Arizona guard MoMo Jones moves down court in the first half.
Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE
Arizona wins 67-62 … and the only sad part is we don’t get to see the Wildcats shake the hand of suspended USC coach Kevin O’Neill.
The Wildcats (27-6) move on to Saturday’s Pac-10 tournament championship game against either Washington or Oregon.
Derrick Williams has a team-high 20 points. USC’s Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 12 rebounds, but Arizona made him work hard for just about everything and he didn’t control the game at all.
Sean Miller on how Williams played late in the game: “Great players close out games.”
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Derrick Williams to the line with 3.2 seconds left. Gotta make one. And he makes both.
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Arizona leads 65-62 with 4.7 seconds. Flash back to UA’s trouble inbounding the ball vs. Washington.
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Derrick Williams drives and gets fouled with 20.3 seconds left. Makes the first, makes the second. Arizona leads 65-60.
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No quit in the Trojans, who get a 3-pointer from Jio Fontan. It’s 63-60 with 47.5 seconds to play. Arizona ball.
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Solomon Hill draws a charge with 1:28 left. The Wildcats are coming up clutch down the stretch so far.
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Derrick Williams slips behind Alex Stepheson and takes the lob pass from Solomon Hill for a dunk. Arizona leads 63-57.
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Jamelle Horne with a 3-pointer with 2:28 left. In his mind, he’s pointing to Kevin O’Neill, wherever he is.
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A 3-pointer from Kyryl Natyazhko with just over three minutes left is not the shot you want to see. This is the time of the game when Arizona collapsed vs. USC two weeks ago.
There was a moment in the second half when the Wildcats looked as if they could pull away, but the Trojans are within 58-53 with 2:59 to go … and Nikola Vucevic shooting free throws. He makes both.
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Some crazy action — and moments where Arizona wasn’t paying attention — and the Cats call timeout with 58-51 with just over four minutes left.
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Tweets Javier Morales, referencing the Kevin O’Neill suspension: “video screen shows #ArizonaWildcats fan holding ‘Hotel Bar’ direction sign, drawing laughs from the crowd”
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USC’s Marcus Simmons is the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year; he’s not supposed to be a shooter or scorer. But he’s scored 18 points, tying a career high, and the Trojans climb within 52-45 with 8:24 to go.
Arizona has picked the right poison, though, collapsing on Nikola Vucevic and letting Simmons have open looks.
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Jordin Mayes knocks down a couple of 3-pointers in front of his hometown crowd. Arizona goes up 48-38 with 12:34 to play. Maybe it won’t go down to the final four minutes. Can the Cats put a team away? For once?
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The Trojans are shooting 53.3 percent with 14:49 to play. Arizona’s past four opponents — and five of the past six — have each shot at least 50 percent.
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USC cuts a nine-point lead to 40-36. Just fast forward to the final media timeout. Like last time vs. USC, this one will be decided in last four minutes.
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First free throws of the game for Derrick Williams comes with 16:04 to play. Refs must not be protecting him tonight.
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Arizona doing a nice job with the double-team of Nikola Vucevic tonight. It’s all about timing. UA also has been more intent on denying the entry pass. The result was that Vucevic took three shots and had four points in the first half.
He starts the second half with a turnover out of a double team.
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Derrick Williams has seven points at halftime on 3 of 5 shooting. “We’re always reminding ourselves to get it to Derrick,” coach Sean Miller said at the halftime interview. “Sometimes I’d like to put a jersey on and pass it to him.”
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Derrick Williams’ dunk with two seconds left in the half fires up the Arizona fans at the Staples Center as the Wildcats go into the break up 33-28. Jesse Perry, always active around the basket, has a team-high eight points for Arizona.
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Update on UA’s least-favorite opponent: BYU’s Jimmer Fredette has 33 points at halftime against New Mexico in the Mountain West tournament.
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Arizona has gone cold (figures after I wrote that last note) and leads 27-26 with 3:36 to play in the half. USC is playing with the kind of intensity that would make Kevin O’Neill proud, but what could of factor will the Wildcats’ superior depth be in the second half?
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Two weeks ago, Arizona had 28 points at halftime vs. USC. Now, the Wildcats have 25 points with 7:53 to go in the half.
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So typical of Arizona’s depth and balance. The Cats have five players with 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes or so.
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In the latest Bracketology on ESPN, Arizona is a fifth seed in Denver. I think Sean Miller would be OK with that. Fox Sports Net announcer Steve Physioc said at the top of the telecast that the Wildcats could get a No. 2 seed if they win the Pac-10 tournament, but he’s wrong.
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Tied at 15 with 11:58 to play in the half. The pace so far is to Arizona’s liking, as the Cats want to get the ball up court quickly and speed the game up. The Trojans don’t have the firepower to match Arizona if the game has a quick tempo.
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Kyle Fogg with a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock. Brings Arizona within 15-12.
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Javier Morales tweets from the game: “Angelo Chol wearing #ArizonaWildcats sweatshirt a few rows behind the Arizona bench sitting with his HS coach and teammate.”
Chol won’t be a Wildcat until next season, but Arizona could use his defense on the interior right now.
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USC hits some outside shots and leads 12-9 with 14:57 to play. Can the Trojans bury those shots all game? I’d say no.
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Marcus Simmons hits an early 3-pointer for USC. Arizona will take its chances against a poor-shooting Trojans team. Coach Sean Miller wants to focus more on denying the entry pass to post player Nikola Vucevic … and if that means giving up open looks for 3, so be it.
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Crazy: Derrick Williams hits a 3-pointer early in the game. He’s now 6 of 7 from behind the arc in the tournament.
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Kevin Parrom starts for the second consecutive game in place of Kyle Fogg, nursing a thigh injury. Fogg gave Arizona 10 minutes Thursday against Oregon State. Coach Sean Miller is looking for 10 to 15 minutes from Fogg tonight.
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The big story of the day is that USC coach Kevin O’Neill, the former Arizona assistant and interim head coach, has been suspended for the rest of the Pac-10 tournament.
Too bad. It would have been fun to see and hear that postgame press conference.
USC suspended O’Neill after an incident with an Arizona booster at a hotel on Thursday night. Javier Morales in in Los Angeles for TucsonCitizen.com and has details and quotes about the suspension.
Morales talked to UA radio analyst Matt Muehlebach, who, according to some internet reports, was involved in some heated talk with O’Neill on Thursday night.
Anyway, there is a game to play, and USC assistant coach Bob Cantu will be in charge. The Trojans will play how they will play; they want to grind it out, slow the game down and play defense like there is no tomorrow.
And, at this point, you have to wonder how many tomorrows O’Neill has at USC.