Previewing tonight's first West region semifinal, Ohio State (28-7) vs. Arizona (27-7):
DETAILS: No. 2 seed Ohio State vs. No. 6 seed Arizona, 7:47 p.m. ET, Staples Center in Los Angeles. TBS has the broadcast. Winner plays the winner of No. 9 Wichita State vs. No. 13 La Salle on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.
STREAKING: The Buckeyes have won 10 straight games and have four players averaging double-figure scoring in the postseason: Deshaun Thomas, Sam Thompson, LaQuinton Ross and Aaron Craft. The two-point guard lineup of Craft and Shannon Scott is sparking the defense and creating better shots at the other end, and the Buckeyes have been clicking. They had to hold on for their postseason lives last Sunday when a late Craft shot beat Iowa State, and they come to Los Angeles on a quick turnaround.
THERE'S HISTORY HERE: The biggest tie between the teams, who haven't played since 1971, is the relationship between coaches Thad Matta and Sean Miller. Matta and Miller worked together as assistants at Miami (Ohio), then Matta hired Miller as an assistant when Matta was head coach at Xavier. When Matta left for Ohio State, he recommended Miller for the Xavier job. Miller is now in his fourth year at Arizona.
AND ANOTHER XAVIER CONNECTION: Xavier transfer Mark Lyons totaled 50 points on 20-of-32 shooting in two games last weekend as Arizona cruised over Belmont and Harvard to get to the Sweet 16. Lyons played on two Xavier Sweet 16 teams and tonight becomes the first player in NCAA tournament history to play in back-to-back Sweet 16s with different teams. Lyons and Xavier parted ways last April and he chose Arizona -- and Miller, his first coach at Xavier -- for his final year of eligibility.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS: Lyons leads Arizona in scoring at 15.2 points per game; Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson also average double-figures. Arizona is athletic and will let it fly from behind the 3-point line much like Iowa State did last Sunday. Kevin Parrom shoots 41 percent from 3-point range on the season and is one of three senior starters for a team that was ranked in the top 10 until hitting a rough patch during Pac-12 play. Arizona shot the lights out against inferior competition last weekend in Salt Lake City, marking its first back-to-back games all season of better than 50-percent shooting.
ON THE FLOOR: The 6'7 Hill figures to draw the assignment on Thomas, the Big Ten's leading scorer. Though Ohio State has been getting quality minutes out of reserve big man Evan Ravenel, the Buckeyes have also had success playing fast with a small-ball lineup of Thomas, Ross, Thompson, Craft and Scott. Arizona starts 7-foot freshman Kaleb Tarczewski and will likely throw the ball inside early and force Amir Williams and Ravenel to defend the post -- and force Matta to think twice about sticking with the small-ball lineup.
ON THE GLASS: The 3-point shot can be the great equalizer, but it's Arizona's length and athleticism that are probably of most concern to Ohio State. The Wildcats are 22-3 on the season when winning the rebounding battle.
POSITIVE NUMBERS: Ohio State is 7-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed. The Buckeyes are the only team in the country to have advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the last four seasons.
BOTTOM LINE: Arizona will be neither intimidated nor outmatched physically. The keys will be rebounding, the Hill-Thomas matchup and how Arizona takes care of the ball and is able to get into its offense with Craft and Scott providing relentless pressure. It's easy to look and say the winner of this game is the clear favorite to get to the Final Four, and the Buckeyes seem in position to extend this win streak. But Ohio State will have to play better than it did last Sunday to win this game.
