MEN’S BASKETBALL
After winning the prior 4 games in a row, Arizona made it 5 straight by defeating Washington State, then broke the streak with a loss at Pac-12 co-leader Washington. Now 19-9 overall, 10-5 Pac-12, the Wildcats are tied with Oregon for 4th place in the Pac and face a tough battle even to be chosen for the NCAA Tournament. The Cats face USC at home on Thursday at 6:30 MST, 5:30 PST (TV only on FSN-AZ), host UCLA on Saturday at 12 noon MST, 11 PST (TV on CBS, regional or national?) Then they close the regular season 8 days later at ASU on NCAA Selection Sunday, March 4, at 1:30 MST, 12:30 PST (TV on FSN). Arizona should be heavily favored to beat USC and ASU but they simply must avenge an earlier loss to UCLA to have a respectable record.
Arizona 76, Washington State 72 - After an early Cougar lead of 8 points at 11-3, the Cats scored layup, three and three for the first of 11 ties, this time at 11-11. After WSU regained leads of 6 or 7, the Wildcats started a streak at the 9:02 mark, scoring threes by Turner, Lavender and Fogg and had their first lead at 28-27. From then on the game was extremely close. Arizona led at halftime, 40-39, the Cougars managed their largest second-half margin at 57-52 but the Wildcats scored 9 straight to lead at 61-47 and never trailed again, but faced 3 more tie scores. Arizona got some unlikely help from WSU’s best player, Brock Motum, who had 28 points and seemed unstoppable from the field. With Motum, an 82% free-throw shooter, Cat fans cringed whenever he got fouled. Motum missed once in the first half, missed 1 of 2 at 8:11in the second half, missed twice with 7:37 left, missed twice at 2:39 and the game tied at 67, then missed 2 of 3 with 21 seconds remaining, making just 10 of 18 for the game! Meanwhile Perry hit 2 layups and a free throw, then Fogg and Lavender hit 2 freebies each to counter late scoring from other Cougars.
With Parrom and Mayes still injured, Arizona essentially played only 7 players again (Kyryl was in for 2 minutes.) Lavender hit 5 of 7 threes while the team made a good 9 of 19. Lavender scored 17, Fogg had his first career double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds), Perry 14, Hill 11, Turner and Chol 8 each.
Washington 79, Arizona 70 - Washington’s best players, Terrence Ross (25 points) and Tony Wroten (22) had great games to wear down the Wildcats. Arizona had small leads in the first 6 minutes, fell behind 31-20 but managed to trail by only 2 at halftime, 37-39. The Huskies soon maintained leads from 3 to 7 points until 6 minutes remained, opened a lead of 72-61, then allowed the Cats to claw within 7 at 77-70, but only 22 seconds were left at that point.
Johnson rebounded from scoring only 2 points at WSU to lead Arizona with 20 points, Perry and Hill added 13 each and Fogg had 11. The Wildcats were down on 3-pointers (6 of 21) but the Huskies didn’t win that way (3 of 18). The Cats gave away 12 turnovers and 8 of those were steals by the more-aggressive Huskies.
BASEBALL
4,000 fans attended the season opener at historic Hi Corbett Field as Arizona hosted North Dakota State. Arizona’s bats were quiet during the first 2 of 3 games but the Wildcats won twice with good pitching.
- Arizona 3, NDSU 1 – UA weathered bases-loaded jam in top of 1st, scored 3 in bottom of 1st , featuring Johnny Fields’ triple
- NDSU 8, Arizona 2 – Konner Wade struck out 13 in 7+ innings, UA bullpen committee allowed 6 runs
- Arizona 8, NDSU 0 – James Farris threw complete-game shutout, 5 hits, 6 Ks. Robert Refsnyder had 4 hits, 3 RBI.
Arizona will host Utah Valley on Tuesday for a single game, then welcome Auburn on Friday for one game and Saturday for a double header.
SOFTBALL
#16 Arizona had 5 solid wins at home to bring its record to 8-3. Inland Southern California fans will see the Wildcats in Palm Springs next Thursday (2 games), Friday (1), Saturday (2) and Sunday (1), playing a number of strong teams from across the nation.
- Arizona 7, UAB 0 – Fowler allowed 1 hit, 11 Ks, Spigner & Arriola HR
- Arizona 14, N. Dakota 2 – 5 inning mercy rule, Babcock 5 hits , 7 Ks, Pendley 2 HR
- Arizona 6, W. Kentucky 4 – Fowler 6-hitter, UA kept it close by stranding 11, Koria HR
- Arizona 9, S. Utah 1 – UA 7 runs in 5th, mercy rule end. Babcock 4-hitter
- Arizona 8, S. Utah 0 – Spigner 3-hitter mercy rule, hit HR, del Ponte grand slam.
WOMEN’S GOLF
In early February, Arizona hosted and won a 3-round meet at Vistoso in Tucson. UA clobbered#1-ranked UCLA by 12 shots and beat #8 ASU. UA freshman Manon Gidali, from France, shot 67 Sunday, then a collegiate course record of 66 on Monday and won individual honors with a 3-day 204. Arizona is playing at the UNLV Invitational today and tomorrow
MEN’S GOLF
Arizona placed 10th at Oahu tournament. Cal won. Next, Palm Desert, CA on February 25-26.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
The Wildcats have won 4 matches in a row at home: 4-3 over University of San Diego, 5-2 over San Diego State, 6-1 over North Texas and 6-1 over Cal Poly. The team will travel to Montgomery AL for matches Friday through Sunday.
MEN’S TENNIS
After a 3-0 start, the men have dropped 5 matches in a row, by rather one-sided scores. Next up, at TCU on March 2, at Oklahoma on March 4.
GYMNASTICS
Arizona hosted and defeated BYU on Friday with a season-high score, 196.275 to 194.525. Washington will visit Tucson on Friday 2/24 at 7 pm.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
After breaking an 8-game losing streak by thrashing Washington State on Thursday at home, 90-51, the Wildcats controlled the Saturday game against Washington until the last 8 minutes. The Huskies caught up and won, 68-59. UA will travel to play USC at 6 PST on Thursday, then visit UCLA on Saturday for a 2 o’clock tip off. The UA record is now 14-13, but only 3-13 PAC-12.
GO CATS!!!
Dave Evans
San Diego
dhevansjr@att.net
