Arizona Basketball: Difficult test ahead for the Wildcats in LA

Arizona Basketball has a difficult test ahead this week as they face the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins on the road in must-win games.

It’s that time of the year when every remaining regular-season game matters. That couldn’t be truer than for Arizona Basketball as they go on the road to face off against USC and UCLA, in must-win games. After suffering a devasting loss to the Oregon Ducks by one in overtime, they go from a possibility of being tied with ASU to first place in the Pac-12, to 5th and no longer being ranked in the AP Top 25.

Currently, they are projected to be a 5-7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If they are able to finish the regular season strong, it would put them in a better position to make a run for the Pac-12 Tournament title and possibly a higher seed for March Madness.

Arizona vs USC

The first test will be again a Trojan team that is currently on a two-game losing streak. Illness, injury and family death has had a significant impact on how the Trojans have performed of late. They first lost a close game on the road against No.18 Colorado by four points and then lost by 14 to Utah on the road as well.

Against the Utes, they trailed as much as 15, able to cut it to five, but could never get. One of their top players, Nick Rakocevic, was feeling ill and could only play five minutes. The other starters for the Trojans weren’t at 100% either, make it a difficult challenge to find a way to win.

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

The Trojans now find themselves at 8-7 and behind the Wildcats in 6th place. This team will be hungry for a win and the Wildcats can now take this team lightly. This is the time of the year when teams will do whatever it takes to get the win and the Trojans will certainly have that mindset heading into the game.

Last time these two teams met, the Wildcats were able to hang on for a five-point win at home, even though they were slightly outscored in the second half. Coming off that brutal loss to the Ducks, the Wildcats will need to find a way to bounce back and play together as a team to come away with the win…and make their free throws.

Arizona vs UCLA

Next, the Wildcats will face one of the hottest teams in the Pac-12, UCLA Bruins, who are now 2nd in the conference at 10-5. They have won five straight games, including wins over the Wildcats and Colorado. Freshman point guard Tyger Campbell has been leading the way for the Bruins, and others have been stepping up in a big way too including Chris Smith, Cody Riley, and Jake Kyman.

When these two teams faced each other earlier in the month in Tucson, the Wildcats didn’t come out with that sense of urgency and had a hard team dealing with the physical play of the Bruins. This time around, they have to be ready right from the start and have to bring 110% effort for 40 minutes.

If either of these games comes down to the last few minutes, whether its Nico Mannion, Dylan Smith or even Zeke Nnaji with the ball in a scoring position they can’t be afraid to take the shot or at least attack the basket and look for the foul. They can not afford to be tentative, it has cost them before and at this point in the season, the margin for error is really small.

UCLA came to Tucson and shocked the Wildcats. Time for some payback in LA!

At Zona Zealots, we know it’s going to be a tough two games in LA for Arizona Basketball, but the time is now for this team to Bear Down and not just prove to themselves, but to fans as well that they are just not a good team, but a great team.