Arizona Basketball: Wildcats Annihilate the Cal Bears

Arizona Basketball: It was an annihilation, but it was also a big party as the Wildcats put on a show at McKale! 

The final Score was Arizona 99, Cal 60! It was widely reported after the game how T.J. McConnell felt about it, “I just wanted to get to 100 points so I could get free tacos!”  It’s okay T.J. we’ll buy you some Taco’s!  The following chart is a box summary of the game which gives you a good feel of how lopsided this game really was.

Coach Miller during his post-game interview with Brian Jeffries when asked about T.J. McConnell becoming the Player of the year, taking into account the “MVP” chants heard from fans during the night:  “T.J. has been the constant..I don’t think he [Delon Wright] or T.J. should ever take this personally, the biggest thing he has is back-to-back championships.”  Then Coach Miller assured us that Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Elloitt Pitts should be available for Saturday’s game.

T.J. McConnell, Arizona’s Player of the Game, and we think Player of the Year in the Pac-12, made a statement last night; shooting 80% scoring eight points, 11 assists, and four rebounds.  During his post-game interview with Ryan Hansen, he felt the team was focused, “Brandon’s really good, he kind of showed how good he is..in the second [half] I was more aggressive I was finding open guys…our bench was incredible today, they provide sparks when we need it.”

More from Wildcats Basketball

• Arizona Basketball likely to schedule Florida Atlantic for 2023
• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s FIBA World Cup performance is reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s
• Rawle Alkins a star in the Drew League this summer
• Arizona Basketball to play in ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ in 2024
• Reflections on the Pac-12, the Arizona Wildcats, and other memories

He also offered some heartfelt sentiment around the upcoming senior night on Saturday “I don’t want to tear up right now, but I can imagine on Saturday it’s going to be very emotional for me, cuz I don’t want to leave this place ever, this will always be my home.”

Other Highlights:

Six Players scored in double digits: Brandon Ashley (21), Kaleb Tarczweski (14), Stanley Johnson (12), Gabe York (11) and Dusan Ristic (11), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (10)

Cats clinched the Pac-12 regular season title, they are now the “Top Cats”

Brandon Ashley tore up the court and ended up scoring 21 points (67%), made six rebounds, two assists, and shot 80% of his free-throws (4-5.) He is getting better and better.

Dusan Ristic made the most rebounds with a total of eight.

Seniors Matt Korcheck and Drew Mellon finally got the chance to hit the court, much to the liking of the fans. Korcheck made the most of it scoring four points including making both of his free throws in his six minutes, Mellon recorded one assist.

Eleven players scored in this game including Jacob Hazzard who shot a jumper in the one minute he played in the game.

Trey Mason was back in uniform!

There were at least four major dunks, starting with BASH (Brandon Ashley), then came a left-handed dunk by Rondae, followed by a two-handed dunk by Zues (he actually had two of these in the game), and a right-handed dunk by Stanley Johnson.  All worth a look, here are the highlights:

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson grabbed his shoulder late in the second half after hustling for the ball, came out of the locker room with ice on his shoulder, he tweeted out to let us know he was fine!

Special post-game alumni tweets:

Fellow Houston Rockets and Wildcat Alumni Jason Terry and Nick Johnson tweeted out their happiness:

So did Pittsburg Steeler Robert Golden

Along with Parker Jackson-Cartwright

And finally Bracketology…How does the Tournament Brackets look for Arizona at this moment?  Jon Lunardi gives us a look: NEXT GAME:

Arizona plays Stanford at home at McKale Center

Senior night, red out – starting 1 PM PST, 2 PM MST – CBS

Next: The guys at NerdWallet think T.J. is worth nearly $1 Million..See How