Arizona makes case for No. 1 seed by pounding Oregon in Pac-12 title game
LAS VEGAS
Arizona dominated the Pac-12 basketball regular season, winning its second consecutive conference title. It dominated the Pac-12 tournament, culminating its run with a convincing 80-52 win over Oregon on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
But is that enough to convince the NCAA Selection committee to give the Wildcats a No. 1 seed in the region?
"We can't control that," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "I know we're in the conversation … I think the more important part for us is how well we are going to continue to play. Can we build off the tournament? That's our focus."
Although Arizona (30-3) didn't try to make too much of winning its first conference tournament title since Luke Walton and Jason Gardner were running the court in 2002, it was always in the back of their minds.
"You have a talented group and you just kind of keep working, eventually you break through," Miller said.
Saturday's win was Arizona's 11th in a row since an early February loss at Arizona State, and its hopes for a No. 1 seed got a boost with losses by Virginia and Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, but the Wildcats understand that all that matters is to keep winning.
"We're really not worried about seeding at this point," Arizona center Kaleb Tarczewski said. "Whatever team we play against we're going to be fine as long as we play hard and do what we do. It's just a number."
The Wildcats' tournament performance seemed to make a statement that they're ready for anything and everything.
"We're moving the ball around and making good plays and making things happen on offense and defense," said Stanley Johnson, who had 14 points. "For us to get far on in the tournament we have to tighten things up on defense. We'll do that. It all starts with defense for us. If we do that, we're going to be good."
Arizona suffocated the Ducks in the decisive first half, limiting them to 28 percent from the floor en route to a 36-21 lead. And even though Oregon shot 55 percent in the second half, it got worse for the Ducks because the Wildcats shot 62 percent in the second 20 minutes.
"Anytime we can make a bunch of shots we are going to be tough to beat," Johnson said, "especially with a defense like ours."
Conference player of the year Joseph Young scored 19 points for the Ducks, but he took 19 shots to get there. The rest of Oregon's team shot a combined 11 for 26.
Young's player of the year award was one of the night's storylines for an Arizona team that thought T.J. McConnell was deserving of the honor. Sophomore forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who had seven points and nine rebounds, said the Wildcats definitely played with a little more gusto.
"That just motivates us to go out there and play even harder (to) stay in attack mode," he said.
The most effective attacker was Brandon Ashley, who a year ago was sitting on the bench recovering from a broken foot while watching Arizona lose in the championship game to UCLA.
"I couldn't be out there with my team. That really hurt. But being here now is an amazing feeling," he said.
Ashley finished with 20 point after getting a career-high 24 points on Friday night. He was named the tournament's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Hollis-Jefferson, McConnell and Johnson.
"I'm extremely appreciative of it," Ashley said of the award. "But at the same time my teammates were just as big a part of me winning the award. They kept their confidence up with me."
Tarczewski said Ashley's elevated game is a difference maker: "When he plays like that, it just brings our team to another level and if he can keep that up, it's great for us."
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