The Arizona Wildcats (35-2) rolled over Arkansas (28-9) tonight in San Jose, California, to advance to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Six Wildcats finished in double figures as Brayden Burries scored 23 points, while Koa Peat pumped in 21. Ivan Kharchenkov scored 15, while Moe Krivas, Jaden Bradley, and Tobe Awaka ended up with 14 points apiece.
Arizona led from the start and held leads up to 25 in the second half, while shooting 63.8 percent (37 of 58).
The Wildcats are one win away from the Final Four and will take on Purdue (30-8) on Saturday in San Jose.
Second-round of the NCAA West Regional in San Diego
The Arizona Wildcats did what they had to do and closed out the Utah State Aggies down the stretch at the West Regional in San Diego, 78-66 today, to reach the NCAA Sweet 16 and a date on Thursday with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Jaden Bradley led the Wildcats with 18 points in 39 minutes and just one turnover, while Brayden Burries scored 16 points -- including three key 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds.
Koa Peat, despite foul trouble, finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Moe Krivas ended up with 11 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double as well.
Arizona shot just 29 percent in the first half and went to the locker room with a 33-24 lead over the Aggies.
The Wildcats finished the game at 39.3 from the field (22 of 56), but canned 27 of 39 free throws, while Utah State went to the charity stripe and made eight of 11 attempts.
Tough battle with the 9th-seeded Aggies. Arizona moves on with a 34-2 record, and Utah State's season ends at 29-7.
Arizona rolled over Long Island University in San Diego, California, 92-58, inside the friendly confines of the Viejas Arena today in the first round of the NCAA West Regionals.
The Arizona fans travel well, especially when San Diego is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Tucson. And this morning was no exception as the Wildcats' faithful cheered on the No. 2-ranked team in the country against the 16th-seeded LIH Sharks.
By the time Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd had called off the dogs with four minutes left, Arizona had owned leads up to 38 points, with hot-shooting guard Brayden Burries leading the way with 18 points on six of 10 shooting -- including 4 of 5 3-pointers. Koa Peat had 15 points, and Ivan Kharchenkov snuck in with a double-double, knocking down 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats were just too big for the Sharks as Arizona scored 50 points in the paint and grabbed 51 rebounds.
A mismatch from the start.
And now things will get a bit harder as the Wildcats await their second-round opponent on Sunday.
Arizona is now 33-2, while the Sharks' season ends at 24-11.
Arizona, the 2nd-ranked college basketball team in the nation, runs the table in Kansas City, Missouri, this week at the Big 12 Conference Tournament with wins over UCF, Iowa State, and Houston.
Big 12 Conference regular-season champs and now the Big 12 Tournament champs!
Outstanding play from the "Big Eight" as starters: Jaden Bradley, Koa Peat, Brayden Burries, Moe Krivas, and Ivan Kharchenkov did their thing from the opening tip, while the Arizona bench unleashed: hot-shooting guard Anthony Dell'Orso, and Tobe Awaka, the top rebounder in the nation, in my book, who owns everything around the rim, and finally, some solid minutes off the bench from the eighth man in the rotation, Dwayne Aristode, produced a record of 32 wins and two losses.
Burries has become Arizona's long-range shooter with 55 made threes and owns a 15.9 scoring average as we head to the Big Dance. The hot-shooting freshman has scored 542 points in 34 games.
Dell'Orso is quickly closing the gap on Arizona's made three-pointers with 45 and is now averaging nine points a game. Peat and Bradley are averaging 13 points a game, while Krivas and Kharchenkov are at 10 points and have played in all 34 games. As for Awaka, who averages just 21 minutes of playing time a game, he is averaging 9.5 rebounds and has grabbed 323 boards -- 49 more than Krivas.
Arizona is averaging 86.1 points a game and has held 34 opponents to 68.8.
A balanced attack from our Wildcats.
A great season thus far, but it's far from over. Six more wins will do it!
It's now Sunday morning, March 15. In a few hours, it'll be Selection Sunday, and we will soon know who the first victim at the Big Dance will be.
Arizona closes out the regular season at 29-2; Awaits Big 12 Tourney
The Wildcats break a program record for the most wins in a regular-season schedule
Brayden Burries and Koa Peat combined for 56 points on 21 of 31 shooting from the field and fend off a gutsy performance by Colorado last night in Boulder as 2nd-ranked Arizona escapes with an 89-79 win.
Arizona sets a program record for the most wins in a regular season at 29, and now awaits the Big 12 Tournament next week in Kansas City.
The Wildcats own the top seed for the tourney and have earned two byes.
The Buffaloes wouldn't go away and led by two at the end of the first half. Arizona owned a 10-point lead, 76-66, with 5:48 remaining in the game.
Isiah Johnson kept the Buffaloes in the hunt, finishing with 28 points, but it was the combo of Peat and Burries that made the difference. Peat scored 19 points in the first half alone and finished with 25, while Burries scored 22 in the second half and finished with a career-high of 31.
Moe Krivas, Ivan Kharchenkov, and Tobe Awaka contributed 10 points apiece as Arizona shot 55.9 percent from the field (33 of 59) and made 4 of 11 from long range.
I strolled through Udall Park on the east side of Tucson this morning. A bunch of little ones, ages 3 and 4, were learning the game of baseball. Hats off to the organization called I-9 Sports for ramrodding the event.
It'll bring a smile to your face, especially if you're a baseball nut!
Two young men on the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers, Doug Harding, 62, and Angel Durazo, 62, have had no trouble lighting up the scoreboard at Udall Park these days.
Durazo went 15 for 21 for a .714 batting average, and Harding went 13 for 19, a .684 average, and banged out three triples, while knocking in the most runs among all TOTS during February with 10.
The top dog in hits in February was 64-year-old Jon Beady, who went 16 for 28, a .571 average. Beady also scored the most runs (16) for the month and, unfortunately, led the club in hit by pitches (hbp) with 3. Two older guys -- Mike Dawson, 71, and Randy Livingston, 68, also made it to the top of the hitting chart. Dawson went 13 for 29 (.448), and Livingston finished the month 13 for 36 (.361) and ended up second in RBI with nine, tied with Ernesto Escala.
As a club, the TOTS collected 200 hits in 613 official at-bats, for a .326 batting average.
On the pitching rubber, nine players saw action with Dawson leading the staff with a 3-1 record, while logging the most innings (27). Glenn Vann went 2-0 with the most strikeouts (7). Joe Opocensky was second in innings pitched (23) and was also 2-1 for the month.
