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NCAA Tournament first round: Arizona vs Utah

Ridiculed all week by incredulous national media pundits as unworthy of inclusion in the NCAA Tournament field, the Arizona Wildcats knocked the collective smirk off their detractors’ faces.

Leading for all but 32 seconds of a Midwest Region opening-round matchup at American Airlines Arena in Miami, the 12 th-seeded Wildcats posted an emphatic 84-71 victory Friday over fifth-seeded Utah.

“I just felt that we overcame adversity again and proved that we really should be in the tournament,” Arizona junior point guard Nic Wise, who led all scorers with 29 points, said afterward.

“This team came focused and ready to play,” said UA junior wing Chase Budinger, who finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. “We’ve had hardships throughout the whole season, but we stuck together as a team. We united and came closer with those hardships. That’s what made us at this point that we’re at now. We’re just trying to play our best basketball right now, and we just played well tonight. We came after it on the defensive end, and our defense really led to our offense tonight.”

After the Utes (24-10) took their only lead of the game at 4-3 on a pair of free throws by Kim Tillie with 18:18 left in the opening half, the Wildcats (20-13) went ahead to stay on a drive to the basket by freshman guard Kyle Fogg with 17:45 remaining on the first-half clock.

The Wildcats extended their advantage to 14-4 on a layup by Budinger to complete an 11-0 run. They led 34-29 at halftime and pulled ahead 54-43 on a dunk by Budinger off an alley-oop pass from Wise with 11:47 left in the game.

After the Utes closed their deficit to 64-62 on a three-pointer from the right corner by Tyler Kepkay with 5:15 remaining, the Wildcats responded with a 14-3 scoring surge. Arizona’s game-clinching run was ignited by a putback dunk by Jordan Hill with 4:29 left and was capped by a two-handed slam by Hill that put the Wildcats in front by a count of 78-65 with 1:05 remaining.

Hill, a 6-foot-10 junior forward/center, finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds. He also helped limit Utah standout Luke Nevill, a 7-foot-2 center, to 12 points and six rebounds.

“We kind of went back to some things fundamentally that we needed to do, and I thought the guys were just outstanding tonight with their effort and their energy,” Arizona interim head coach Russ Pennell said.

With the victory, the Wildcats have extended this most paranormal of seasons for at least one more game.

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These Wildcats -- who have persevered through the preseason upheaval of Hall of Fame head coach Lute Olson’s unexpected retirement, through the early-season heartbreak of last-second defeats to UAB and USC, and through a late-season malaise of five losses in six games -- have advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32. They’ll line up in Miami on Sunday in a second-round Midwest Region clash against the 13 th-seeded Cleveland State Vikings, whose 84-69 upset over fourth-seeded Wake Forest on Friday was as resounding as it was surprising.

Pennell, who has maintained all season that he is not expecting to be considered for Arizona’s permanent head-coaching job, reiterated Friday that he is concentrating solely upon his team’s next challenge. He said that the mindset is the same for his players, including junior stars Hill and Budinger, who are projected to be first-round picks in the upcoming NBA Draft if they decide to leave school early and turn pro.

“The thing is I’m the coach of the 2008-2009 Arizona Wildcats and we’re still playing, and that’s all my focus has been all year and that’s all it’ll continue to be,” Pennell said. “I really don’t worry about that (what will happen after the season ends). I’ve asked these guys next to me way back in October to not worry about their future. Everyone wonders are they going pro. They’ve never talked about that. They’ve never even hinted that. I think that’s one of the reasons that this has been such a successful year. We’re enjoying this, we’re having fun, and this has been an incredible ride. When it gets over, we’ll all have decisions to make. But it’s not over, and we’re living to fight another day. And that’s why we’re looking forward to not only tomorrow’s practice but the game on Sunday.”

By Tom Kessler
DFN Sports Staff Writer