Arizona guard Kiran Boswell brings the ball against Stanford in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game during the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Men’s Tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, March 9, 2023. . (AP Photo/David Becker)
LAS VEGAS — Stanford had already beaten No. 8 Arizona in their only meeting of the season. Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd was not at all surprised that the Cardinals were toughed out Thursday night.
Behind a balanced scoring offense and lateness, the Wildcats eventually put Stanford away, winning the Pac-12 Conference Tournament Quarterfinals 95-84.
“We knew it would be a challenge,” Lloyd said. tended to and did it over and over and over and over again our buddy got hung up on it.
Umar Baro scored 24, Cedric Henderson Jr. scored 23 and Azuoras Tuberis scored 20 (26-6). They play Friday night in either Arizona or Southern California.
Point guard Kerr Criisa injured his shoulder in the first half, and Lloyd said after the break that he didn’t think he would be there, but Criisa played 15 minutes in the second half.
Lloyd’s 59th win in Arizona. This is his NCAA record for the most wins in a coach’s first two seasons. Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retained his former mark.
“It’s a special honor for me to pass Bill Guthridge,” said Lloyd. “I thought I was never going to leave Gonzaga, so it was totally fine. At the end of my career, I may be a head coach for a few years.”
Lloyd improved his Las Vegas record with the Wildcats to 7-0. This includes his 6 wins and losses on T-Mobile his arena. They are the defending tournament champions.
Courtney Ramey gave Arizona 15 points and Arizona used a 12-2 run to take a 92-78 lead. He shot 64 percent for the Wildcats.
Spencer Jones led Stanford (14-19) with 22 points, while Brandon Angel finished with 19, Michael Jones with 13 and Harrison Ingram with 12.
The Cardinals didn’t beat Arizona easily. In Arizona he lost 3-2 and in his previous six games he had lost 3-3. Additionally, Stanford came into the game to win three of his four games, taking his only matchup of the season on February 11, 88-79.
Stanford threatened to sweep the season series, absorbing Arizona’s 15-2 and 14-3 runs in the first half and a 10-0 run in the second half to keep them at offensive distance for most of the game.
“It’s kind of like the growth of our team,” said Spencer-Jones. , thanks to the coach, he really put that in us even though we were failing at the beginning of the season.So we started fighting back and that was the key.”
big picture
Stanford: Seventh-year coach Jerod Haase will soon find out if he’ll be back for eighth. A step back from a record of -16. Stanford’s only postseason appearance under Haase was in the 2018 NIT. Speaking as if looking ahead to next season, Haase said, “It’s not good enough for the record. It’s my responsibility to understand that part.”
Arizona: The Wildcats outscored Stanford 54-22 from the lane and owned the inside. That strategy defies the current conventional wisdom that a game is won or lost by his 3 points his line. It’s not that Arizona hates him shooting threes, but in this game, the Wildcats knew the Cardinals couldn’t match.
next
Stanford: The season is over.
Arizona: The Wildcats will play in the semifinals on Friday night.
