The beefy Joshua Smith awaits Arizona's frontcourt; Smith is averaging only 18 minutes per game, though. Photo by Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona is thrilled that Reeves Nelson won’t be in a UCLA uniform tonight, although the Bruins’ imposing size and height remains a concern.

UCLA still has the thunderous Joshua Smith, who is listed at 6-10, 305 pounds, as well as the Wear twins — Travis and David — who are long and versatile 6-10 forwards.

The Wildcats, even with Derrick Williams, failed to handle Nelson, who averaged 23.3 points and 12 rebounds in the past three meetings, shooting a ridiculous 28 of 34 from the field. UCLA coach Ben Howland booted Nelson from the team earlier this season.

Smith had 17 points and four rebounds against UA in last season’s game at UCLA, which is a good place to start as we look at three keys to the game.

(more…)

How does everyone feel about the NIT?

Arizona’s streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, held together by string and bubble gum by interim head coaches in the past two seasons, finally snapped Thursday Thursday afternoon at 25 years.

UCLA eliminated the Wildcats 75-69 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

First-year coach Sean Miller coaxed a 16-15 record out of his young team, getting a winning record with victories in its final three games of the regular season. That late surge allowed the Wildcats to be a viable candidate for the NIT, which unofficially does not invite teams with sub-.500 records.

The first round of the 32-team NIT will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at on-campus sites.

The NIT likely will include such traditional powers as North Carolina, UConn and even Memphis, which is coached by former Arizona player and assistant coach Josh Pastner. The Tigers lost Thursday to Houston in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament.

“It’s about doing the best we can do, and we would be honored to be in the NIT,” UA assistant coach James Whitford said on the KCUB 1290-AM postgame show.

“There is going to some really good teams in it. UConn is going to be in it. North Carolina is going to be in it. There are going to be some teams you are traditionally used to seeing in the NCAAs — Arizona, obviously being one of them — that aren’t going to be there.

“That tournament is a very good tournament … and we hope to be a part of it.”

Arizona needed to win the Pac-10 tournament to grab the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Arizona’s streak was two off the all-time record, set by North Carolina. The new longest streak belongs to Kansas, which will be making its 21st consecutive appearance next week.

HALFTIME
Arizona has been a second-half team lately and will need to be again after trailing UCLA 37-33 at halftime of a Pac-10 quarterfinal at Staples Center.

The Wildcats allowed far too many easy baskets to the Bruins, and UCLA freshman post player Reeves Nelson schooled any of three UA defenders — Derrick Williams, Kyryl Natyazhko and Alex Jacobson.

Arizona won its final three games of the regular season despite trailing at halftime in each of those games.

UCLA shot 63 percent in the first half — and Nelson had 12 points and six rebounds — but the Bruins couldn’t shake the Wildcats.

“You know, UCLA is really good on offense; I don’t think they get enough credit,” UA coach Sean Miller told Fox Sports Net at halftime. “With Reeves Nelson playing, he really gives them an inside presence and he’s hurt us, obviously. We have not had an answer for his physicality.”

Nelson had missed the previous four games because of any eye injury. For Arizona, forward Kevin Parrom, who had missed four games because of a foot injury, played and moved well i the first half.

In beating UCLA last week, Arizona held the Bruins to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half. In a double-overtime win over USC on Saturday, the Wildcats held the Trojans to 31.7 percent shooting after halftime.

PREGAME:
Arizona coach Sean Miller said he considers his Wildcats and UCLA to be evenly matched, with the betting line favoring the Bruins by one point.

Arizona won both regular season meetings, including a 78-73 victory in Tucson a week ago. It was a two-point game with 17 seconds left.

That was part of a regular-season three-game winning streak in which Arizona won all three games after trailing at halftime. The Cats were down 14 to UCLA in the second half.

The ensuing confidence from those games is the best thing Arizona could have hoped for. Miller said, “We’re not fighting ourselves.”

“It’s not to where we have nothing to play for, we’re not playing well, we’re beaten down, we have no energy. To me, we’re the furthest thing from that type of team. I don’t know if that means we’re going to win or not. But we’ll see where that goes from there.”

Meanwhile, UCLA claims it is optimistic, too.

Arizona starts two freshmen — Freshman All-American forward Derrick Williams and forward Solomon Hill — and could play as many as five in this afternoon’s Pac-10 quarterfinal against the Bruins at Staples Center.

If healthy big man Reeves Nelson is back in the starting lineup for UCLA, the Bruins also will start two freshmen (forward Tyler Honeycutt being the other).

Miller admitted his young players could be affected by the pressure of the tournament setting in an NBA arena.

“We have a lot of freshman with great experience, but this is a first,” he said. “This is different.”

Arizona has won three in a row against the Bruins, dating to last season. Before that, UCLA had won eight in a row in the series.

Check back later for more on the Arizona-UCLA game, which start a little after 1 p.m. Tucson time.

Arizona had a hard time beating UCLA at home last week, overcoming a 14-point second-half deficit to win 78-73. And that was when the Bruins were playing without starting big man Reeves Nelson.

Now, the teams meet again Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament in Staples Center in Los Angeles. And Nelson is back from an eye injury that kept him out for four games.

Nelson, a freshman, is averaging 11.0 points and 5.5 rebounds and is shooting 63.3 percent from the field (107 of 169).

“Reeves Nelson is one of the most talented young players in our conference,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said.

“His field goal percentage is striking. What he does is he gives UCLA that option on the block, and he’s a physical player who can get to the free throw line. To me, he makes them a much better team on offense and on defense. Just really a physical, aggressive player that all coaches love to have on their team.”

UCLA was 1-3 in the games Reeves missed. He and UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt were selected to the Pac-10′s five-man All-Freshman team. Arizona forward Derrick Williams is the league’s Freshman of the Year.

When the teams met last Thursday, Arizona and UCLA battled to a standstill on the boards, each team grabbing 33 rebounds.

“It was difficult to watch the team lose a few games in a row,” Nelson was quoted as saying by the L.A. Daily News. “It wasn’t necessarily because I wasn’t playing — I’m not going to flatter myself that much. But I think with me playing we have a better chance to win.”

Added Miller about Reeves:

“He makes a difference, particularly that field goal percentage because they do such a good job of getting their good payers the ball in position score. You get him the ball in position to score, he really finishes it well.”

Kyle Fogg scored 51 points in two games against UCLA this season./Photo by WildcatSportsReport.com

There isn’t as much media seating as there used to be at McKale Center, so I was relegated to auxiliary seating behind a basket while Steve Rivera of TucsonCitizen.com sat courtside for the Arizona-UCLA game.

This is simply a way to explain that our usual in-game bantering on media row was reduced to occasional text messages, including one from Steve with more about 15 minutes left in the game: “It’s over.”

Arizona was trailing by 14 points at the time, but let me further explain.

“It’s over” has become something of a joke between us ever since I wrote that about Arizona last season after it dropped to 2-5 in the Pac-10. Then came the game against Houston. I was attending that game with my son as a non-media member and I sent Steve the “It’s o-v-e-r” message when Arizona trailed by 10 points with 52 seconds left.

The game, the season, maybe even the program as we knew it … it all seemed over.

And then Arizona rallied to win in overtime.

Same thing Thursday night. A little less dramatic, but thrilling nonetheless.

The UCLA lead was 12 when Kyle Fogg hit a 3-pointer with 13:28 to go, and I sent Steve back a reply:

“It’s not over until Kyle Fogg says it’s over.”

Damn right.

Fogg poured in four 3-pointers in about an eight-minute span, and his two free throws with 3:19 left gave the Wildcats a 65-64 lead that they would not relinquish.

Arizona won 78-73 and it’s not over by any stretch.

“It doesn’t look like we’re sleepwalking at this point,” coach Sean Miller said.

“We’ve stayed with it. Just when you think things aren’t going to get better, they do. Just when you think we have all the answers, we don’t. But we continue to have that resolve and move forward.”

Arizona hasn’t been great this season. Arizona hasn’t been awful this season. But Arizona, at 15-14 overall with a chance to tie for third place in the Pac-10, has almost always been interesting.

And the thing that Miller counted on the most might finally, just in time, be happening.

The Wildcats are playing their best ball of the season.

In any case, Miller called it his team’s best performance of the season, which came on the heels of a comeback and last-second win at Stanford. Now, all UA needs to do is beat reeling USC on Saturday to continue the momentum heading into next week’s free-for-all conference tournament.

If Fogg had a choice, he’d opt to play UCLA in the first round. The mild-mannered dude turns into Sean Elliott, circa 1989, against the Bruins. Remember Elliott that year? He had a combined 61 points in two games against UCLA.

Fogg’s effort was a reasonable facsimile. The sophomore guard had 51 points in the season sweep, following his career-high 25 in the first meeting against UCLA with a career-higher 26 points Thursday, when he made 7 of 10 3-point shots.

“Felt good out there,” he said.

“I really owe it to these two (Nic Wise and MoMo Jones) because they really did a great job of penetrating and drawing attention so I could get some open looks.”

Fogg is averaging 10.9 points and is now the team’s leading 3-point shooter at 43.0 percent (46 of 107). He’s not the most vocal of kids — and he almost all gets ribbed by teammates for something when he shows up for media interviews. Even the coach jokes.

“He’s quiet,” Miller said.

“I try to give him some of my blood sometimes, a little transfusion on the side just to give him that incredible toughness you need sometimes. That’s not to say that’s he’s not tough, but he has that easy-going style. It serves him well on offense and it’s probably something he is learning how to deal with on defense.

“But nobody chased the cutter more than he did tonight. For him to do what he did on offense while working as hard as he did on defense, that’s a heck of a testament to him.”

Like I’ve always said. It’s not over until Kyle Fogg says it’s over.

Contact Anthony Gimino at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com

The Pac-10 games are wrapped up for the decade and not even a late surge could save Arizona from the bottom of the 10-year standings. Thanks, John Mackovic.

Arizona’s 4-20 conference record under Mackovic from 2001-03 was the second-worst three-year mark for any team in the Pac-10. Only Washington State in the past three years (4-23 playing a nine-game league schedule) was worse.

What Mackovic razed, Mike Stoops has raised. Perhaps the 2010s will be better for Arizona.

The chart below is the breakdown of how the Pac-10 fared this decade, with only this season’s bowl games to be played.

Pac-10 All-Decade standings

DECADE NOTES
Best travel pair: Not even USC could lift Los Angeles to this title. The Oregon-Oregon State pairing was the decade’s best with a combined 108 conference victories. The Los Angeles schools were next with 105.

Wither the Washingtons? The Washington schools had a combined 42 league victories in the first four years of the decade, then had a measly 22 in the next six seasons. That’s 1.8 conference wins per team for six long seasons. The last winning league record for a Washington school was WSU’s 6-2 mark in 2003.

Tough to stay on top: Only two of the seven teams that had winning conference records in the 1990s followed up with winning Pac-10 marks this decade — USC and Oregon.

TEAM NOTES
Arizona: The Wildcats are 14-8 in conference games dating to late in the 2007 season. Before that, Arizona was a miserable 16-48 in league games this decade.

Arizona State: Finished with a winning conference record just three times, and went only 2-18 in conference games in the state of California.

Cal: Conference record looks like better when starting with the Jeff Tedford era in 2002: 41-27.

Oregon: The Ducks were superb in the first two years of the decade and in the final two years, posting a 29-5 conference record in those four seasons. In the middle, Oregon was fairly average.

Oregon State: It seems almost impossible to believe that this is the same program that went 13-65-1 during the 1990s. From one decade to the next, the Beavers went from having a 17.1 winning percentage to a 60.7 winning percentage.

Stanford: In a six-season span (2002-2007), the Cardinal won only 13 conference games.

UCLA: The Bruins have lost at least four conference games in every season except 2005, when they were 6-2. UCLA can still add to its bowl total as it will be invited to the EagleBank Bowl if Navy beats Army on Saturday, thereby eliminating the Black Knights from bowl eligibility.

USC: The Trojan Decade ended with a thud, but the streak of seven consecutive league titles and seven consecutive seasons with double-digit victories was utter dominance. Those 15 first-round picks are more than twice any other Pac-10 team.

Washington: The far-and-away Pac-10 King of the 1990s (58-21-1) would have tied for last this decade if it hadn’t defeated Cal on the last weekend of the regular season.

Washington State: From 2001 to 2003, no team had more than the Cougars’ 19 conference victories (USC did, too). Those memories will have to keep Wazzu warm; in the seven other seasons, WSU managed a mere 14 league wins.

If you see any corrections, send them to me at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com.

Vote for the top UA football stories of the decade at our sports network partner wildaboutazcats.com

Cats win 27-13. Said coach Mike Stoops after the game: “Tonight was another very good win. All the turnovers (five of them) were troublesome, but I’m glad that we were able to pull through more convincingly.”

Postgame report: UA’s running back depth takes a hit (and other injury updates)

* * *

UA can breathe a bit easier. The Cats hold on fourth-and-6 from their 31 with 8:10 left. UCLA had previously converted two fourth-down chances on the drive, including once on a pass interference penalty.

UA leads 27-13, and while there is plenty of time for the game to go south (see the Washington game), Arizona is looking reasonably good as long as it does nothing silly on offense or special teams.

* * *

With a chance to put UA up by three scores, Alex Zendejas misses a 39-yard field goal wide right with 11:36 to go. UA has no obvious options behind Zendejas, as the coaching staff has been reluctant to use punter Keenyn Crier in a place-kicking role.

* * *

Kai Forbath is human. The UCLA kicker misses from 52 yards, hitting it low and short, to keep the score at 27-13 early in the fourth quarter. Down two touchdowns, maybe the Bruins should have gone for it on fourth-and-7 from the UA 34.

* * *

Big touchdown for Arizona. Fourth-string running back Nick Booth, on his first carry of the game, goes 6 yards for paydirt on third-and-3. That 10-play, 63-yard drive puts UA ahead 27-13 with 0:34 to go in the third quarter. If the Wildcats stop turning the ball over, UCLA hasn’t shown enough offense to come back.

* * *

You can never have enough running backs. Nic Grigsby (shoulder) is out, Keola Antolin, trying to protect an ankle injury, didn’t play in the first half. Greg Nwoko just left the game, walking gingerly and slowly off the field. Antolin, who has played in the third quarter, is back in. UA could use that bye week next week.

* * *

Just because UA lost a game earlier this month when a pass deflected off Delashaun Dean’s shoe for a interception return for a touchdown doesn’t mean we have seen it all.

How about this?

UA quarterback Nick Foles, throwing a screen pass, nearly has it picked off by LB Akeem Ayers, who had nothing but green field in front of him for a touchdown. He falls to the ground in anguish over his missed scoring opportunity, and that play appears to be over. But the whistle never blew; the officials on the field called the pass a lateral. With most everybody giving up on the play, UCLA safety Tony Dye picks up the ball and runs all alone into the end zone.

The play withstood a replay review … not enough evidence to overturn? You make the call.

In any case, UA’s lead is cut to 20-13 with about 5 minutes to go in the third quarter.

That’s five turnovers for Arizona, their most since last season’s shocking loss to New Mexico.

* * *

Arizona takes advantage of the UCLA fumble, driving to a touchdown, capped by a 25-yard reception by receiver Juron Criner. He took a sideways pass from Nick Foles on the right side and then tip-toed down the sideline and into the end zone. Arizona leads 20-6 with 8:34 to go in the third quarter.

* * *

UA gets a break, forcing a fumble from RB Christian Ramirez near midfield, with CB Devin Ross recovering for Arizona. FS Cam Nelson caused the fumble, his second forced fumble of the game.

* * *

Senior Kevin Craft in at quarterback for UCLA. He was the starter last season, but his 20 interceptions didn’t give him much of a chance to win the job this spring over redshirt freshman Kevin Prince. But Craft started twice this season when Prince was out with a broken jaw. Prince has not been good today, though, going 8 of 16 for 76 yards.

* * *

After the fumbled exchange involving RB Greg Nwoko, second-string Keola Antolin, nursing a tender ankle, made his first appearance of the game, rushing twice on a drive in which UA had to punt to UCLA. Backup QB Matt Scott came in for one play on the drive as a potential wild card, but he was nearly intercepted while trying to hit a screen pass.

* * *

Arizona is doing its darndest to give this game away. Three interceptions in the first half. A missed extra point. And, then, on the first play of the second half, a bad exchange between QB Nick Foles and RB Greg Nwoko results in a fumble, which UCLA’s Datone Jones recovers at the UA 17.

The defense holds, forcing a 33-yard field goal from Kai Forbath, but UCLA moves within a score at 13-6 with 13:59 to go. UA should be well out in front and on cruise control, but is flirting with disaster against an inferior team.

* * *

The game hasn’t turned in UCLA’s favor, but Arizona has stalled and takes an uncomfortable 13-3 lead into halftime. UA quarterback Nick Foles, who entered the game with two interceptions, has been picked off three times, including one in the final minute as the Wildcats were trying to extend the lead.

Foles’ hand was hit as he threw, with the ball popping up into the air. Defensive tackle Jerzy Siewierski made the interception at the UCLA 40.

Also disturbing was that Arizona running back Nic Grigsby left the game in the final minute after taking a hit on his bruised right shoulder. Backup Keola Antolin hasn’t played at all today because of a tender ankle.

All in all, it’s been a far less exciting game than last week’s thriller against Stanford. The Bruins, by the grace of those three interceptions, are hanging around despite being out-gained 260-97.

* * *

UCLA scored behind the amazing Kai Forbath. Even after a third-down sack by blitzing LB Sterling Lewis (nice job on the blitzes today from UA), the Bruins are still in field goal range for Forbath, who entered the game 8 of 9 from 50-plus yards in his career. Make that 9 of 10 after he drilled a 52-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 7:51 to go in the second quarter.

* * *

For as well as things have gone for Arizona so far, they could be better. UCLA came up with a first-quarter interception in the red zone off a tipped pass, and Nick Foles just threw his second INT of the day … and this one just looked to be a bad pass. On third-and-9 from the UCLA 11, Foles threw over the middle and right into the arms of Rahim Moore, who made his second interception of the game.

Moore returned the ball 37 yards to the UCLA 38. UA could be up by 21 or 24 or even 28, but it’s 13-0 with about 13 minutes to go before half.

* * *

End of first quarter. Stat of the game so far: UA receivers have rushed for 60 yards. The coaching staff has seen something in the UCLA defense, and have called four end arounds (or “fly sweeps,” if you prefer) with gains of 20, 10, 14 and 60 yards.

* * *

The UA defense has gotten nastier after last week’s debacle (of course, the Bruins aren’t very good on offense), and free safety Cam Nelson has two sacks off blitzes. His second sack jarred the ball loose from quarterback Kevin Prince, with defensive end Apai Tuihalamaka falling on it at the UCLA 23. The UA offense takes care of business and punches it in for the touchdown on a 6-yard toss to Nic Grigsby.

One piece of bad news: Alex Zendejas missed his third extra point of the season. It might not matter today, but someday . . .

Anyway, UA leads 13-0 late in the first quarter and has all the momentum.

* * *

It’s Arizona on the board first, as Nick Foles shows he can go deep as well as make all the screen passes in the offense. With a little play-action to Nic Grigsby, Foles has plenty of time in the pocket to wait for Juron Criner to slip 5 yard past the UCLA defense (nice stop-and-go move from Criner to fool CB Courtney Viney). Foles throws deep and hits Criner in stride for a 42-yard TD pass and a 7-0 lead with 4:39 to go in the first quarter.

* * *

Nick Foles is the victim of another tipped pass for an interception. Unlike the bounce off the shoe (or the turf) from the Washington game, this one against UCLA was more of a conventional deflection, as the ball went off the hands of David Douglas, reaching up for a catchable pass over the middle. The ball went right into the hands of free safety Rahim Moore at about the UCLA 10-yard line. Moore, who entered the game tied for the national lead in interceptions, now has six.

* * *

Bug Wright, who has missed games because of a knee injury, is back at punt returner for Arizona. He might be a bit rusty, considering he dropped his first attempt at a catch, but he quickly recovered the ball. Wright, because of his elusiveness and speed, gives UA a chance in the return game that David Douglas doesn’t. UA, in fact, has three punt returns all season for a negative 1 yard.

* * *

Arizona begins on defense. Starting defensive end Brooks Reed has missed his fourth consecutive start because of an ankle injury. D’Aundre Reed is starting in his place. We’ll see if Brooks Reed plays at some point.

* * *

Pregame

Three thoughts about this afternoon’s game:

1. How about that no-huddle offense?

It’s not often that Arizona goes into a game wanting to get into a shootout, but this should be one of them. Play fast, create more possessions in the game, take advantage of UCLA’s lack of explosion plays. The Bruins, unlike last season with Kevin Craft at quarterback, can threaten teams deep with redshirt freshman Kevin Prince, but this is a UCLA offense still finding its way. The Bruins still start eight players on offense who are either freshmen or sophomores.

Meanwhile, UA liked what it saw in the second half of last week’s win over Stanford, as the Cats went to a no-huddle offense. Offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes said getting a touchdown late in the first half against Stanford gave the team the confidence it needed to come out in a hurry-up offense. “I had the idea at halftime as I was coming down the elevator, ‘Maybe we should just go no-huddle because it limited a lot of looks they could give us,’” Dykes said. “So, when I asked the offensive players at halftime … everybody was like, ‘Yes!’ It was unanimous excitement.”

2. Can the Cats run?

UCLA has given up a staggering 684 rushing yards in the past three games, which is surprising for a team that has All-American candidate Brian Price at defensive tackle and Reggie Carter at middle linebacker. Granted, the Bruins have played Stanford, Oregon and Cal in that stretch — that’s a combination of good running teams with a couple of superstar backs — but 684 is a lot of yards no matter how you look at it. In fact, it’s more yards than Arizona has given up in six games (644 yards).

Question is, can Arizona attack that rushing defense or will it rely on the quick screen passes that have been so successful in the past two weeks. Much will depend on how the Bruins scheme against UA. “They’re going to do what they do,” UCLA sophomore safety Rahim Moore was quoted as saying in the L.A. Daily News. “They might keep it simple when they run the ball, but it’s the best group of receivers I’ve seen in the Pac-10 since I’ve been playing.”

3. Hope it doesn’t turn into a kicking contest.

UCLA’s Kai Forbath is the best kicker in the country, hitting 17 of 18 field goal attempts this season, with a long of 52. (The 18 attempts in six games tells you that the Bruins are having some red-zone issues similar to Arizona’s.) The most amazing thing about Forbath is that he has made 8 of 9 attempts from at least 50 yards in his career. He has not missed in his past 27 attempts from inside 50 yards. Arizona has marginal confidence in Alex Zendejas, who has made 10 of 12 field goals, none longer than 37 yards, however. He has missed two extra points, often kicking the ball low.

Why wait until Sunday to get your notebook fix? Check out Saturday’s “Nothing but the Notes” from TucsonCitizen.com partner wildaboutazcats.com.