Team was the theme in Arizona’s big win over Colorado in Vegas

Ironically, they are also the no.3 ranked team in the entire country. “They’re well-coached. They’ve got great balance inside and out”.

The Arizona State Sun Devils (14-17) are coming from a 73-60 loss to Arizona in which Kodi Justice scored 17 points in 6-for-10 shooting from the field. With a couple three-pointers, transition layups and tenacious defense, the Buffs came back to briefly take the lead before going into halftime down 38-37.

OR had a setback before the game even started with the loss of Boucher, the versatile 6-foot-10 forward who was the team’s third-leading scorer and the Pac-12’s leading shot blocker.

UCLA took a 14-point lead with five minutes remaining in the first half after holding the Trojans scoreless for the first five minutes of the game.

“In the second half I felt that we got the flow of our offense going”. “But I think settling in and being more assertive in the second half and having a presence was the difference”.

Senior guard Bryce Alford hoisted up 10 prayers from deep but only connected on one of them, and Ball hit just 1-of-6 of his 3-point attempts.

“We came out slow, but at the end, we had them”, Mathews said. “There’s no doubt about it”.

That probably means OR is out of contention for a 1 seed, even if they beat Arizona in the Pac-12 championship, but hopefully that’s not the case.

Now they’re Pac-12 Tournament champions and have a decent shot to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs.

The second half started the same way the first half did. Brooks had 22 and Dorsey 21 for OR, which led 48-29 in rebounding.and 42-18 in points in the paint.

Boatwright opened the second half by attacking the basket and drawing a foul to tie the game at 39 but Crisp quickly answered with a three.

Perhaps the primary missing staple of the rivalry was a tense finish after Duke outscored North Carolina by 15 points during a 10-minute span while Berry was on the bench with four fouls.

OR finally looked like the tournament’s top-seeded team in the final minutes when Dorsey made a score-tying jumper.

LAS VEGAS – To reassure those around him, Pac-12 tournament MVP and Arizona star Allonzo Trier would offer platitudes aimed to quell the drama surrounding his 19-game suspension for a failed a performance-enhancing drug test.

Lauri Markkanen, Arizona’s celebrated freshman, had little trouble scoring. Miller was gushing on Friday night while talking about Allen’s contributions on and off the floor, noting how rare it is to see a junior-college transfer and redshirt player have such a big impact for a primetime program like Arizona.

No. 8 Arizona State vs. On that run, the Wildcats’ length caused major problems for the Buffs on both sides of the court.

You can’t blame East Coast bias for this: The Pac-12 has been shut out of the Final Four for eight straight years, not appearing there since the likes of Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook suited up for UCLA.

The last time OR and Arizona met, the Ducks did everything right and the Wildcats did everything wrong. But Kentucky converted chances when needed, hitting 13 of 17 free throws in the final six minutes with Fox making 5 of 7 in particular and 11 of 15 overall.

Ennis finished with 16 points for OR, and Jordan Bell had 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Colorado must wait to see if its resume is good enough for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but is most likely looking at playing in the NIT.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, will advance to face either USC or UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals tomorrow night.