Rawle Alkins back vs Stanford as Arizona Basketball competes for No. 1 spot

The Arizona Basketball team (15-4, 5-1 Pac-12) took the trip across the Bay Bridge and down to Palo Alto to take on the hot Stanford Cardinal (11-8, 5-1 Pac-12) for the battle for first place in the Pac-12.

Thank the Basketball Gods; the Savage Life is back! According to Bruce Pascoe, Tucson.com, Arizona Basketball combo guard Rawle Alkins is back in the lineup on Saturday against the Stanford Cardinal. And the Wildcats will need him if they have a chance to beat them. With Alkins out against Cal, some other players got play time which will help the Cats with a deeper bench needed to beat the Cardinal.

After beating Cal in Haas Pavillion by 21 points, 79-58. The Wildcats are proving that if they have a man down, there are Wildcats who can step up. Deandre Ayton was good for his 13th double-double scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Allonzo Trier, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday, added 15 points and four assists.

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But there were two more Wildcats who proved their worth against Cal. As Jon Rothstein (CBS) pointed out, Parker Jackson-Cartwright in his last two games has averaged 12 points, six assists and went 6-9 from three-point range only turning over the ball three times in 66 minutes played. Miller pointed out to Pascoe that Jackson-Cartwright’s has impressed him with his ability to knock down three-pointers and his concrete assist-to-turnover ratio.

Dylan Smith stepped in for Alkins starting for the Cat, and he shot a stellar 100% (5-5 FG’s, 1-1 from three, four rebounds, three assists, and one block and steal for 14 points.) Continuing to be a leader on the team, Alkins chimed in on Smith’s performance by tweeting his support and Miller gave the post-game press conference duties to PJC and Smith.

When: Saturday, Jan. 20, 1:00 p.m. PST

Where: Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California

TV: CBS, Brad Nessler, and Clark Kellogg

Radio: Arizona IMG Radio Network (Brian Jeffries & Jeff Dean)

Streaming: CBSSports.com | CBS Sports App

Streaks: Arizona 3-game win streak, Stanford 5-game win streak

Series History under Sean Miller: Arizona is 14-0 overall including seven wins at maples with a margin of victory of 12.4 points per game.

The battle for No. 1: The team which wins this game will end up in first place in the Pac-12. Only Arizona State  (14-4) is close to the Wildcats overall record (15-4).

Preview: Don’t let Stanford’s 11-8 overall record lull you into a quiet calm thinking this win is in the bag, the Cardinal are 5-1 in conference. After losing their first conference game to cross-bay rivals Cal Bears, the Cardinal have gone on to win their last five games. Stanford has beaten UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State. Not going to lie here, was ecstatic that they beat Arizona’s rival ASU 86-77 this week. Stanford Men’s Basketball has not enjoyed a five-game winning streak in 10 seasons. 

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Stanford’s Director of Men’s Basketball (i.e., Head Coach) Jerod Haase has got his team on a roll, a steamroll. Playing at home won’t make it easy for the Wildcats, the last time they played at Maples, it was on New Year’s day, and they had to fill the bottom bowl with fans from the upper bowl which gave Wildcats fans more room to stretch and cheer. Haase is just in his second year. In his first year, Arizona embarrassed his team beating them by 39 points, 91-52. That will not happen on Saturday, but it’s a great goal.

Just like Arizona suffered from the loss of Alkins at the beginning of the season, Stanford was without their forward Dorian Pickens. The Wildcats need to shut down Oscar da Silva (6-foot-9). The Cats also need to stop freshman forwards Daejon Davis and Oscar da Silva from scoring (da Silva scored 14 points against Arizona State and is shooting 51.3 percent from the field). Coach Haase plays his four freshmen (one red-shirt) including KZ Okpala who has gained attention for his defensive and has scored in double digits in each of the last five games before ASU. ASU did something right. They held Okpala to only four points.

The team will have their hands full with the Stanford team, but with Alkins back and ready to bring the Savage Life to Maples Pavillion, it will only help PJC, Trier and Ayton keep performing at a high-performance level.

The Cardinal is only shooting 67.8% from the charity stripe, so that is a key stat to be aware of and helpful if the game comes down to free-throws.

The Stanford Athletics department think they are smart; they have a sign that says you cannot wear opposing teams color in certain sections in Maples Pavillion, Are you shaking your head?

Let’s hope coach Haase keeps his suit dry all night long! What a celebration the team had after beating ASU.

https://twitter.com/StanfordMBB/status/953883446635409408

Must Read: More on Arizona Basketball from ZZ..

If Arizona brings their /A\ game, then it won’t be an easy win, but winning will put a lot of puff in the Wildcats collective chests as they come home to face Colorado and Utah for the second time this season. It will be interesting to see how the Buffs do against the Cats without the altitude and the fans in McKale. Prediction: Arizona 93 Stanford 87, it will come down to free-throws.