat whom” as fans like to do. One of many examples is the fact that OSU beat Arizona, but last place USC beat OSU. USC’s Elijah Stewart scored 19 points and Katin Reinhardt scored 16 for a 13 point victory (68-55) over Oregon State last Saturday.

Feb 15, 2015; Pullman, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Stanley Johnson (5) looses the ball against Washington State Cougars guard Dexter Kernich-Drew (10) and Washington State Cougars forward Junior Longrus(15) during the first half at Wallis Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona tallied wins against both Washington teams last weekend starting with Washington Huskies 86-62, then the Washington State Cougars by three more points 86-59. They beat the Cougars without Ristic and Jackson-Cartwright, and Washington without Jackson-Cartwright, but both were back and cleared to practice on Tuesday. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson won Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

Coach Sean Miller will be watching them closely in practice to see how they perform. Ristic lost weight while he was sick, but the weight is coming back according to his coach. Its been three weeks since Jackson-Cartwright played. Hopefully they will both be fully ready by Saturday for UCLA.

UCLA is now ranked No. 4 and 8-5 in the Pac-12. Arizona (Ranked No. 1) and UCLA first played in 1923 and there is even a Wikipedia page based on their rivalry. In the all-time series UCLA has won 54 times and Arizona has won 37 times.

This year there is only one chance during the season for either Arizona or UCLA to add to their all-time total. Usually they match up twice a year, but this year they only play once in Tucson Arizona at McKale Center.

Arizona fans in Los Angeles were very disappointed this year as they weren’t able to cheer for their team in person. Arizona has lost only once in the last eight games played, and that one loss was to their cross state rival Arizona State. UCLA has lost only once to the Cal Bears by 2 points in their last six games, and recently beat both Oregon 72-63 and Oregon Sate 75-59.

“Everybody wants to talk about Arizona obviously, but um, Arizona State is playing extremely well..” UCLA Coach Steve Alford

According to the UCLABruins.com, Coach Steve Alford stated, “We’ve really gone through three weeks of really playing well, and we are going to have to play really well.” Also it seems he is more concerned with Arizona State speaking a lot longer about their first game explaining, “Everybody wants to talk about Arizona obviously, but um, Arizona State is playing extremely well, beat Arizona at Arizona State…both these teams will be physical, both these teams are really good at driving the basketball.”

Really? Arizona State is his main concern? Well I am thinking Arizona is more focused on UCLA, so that’s a bonus for Arizona! UCLA has five players who have scored in double digits in the last two games, so they have a number of weapons. If Arizona can continue to shoot a high field goal percentage (in the 50+% range) and keep their defense going the entire game, they should have a pretty good chance to beat UCLA and narrow the all time record by one win.