Gabe York, right, gets some on-court advice from senior Mark Lyons in the first half. Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats freshman guard Gabe York is going to get more playing time.

York got a taste of Pac-12 action a few weeks ago, appearing briefly in three games. But he hadn’t been summoned off the bench in the four previous games before Wednesday’s night contest against Washington.

But coach Sean Miller has been increasingly frustrated with the poor shooting from reserve guard Jordin Mayes and promised a change. He was true to his word.

York entered the game with 13:32 to go in the first half.

He played eight minutes, making 1 of 2 3-point attempts, in Arizona’s 70-52 victory.

“We just need a guy to come in the game, be responsible, make a shot,” Miller said.

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James Farris delivers vs. South Carolina last season. Photo by Matt Ryerson-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats junior right-hander James Farris has won the first Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week award of the season.

Farris allowed one run and two hits in eight innings Saturday in a 14-1 victory over Coppin State. He struck out eight and walked none, retiring the final 15 batters he faced.

Farris is moving up this season from third to second in the rotation behind junior Konner Wade.

Farris picked up right where he left off last season.

He went 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA in two postseason starts, including the clinching game of the championship series at College World Series. He allowed one run and two hits in 7 2/3 innings against South Carolina, picking up a no-decision as the Wildcats rallied in the top of the ninth to win.

Farris, who was 7-3 with a 3.97 ERA last season, is expected to make his next start Saturday against San Jose State at Hi Corbett Field at 4 p.m.

Arizona manages to hold off Utah, just like it did in Tucson last month.

The Wildcats never trailed but did lose all of a 13-point second-half lead as Utah tied the game at 51 with 7:27 to go. A quick 5-0 burst from Arizona gave the Cats the breathing room they needed in a 68-64 victory.

Mark Lyons couldn’t buy a shot from the outside (1 of 9 from 3-point range), but he scored nine points in the final six minutes to help UA keep the lead. When he attacked, he was effective. He scored three times on drives to the hoop in the final six minutes.

Although he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left, he came up with a steal at the other end to secure the win.

Lyons had a team-high 18 points, making all five of his shots from inside the arc.

Kevin Parrom, who got his second start of the season, scored nine points — all in the second half — and had nine rebounds.

Arizona ended a two-game losing streak to improve to 21-4 overall and 9-4 in the Pac-12 (updated standings on the right).

Related: Sean Miller has sarcastic solution to end-of-half problems

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Konner Wade allowed only one hit in the season opener. 2012 photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Arizona baseball coach Andy Lopez had an intriguing choice for his first major in-game dilemma of the season.

The Wildcats’ starting pitcher, Konner Wade, was throwing a no-hitter through six innings Friday night, but he also was getting near his pitch limit as he went out for the seventh inning.

It’s a long season; there was no need for Lopez to push Wade too hard in what ended up being a 16-0 win over Coppin State at Hi Corbett Field. On the other hand, Lopez was willing to bend the pitch count if Wade kept pitching clean.

“I wouldn’t have let him go to 140 pitches,” Lopez said.

“In my mind, I was thinking, he can get this done with 105, 110 max. That’s not too bad. He’s a junior. He’s pitched a lot. I told my staff, ‘I’m not getting him.’”

The situation resolved itself before Lopez had to worry too much.

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Konner Wade is the new ace of Arizona’s staff. Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

The last time we saw Arizona right-hander Konner Wade in a game, he was completing one of the most dominant postseason runs in the history of college baseball.

Now, he has a new pitch.

Wade, a junior, takes the ball tonight for Arizona in its season-opener at Hi Corbett Field. There will be a pregame ceremony to recognize the 2012 College World Series champs, and then Wade and the Wildcats will turn the page by starting 2013 against Coppin State.

Wade rode his sinking fastball to a remarkable postseason — a 4-0 record with a 1.29 ERA and three complete games, walking just three in 35.0 innings. He allowed a mere 27 hits in that span — 24 of them singles.

That fastball was death to right-handed batters, as the pitch dove down and inside, inducing misses or weak ground balls to an unerring left side of the infield.

This season, Wade is hoping to mix in an effective cutter that will tail away from righties and make use of the outside of the plate.

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The scene before the game, including the raging cutout of Colorado coach Tad Boyle. Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The ninth-ranked Arizona Wildcats have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Arizona, coming off a 77-69 home loss to Cal in which it shot 39.3 percent, still had trouble putting the ball in the hoop at Colorado on Thursday night. UA managed just one field goal in a nearly 10-minute stretch spanning halftime, allowing the Buffs to take control.

Colorado won 71-58, and fans stormed the court.

Spencer Dinwiddie scored a game-high 21 points — 19 of which came in the second half. Freshman Xavier Johnson scored a career-high 19 for the Buffs.

Arizona made just 5 of 19 3-points shots.

The Cats drop to 20-4 overall and 8-4 in the Pac-12, a game behind Oregon. Solomon Hill led Arizona in scoring with 12. Mark Lyons added 11.

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This was the 2012 team’s moment. Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

After the dogpile at the mound, after posing with the national championship trophy, after generally whooping it up, the Arizona baseball team gathered in the clubhouse at TD Ameritrade Park.

It was about an hour after the Wildcats had defeated South Carolina 4-1 to win the College World Series in Omaha. Coach Andy Lopez addressed the joyous group.

He recalled the conversation earlier this week …

“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been fortunate. I’ve won two national championships. They’re great moments. They’re moments you’ll remember the rest of your life. Every time you hear of the 2012 season, it will ring, ‘Boy, we won it all that year.’

“But that’s what it is: A moment. It’s a moment. It’s not your identity; it’s not who you are as a human being. You’re a human being and you had a great moment. With that said, everybody has work to do to improve in everything that they do — being a good person, a good husband, a good brother, a good son, a better baseball player.”

Which brings us to 2013.

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Courtesy of @Greg_Byrne

What? No copper turf?

The Arizona Wildcats, via athletic director Greg Byrne’s twitter account, released an image of the design for the team’s new FieldTurf CoolPlay surface, which will be installed at Arizona Stadium this winter.

Notice the ghost lettering of “Bear Down” across midfield.

Another change from last season is that the end zones will be shaded navy blue, while retaining the red-lettered “Arizona” that spans the width of the field. The block “A” at midfield is slightly larger. The old logo didn’t quite go from 45-yard line to 45-yard line. The new “A” is 14 yards wide and extends from hashmark to hashmark.

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J.T. Snow waves to the crowd after getting this 1,500th career hit on Oct. 2, 2005. Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Former Arizona Wildcat J.T. Snow will serve as a game analyst for the Pac-12 Networks, which will telecast 30 baseball games this spring, including seven involving UA, the defending national champion.

Snow earned first-team All-Pac-10 South honors in 1989, leading the team with a .359 batting average. He spent parts of 16 seasons in the major leagues, nine with the San Francisco Giants, winning six consecutive Gold Gloves for his work at first base. He has radio and television experience in the Bay Area.

Here are the Arizona games scheduled for live telecast on the Pac-12 Networks:

March 17 — Oregon State at Arizona, noon
March 22 — Arizona at Oregon, 6 p.m. PT
April 16 — Arizona State at Arizona, 6 p.m. PT
April 19 — Arizona at Stanford, 7 p.m. PT
May 12 — Arizona at UCLA, 3 p.m. PT
May 19 — Arizona at Arizona State, noon PT
May 26 — USC at Arizona, noon

Ted Robinson, Roxy Bernstein and JB Long will handle play-by-play duties for the Pac-12 Networks. Snow and former Washington shortstop Kevin Stocker will rotate as analysts.

Juron Criner was the only all-conference player for Arizona from its 2008 recruiting class. Photo by Chris Morrison-USA Today Sports

The Arizona Wildcats football recruiting class of 2008 is in the books.

Arizona was coming off a 5-7 season in coach Mike Stoops fourth season and hadn’t had a winning record in nine seasons.

The Cats weren’t operating from a position of strength and finished 39th nationally in the recruiting rankings of Rivals.com and Scout.com, which put Arizona slightly below average among BCS conference teams.

So, how did Arizona do with its 2008 recruiting class?

Somewhere around average sounds about right.

The Cats hit on about half of the class, with “hit” defined as a starting player, but there wasn’t a lot of star power and not nearly enough defense.

Let’s take a look …

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