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Posts Tagged ‘Kenny Lofton’

Arizona notes: Wildcats stem tide of poor Pac-10 tourney performances

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

LOS ANGELES — Arizona junior guard Kyle Fogg did not look to be in pain although he sat by his locker with two huge ice packs on both quadriceps.

Fogg, 0-2 in the Pac-10 Tournament before Thursday, looked relieved, as if a weight was lifted after Arizona beat Oregon State 78-69 at the Staples Center. The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing skid in the tournament, winning for the first time since 2008.

It was only the sixth conference tournament win for the Wildcats since they won the title in 2002.

“We were a lot more focused coming into this one,” said Fogg, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Kevin Parrom because he did not practice Tuesday and Wednesday in order to rest his legs.

“Everyone wanted to win. There’s not many guys in this locker room who won a Pac-10 tournament game and we all wanted to get our first win. The biggest reason is we want to win that (title) game on CBS on Saturday. I think everyone is really locked into that and we are going to play our hardest to get to that championship game.”

I remember when I covered Arizona’s 1996-97 NCAA championship team the Wildcats chanted “Play on Monday” before defeating North Carolina in the Final Four. The rally cry “Play on Saturday” does not carry the same significance but it has a meaning of its own with this year’s Wildcats.

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