Pac-12 Preview: Arizona Basketball kicks off Conference Tournament

Stakes grow for the Arizona Basketball team (20-11, 10-8), as the Wildcats prepare for a rematch against Washington in first round of Pac-12 Tournament. 

It’s time to put up or shut up for the Arizona Basketball team (20-11, 10-8). The stakes grow as the Wildcats prepare to kick-off action for the Pac-12 Tournament in a rematch against the Washington Huskies (15-16, 5-13).

On Wednesday, the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament kicks-off, as the No. 5-seeded Wildcats take on the 12-seeded Washington Huskies.

Arizona Wildcats

Just three days after their disappointing, 69-63 loss at home, the Wildcats return to action, in what I would consider a must win game for the Cats.

At this point, we’re all too familiar with the teams’ struggles, especially of late, as the team has gone a combined 10-10 over their last 20 games.

To make matters worse, it seems there has been little to no development of this team that virtually has no leadership, and is dependent upon the success of the freshmen! That certainly makes many a bit uneasy about what to expect with not only the Pac-12 Tournament, but the NCAA Tournament as well, assuming the Wildcats make it.

If there were ever a time for the Wildcats to start playing to their ability and potential, it’s now, or the season could be over sooner than we had hoped!

Washington will surely be riding high, especially as the Huskies have won three of their last four games, including a sweep of the Arizona schools in the Desert.

While this is a game Arizona should have no business in losing, you just never know in college basketball, especially this season and especially with this years’ team.

Keys to the Game:

Focus- For some reason, this team seems to lack it at crucial times. As much as we have to credit the Huskies’ win on Saturday to their teams’ strong play, I also don’t think Arizona was mentally prepared for that game.

In their 11 losses, nine have been by single digits, and three have happened with the Wildcats leading late in those games.

This team is very Jekyll and Hyde, and despite having three, potential first round NBA picks, this team often losses focus and doesn’t play to their potential.

Well, to really get used to Tournament-style play, this is a perfect opportunity, and if Arizona expects any sort of tournament success this year, they’re going to need to start focusing, especially in games like this, where they are expected to win!

Play Smart (Only Good Look Shots)- Sounds simple, but again this team makes far too many mistakes in my opinion. From the bad turnovers, to the poor shot selections, this team can’t afford to keep making those simple errors, especially this late in the season.

You could surely blame Arizona’s loss to their poor shooting performance on Saturday, but to me, part of that has to do with poor shot selection. Not setting guys up, guys rushing the offense, shooting contested shots, etc.

On Saturday, if it wasn’t for Dylan Smith’s 6-10 performance from three, the rest of the team was just 2-11 (18 percent)… that’s not going to cut it! Even worse, they shot just 35 percent from the field.

To me, that says you’re not working to get good looks. Play smart, work to get better shots up, and if you do that, you’re going to hit more of them naturally.

Toughness- I think this team is not as tough compared to other Arizona teams under Sean Miller. When adversity hits, they haven’t always responded, and as a result this team is on the edge of possibly not even making the NCAA Tournament.

They’ve gotten out worked by a myriad of teams this year, and it’s been frustrating to see this group not play to their potential consistently enough.

They won’t have many more chances to prove themselves, so now’s the time to actual Bear Down and give effort for 40 minutes, other wise they’re going home early.

If Arizona does all these things, they’re going to be a tough team to beat, but we will see!

Game Information:

Date: Wednesday, March 11th

Time: 2:30 pm MST, 1:30 pm PST

Location: Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena (18,000)

Line: -4.5 Arizona

Television: Pac-12 Network

Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network Arizona Wildcats (Try TuneIn Radio)

Team Records:

• Arizona Wildcats (20-11, 10-8):  Arizona split the head-to-head season series against the Huskies, and are coming off a six-point loss from Saturday.
• Washington Huskies (15-16, 5-13): Washington has split the head-to-head season series against the Wildcats, and are coming off a six-point win from Saturday.

Record vs Washington since 1949-50: Arizona leads 53-31 in this head-to-head series since 1949-50, however, the Huskies won 69-63 in the last match-up on Saturday.

Listen to coach Miller previewing their teams’ match-up for Wednesday:

At Zona Zealots we are excited for this match-up and can’t wait to see how the Cats compete in their rematch. Hopefully the Wildcats can come away victorious in this one. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!