Arizona falls from the ranks of the unbeaten

The Arizona Wildcats are no longer unbeaten.

The Wildcats fall to Oregon 70-66 tonight at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. It was tough watching Arizona lose its first game of the season, almost as tough as focusing my eyes for two hours at the television screen, eyeing that hideous looking basketball court.

Why? What is the point of such a floor?

Arizona got off to a good start and had no trouble with the court's surface as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead and looked, at least for the first three minutes, like the fourth-ranked team in the country. But the Ducks came roaring back, outscoring the Wildcats 41-19 for the remaining 17 minutes of the first half.

Oregon had it all going their way and led by 14 early in the second half, but the Wildcats finally got a run going and ended up outscoring the Ducks 36-29 in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Unfortunately for Arizona, they fell four points short and fall to 14-1 on the season.

Again it was Mark Lyons leading the way for the Wildcats. Lyons scored 21 points, dished out four assists and grabbed two rebounds, while Solomon Hill netted 16 points to go along with his six rebounds and two assists. Nick Johnson hit 5 of 9 from the field for 12 points and also hauled in six rebounds and added two assists. Kevin Parrom hit 3 of  6 from the field for seven points, grabbed three boards and picked up two assists before fouling out late in the game. Jordan Mayes didn't get a lot of playing time but did hit a three pointer in the first half.

Looking at the big picture, it was the upperclassmen who providing almost all of the scoring for the Wildcats as the three freshmen -- Kaleb Tarczewski, Brandon Ashley and Grant Jerrett totaled seven points.

The question is how far will Arizona fall in the polls? I'm thinking maybe 18, but I'm not convinced the poll setters will keep the Wildcats in the top 25.

Coach Sean Miller and the Wildcats are no longer worried about where they are in the top 25. And I'm not sure they ever were. But the pressure of being one of three unbeaten teams in the college ranks is no longer a problem.

Regroup, Wildcats! And go get Oregon State.