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Wildacts break Bruins hearts on Valentines Day

For the University of Arizona basketball team, Valentine’s Day 2009 could be characterized as Statement Saturday.

Playing in front of Verne Lundquist, Clark Kellogg and their CBS television audience, the Wildcats ratcheted up the intensity for 40 minutes and earned a decisive 84-72 victory over 11 th-ranked UCLA.

The win was the seventh in a row overall and sixth straight in the Pac-10 for the Wildcats (18-8, 8-5), who further strengthened their credentials for selection to the school’s 25 th consecutive NCAA Tournament.

“When you play a team like UCLA, I think they bring out the best in you,” Arizona interim head coach Russ Pennell said. “They play tough defense and they’re tough-minded. I felt like our guys matched that today. I felt like we came out with a real purpose. I felt that we were on-point from the time the ball was tipped off. I was just real proud of the effort and especially just the mind-set that we had, especially after how we played them the first time (in an 83-60 loss to the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 15). It’s been a good turnaround the last four to five weeks.”

The Wildcats seized control early, jumping out to a 49-31 halftime advantage.

“The biggest thing is we just got after it,” said Arizona junior wing Chase Budinger, who finished with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. “We were able to apply pressure from the start. We just got off the ball, tried to trap as much as we could and tried to create chaos for them. I think that really bothered them. We were able to get quite a bit of turnovers (14) in the first half.”

“We were down by 18 (at halftime) against a team that’s playing very well,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. “Arizona is playing great right now, and it was hard to dig out of that hole. We had way too many turnovers. A couple times we were throwing the ball right to the other team.”

The UA stretched its lead to as many as 25 points in the second half, when junior power forward Jordan Hill scored on a putback to increase the margin to 73-48 with 9:28 remaining.

UCLA (19-6, 8-4) answered with a 13-0 run to draw to within 73-61, but the Wildcats maintained their advantage down the stretch. After the Bruins closed the gap to 81-72 on a layup by Josh Shipp with 1:09 left, Arizona held them scoreless the rest of the way.

“We’re playing really well right now,” Budinger said. “I think we’ve finally found ourselves as a team.”

“We’re just fighting,” said Arizona point guard Nic Wise. “We’re getting better, and we still feel that we’re not at our peak yet.”

Wise scored 26 points to match UCLA standout senior point guard Darren Collison for game-high honors.

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“He will probably be the Pac-10 Player of the Week with the way he has played these past two games,” Howland said about Wise, the 5-foot-10 junior who began the week by scoring 27 points on Thursday night in the Wildcats’ 83-76 win over USC.

Hill shook off an ankle injury to finish with 22 points and 13 rebounds for the UA, which also got 11 points from sophomore guard Zane Johnson.

The packed house of 14,611 at McKale Center was fired up from the start, when the Wildcats walked through the Zona Zoo student section on their way to the court.

“It was Coach Pennell’s idea, just to get the fans into the game early,” Wise said. “It worked for us. Our fans give us a lot of energy throughout the game.”

“We did it when I was at Ole Miss,” said Pennell. “I’ve been just so impressed with our student section, especially the last few weeks when we’ve kind of got on this run. And I knew our guys would enjoy that. It’s kind of a rush doing that. I knew that the students would like it, too, and I think they did. I thought they were really buzzing when the game started.”

The Wildcats' next game is a rivalry clash in Tempe against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sunday night, Feb. 22.

The Sun Devils handed Arizona a 53-47 defeat in Tucson on Jan. 21. The Wildcats have not lost since.

By Tom Kessler
DFN Sports Staff Writer