Zona Zealots
Fansided

Preview: Arizona Basketball v. Colorado in Pac-12 Tournament Quarterfinals

By David Rosen

TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 10: Allonzo Trier
TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 10: Allonzo Trier /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Arizona Basketball team begins Pac-12 Tournament play in the quarterfinals against the Colorado Buffaloes. What will it take for the Wildcats to come out on top?

Back-to-back! The Arizona Basketball team will be looking to repeat as Pac-12 Tournament Champions. Last season they beat the Oregon Ducks 83-80 as the No.2 seed. Allonzo Trier lead the way with 23 points and eight rebounds.  This time around, the Wildcats enter the tournament as the No.1 seed and look to cut down the nets again Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Wildcats and Buffaloes split the Pac-12 regular-season matchups. Both teams won their games at home, with the Wildcats winning the latest matchup in Tucson 80-71. The Buffaloes are looking to beat the Wildcats for the second time this season, which not many teams have done. They will not have altitude on their side this time.

More from Wildcats Basketball

After beating the Arizona State Sun Devils, “that school up north,” in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament 97-85 , the Buffaloes get rewarded with the task of facing the No.1 seeded Wildcats in the quarterfinals. This game will surely be a battle to the very end.

For the Wildcats to come out on top, they will need to defend well, forcing their opponent to take tough shots.  Pac-12 All-Freshman Team point guard McKinley Wright IV and senior George King are two key players for the Buffaloes and two players Wildcats must limit on the defensive end.

When the Wildcats loss to the Buffaloes it was because their shooting was awful. They shot 38.4% from the field, forcing them to play catch up the entire game. The stat line at the end of the game was good for Trier and Deandre Ayton and Rawle Alkins but was not enough for the win. This time around, they will need to take high percentage shots and rely on what got them here, Ayton!

Foul trouble and foul shooting will be another key in this matchup. Hopefully, the referees will let these guys play and not let the game be decided by stupid foul calls. We can only hope, right?

The one thing the Wildcats have going for them is they have had several days off. It has given them time to recover, to refresh and study film before their Pac-12 Tournament appearance. Their opponent may be slightly tired due to dealing with the fast break offensive the Sun Devils presented to them. The Wildcats will need to take advantage of this!

The Buffs will be coached by a lame coach. No, we don’t mean he lame at coaching, what we mean is that he injured a calf muscle.  The injury happened while he was trying to break up a scuffle between Tra Holder (ASU) and McKinley Wright IV (Buffs) in the last seven seconds of their ASU game which resulted in ejections. Wright will be playing against Arizona on Thursday.

Who am I kidding though? When it comes down to it, we have Ayton, Rawle Alkins, and Allonzo Trier, and they don’t. They also don’t have a 7-foot three-point shooter like Dusan Ristic who has a floater and a spin move. Advantage Arizona. In both games against the Buffaloes, Ayton averaged 23 points and five rebounds.  The double and triple team tactics will be coming for the Cats, no doubt about that. The question is, who will step up and make those three points shots or easy looks? Stay tuned to find out…

Must Read: Your 2018 Pac-12 Conference Tournament Preview

At Zona Zealots, we wish the Wildcats much success as they begin their postseason journey. Bear Down Arizona!

Game details:

What: Quarterfinals matchup between the No. 1 Wildcats and No 8 Buffaloes, winner plays the winner of No. 4 UCLA versus No 5 Stanford (beat Cal today)

When: March 8th at 12:00 pm PST, 1 pm MST on the Pac-12 Network

Where: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

Home/Wildcats Basketball