Sharp shooter Salim Stoudamire is arguably one of the biggest playmakers in Arizona basketball history. Now the former guard will be a part of conference history, as he was inducted into the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor at halftime of the Pac-12 Tournament Championship.
The Arizona basketball program thrives on being a player’s program honoring the past, focusing on the present and preparing for the future. Stoudamire played under hall-of-fame head coach Lute Olson from 2001-2005 and played amongst some notable Wildcats currently in the NBA.
Channing Frye, Luke Walton and Andre Iguodala were all playing with Stoudamire, but never had the accomplishments he had.
Stoudamire was the man with ice in his veins and was the complete cold-blooded shooter. In just his senior season, Stoudamire had a few instances in 2005 where the game was determined from that silky smooth jump shot of his.
Against UCLA, with the game clock winding down in the second half, the Wildcats were tied with the Bruins, and it was Stoudamire who embraced the isolation at half court only to hit the game winning 3-pointer without even hitting the rim.
Fast forwarding to post season play that same year with the game on the line against Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16, it was Stoudamire who hit the game winning shot.
Big games were Stoudamire’s specialty considering he dropped 37 points in the 2005 Pac-12 Tournament championship against Nate Robinson and the Washington Huskies, which is still to this day the best scoring performance in the Pac-12 Tournament for any Arizona Wildcat.
Stoudamire held the Arizona single game record for most 3-pointers in a game with nine on senior day against Oregon State in 2005. Ironically Gabe York tied the performance on senior day as well on 14 attempts. Stoudamire finished the 2005 season with 120 3-pointers and his career with 342, which is a school record while shooting 45.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Now after 11 years of being out of the college basketball scene, Stoudamire was recognized of his greatness as not only a scorer, but also his impact at Arizona as well as the conference.
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