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Arizona vs California Basketball Recap

With their 76-72 victory over California on Sunday afternoon, the Arizona Wildcats climbed into a first-place tie with the Golden Bears at the halfway point of the Pac-10 schedule.

“This is to me our best win of our season because of who we played,” Arizona head coach Sean Miller said following the dramatic finish at McKale Center. “ Cal is a terrific team, and the stakes were high. It’s always interesting to see how your team plays in big moments, and we really answered the bell.”

In winning their fourth consecutive game, the Wildcats improved to 12-9 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-10. Arizona and California (14-7, 6-3) lead the conference by one game over Arizona State (15-7, 5-4) and UCLA (10-11, 5-4).

“You’re always curious as a coach to see how a team plays in those big moments,” Miller said. “Today was a big moment. I really loved our togetherness. It wasn’t an easy win. We were down. It wasn’t as if we were winning from coast to coast, from start to finish. We were down at the half (34-32), playing against a very good offensive team. But we kept competing. Players made big plays.”

The play of the game was turned in by senior Nic Wise, who finished with 30 points to equal his career high.

With 40.4 seconds left and the Wildcats trailing 72-71, the 5-foot-10 point guard received the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court. Wise drove for a layup and was fouled with 26.3 seconds left. He swished his free throw to complete a three-point play, giving the Wildcats a 74-72 lead.

“We do this situation every day in practice – late-game, tied or down,” Wise said. “And my teammates look to me to make that shot.”

After California lost the ball out of bounds for a turnover, Wise drew another foul and knocked down two more free throws to increase the Wildcats’ advantage to 76-72 with 10.7 seconds left.

Arizona clinched the victory when freshman forward/center Derrick Williams pulled down a defensive rebound with four seconds remaining.

Williams finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones contributed 10 points and three rebounds.

“It felt great,” Jones said about the win. “That's the only word to describe it. It felt great. It was a game that I think everybody dreams of – playing for the No. 1 spot, packed house, no (empty) seats in the crowd, everybody coming out to watch you play.”

The big-game buzz was in the air at the Tucson arena before, during and after Sunday’s showdown. The crowd of 14,629 was the largest and loudest of the season at McKale Center.

“The atmosphere today was as electric as there can be in any building in college basketball,” Miller said. “Who benefitted from that? Our team. I thought the energy in the building just had such a great effect on our ability to continue to play hard and continue to make plays. We needed every one of ’em to win the game. We beat a very good Cal team – experienced, very skilled, a terrific system, hard to play against.”

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Senior forward Theo Robertson led California with 27 points while senior guards Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle each finished with 15 points. Christopher added eight rebounds.

In a game that featured 16 ties and 17 lead changes, the Wildcats began their final surge with 1:20 remaining when Williams drove the left side for a dunk to knot the score at 69-69.

After a runner in the lane by Wise gave Arizona a 71-69 lead with 53.2 seconds left, the Golden Bears went ahead 72-71 when Randle was fouled by Wise on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws.

Wise then stepped up for his decisive drive to the basket, converting the three-point play that helped him garner his second career Pac-10 Player of the Week award.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Miller said about Wise, who turned in a 14-point, six-rebound, four-assist performance in Thursday’s 76-68 victory over Stanford prior to Sunday’s 30-point barrage against California.

For the season, Wise is averaging 16 points and 3.8 assists per game.

“Nic has been fantastic from start to finish,” Miller said. “Believe me, I can’t underestimate where we’d be without him. He’s as meaningful to our team as any point guard in the country.”

Following the victory over California, Wise emphasized that the Wildcats still have plenty of work to do in a conference race that has two teams at 6-3, two teams at 5-4 and five teams at 4-5.

“The season’s not done,” Wise said. “We still have the second half of the Pac-10 to go.”

Arizona will travel to Seattle for a Thursday night matchup against the defending conference champion Washington Huskies (14-7, 4-5). On Saturday, the Wildcats will play the Washington State Cougars (also 14-7, 4-5) in Pullman.

By Tom Kessler
DFN Sports Staff Writer