Wildcats fight off Cardinal 84-80 to reach semifinals at Pac-12 Tournament

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Arizona  84  Stanford  80

Stanford hit 11 3-pointers and gave the 2nd-ranked Wildcats all they can handle, but Arizona escapes with an 84-80 win behind 24 points from Christian Koloko, 20 from Bennedict Mathurin and 10 points, five assists from point-guard Kerr Kriisa to win its quarterfinal game today in Las Vegas at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament.

Krissa left the game in pain with 1:06 left in the game after getting tangled up with Koloko. The gutsy field general was helped off the court and Krissa's teammates, his Pac-12 Coach of the Year Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona fans nervously await further word on the injury.

Arizona (29-3) plays at 6 PM on Friday against the winner of the Oregon-Colorado quarterfinal matchup, currently in progress. 

Wildcat Update: Colorado (21-10) beats Oregon 80-69  in the other quarterfinal and takes on Arizona in the Pac-12 tourney semifinals.

Arizona grabs 12-5 win over Lobos with 8-run 7th inning

 Arizona Wildcats Baseball

Arizona  12  New Mexico  5 

It's time for Pac-12 action for Arizona baseball.

In a final tuneup before the Wildcats head for California and a three-game series with the Golden Bears (March 11-13), Arizona rallies with eight runs in the seventh inning and go on to defeat New Mexico 12-5 last night at Hi Corbett Field.

Arizona improves to 10-3.

Catcher Daniel Susac homered for the Wildcats and drove in four runs, while third baseman Jack Grant also homered and drove in three runs. Shortstop Nik McLaughry had a great night from the leadoff spot with four hits and a walk in five plate appearances. Nik also scored three times and knocked in a run. Grant's homer was his first of the season.

Javyn Pimental pitched two innings, allowing no hits and no runs and picked up the win in relief of starter Anthony Susac, who pitched 5 1/3, allowing four earned runs and nine hits. 

The first game in Berkeley, California gets underway at 6:05 PM MST.

The Golden Bears are 6-6 on the season. California lost to Santa Clara 9-6 last night in Berkeley.

Arizona drops two games to Texas State

 Arizona Wildcats Baseball

Where is Texas State?

Marcos, Texas

Most famous graduate?

Lyndon Baines Johnson

A little history lesson from Bookemdanosports.

Well, the Bobcats are back in the news after capturing a three-game series from the Arizona Wildcats today at Hi Corbett Field.

The 11th-ranked Wildcats won 7-2 on Friday, lost to the Bobcats on Saturday 6-2, and a five-run 5th inning by Texas State today lifted the Bobcats to a 7-3 win as LBJ's alma mater left town with a 2-1 series' win over a ranked team and improved their season record to 10-2.

Arizona's bats were quiet for most of the series as the Wildcats now own a two-game losing streak and a 9-3 record. Tanner O'Tremba  went 5 for 11 in the series and drove in five runs for the Wildcats.

Texas State heads home to play No. 1 Texas on Tuesday, while Arizona regroups and entertains New Mexico (4-6) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Photo: O'Tremba

2nd-ranked Arizona cruises in regular-season finale

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Arizona 89  California 61

Arizona (28-3, 18-2 Pac-12) cruised to an easy win in the Wildcats'  regular-season finale at McKale Center today with a 89-61 win over the California Golden Bears.

The Wildcats finish unbeaten at home -- a perfect 17-0, and set a  record for the most conference wins in a single season.

Coach Tommy Lloyd cleared the bench with six minutes left in the game. Oumar Ballo  (photo left) led all the players with 16 points, five rebounds and one assist. Ballo was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field and canned both free throw attempts.

The 2022 Pac-12 Champs cut down the nets after the game and the Wildcats' only senior, Justin Kier, logged 25 minutes today, with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Bennedict Mathurin and Pelle Larsson also finished in double figures with 13 points apiece.

Now it's time for the postseason. Go, Wildcats!

Up next: The Pac-12 Conference Tournament in Las Vegas and then on to the Big Dance as a No 1. seed.

Wildcats remain unbeaten at McKale

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Arizona 81 Stanford 69

Stanford stayed with the 2nd-ranked Arizona Wildcats for 32 minutes.

But the final eight minutes was all Arizona as the Wildcats built a 15-point lead and cruised down the stretch for an 81-69 Pac-12 Conference win over the Stanford Cardinal tonight at the McKale Center.

Arizona remains unbeaten at home at 16-0 with one regular-season game remaining at McKale on Saturday.

The Cardinal hit nine 3-pointers and out rebounded the Wildcats 35-28, but the charity stripe belonged to Arizona. The Wildcats made  22 of 27 free throws, while the Cardinal went to the foul line nine times and made just two. Stanford committed 23 fouls -- most of those coming in the first half as the Cardinal managed a 39-37 lead.

It was the Mathurin-Koloko show tonight. Bennedict scored 24 points, while Christian picked up another double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kerr Kriisa  dished out seven assists and scored seven points.

Mathurin made sure it was all Arizona down the stretch with a slam dunk at the 7:56 mark, a 3-pointer at 7:28 and another dunk at the 6:58 mark to give the Wildcats a 67-58 lead.

Arizona improves to 27-3 overall and 17-2 in the Pac-12 Conference.

Photo: Mathurin

 

 

A true walk-off win for Wildcats over Dixie State

 Arizona Wildcats Baseball

Arizona  2  Dixie State  1

Arizona upped its early-season record to 8-1 with a 2-1 walk-off win over Dixie State (4-4) last night at Hi Corbett Field. 

It wasn't a home run to win it, nor a single up the middle. Instead, Chase Davis stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning. Davis battled his way to a 3-2 count and then trotted to first with a walk as Nik McClaughry, who had singled earlier in the inning, scored from third base.

Quinn Flanagan started and pitched five solid innings, while striking out nine. Holden Christian hurled the final two innings and picked up the win. Catcher Daniel Susac continues to produce at the plate with a 3 for 5 night -- including a double and a triple.

Texas State comes to town on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Go, Wildcats!

Arizona Wildcats dunk their way to easy win over 16th-ranked USC

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

No. 2 Wildcats clinch Pac-12 title at USC 

Arizona scored 51 points, shot 55 percent from the field, dished out 12 assists and recorded seven dunks at the Galen Center tonight in front of a sell out crowd of over 10,000 hostile University of Southern California fans. 

And that was in the first half!

Arizona (26-3, 16-2) rolls over USC 91-71 and clinches the Pac-12 Conference title behind Bennedict Mathurin's 19 points, five rebounds, three steals and six assists.

And Mathurin wasn't a one-man show.

Kerr Kriisa was 5 of 13 from the field -- including four 3-pointers and finished the night with 18 points, while Justin Kier and Oumar Ballo came off the bench to combine for 23 points and 10 rebounds. Add to that another steady showing from Dalen Terry with an across-the-board stat sheet of 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal.

Arizona wins its 17th Pac-12/10 conference title and returns home to McKale Center to finish out the 2022 regular season schedule with games against Stanford on Thursday and California on Saturday.

Way to go, Wildcats!