One week removed from their drubbing of in-state rival Arizona State, the Arizona Wildcats will be on the road once again as they head to Boulder , Colo., to take on the Colorado Buffaloes.
Colorado has been another surprise in this year’s Pac-12 standings. The Buffaloes (19-9, 8-7) have victories over Oregon and Cal and at the moment are placed as a 10-seed in Joe Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology. The Buffs still have work to do going forward, but their success is emblematic of the depth the Pac-12 has this season.
“We have to make it to our advantage,” head coach Sean Miller said about the week off in between games. “A lot of teams would love to have what we have in front of us. It gives us a chance to be mentally and physically alive.”
Colorado has been on a slide throughout the month of February. They are 2-4 with victories coming over the Washington schools, while losing to the Los Angeles and Oregon schools.
Forward Josh Scott ranks fifth in the conference with 16.4 points per game. The Buffs are the hottest shooting 3-point team, shooting 39 percent from beyond the arc. Colorado is also averaging about 42.5 rebounds a game, the most in the conference.
Arizona has been riding a six-game winning streak, their most recent a 99-61 victory over the Sun Devils. The Wildcats are averaging 84 points a game during this stretch, while improving defensively and allowing opponents to score only about 69 points a game.CQ
Allonzo Trier seems to be hitting his stride again since his return from injury. In the four games that he has been back, he’s started in three and is averaging almost 15 points a game. Parker Jackson-Cartwright has also replaced Kadeem Allen as the starting point guard, and has averaged 10 points and five assists in the four games he has started recently.
The Wildcats are still tied with the Oregon Ducks atop the conference standings, and this weekend could see a change in that. After its tough test against Colorado, the Wildcats will head over to Salt Lake City and take on the Utah Utes. Meanwhile, Oregon is visiting Los Angeles where they will face off against USC and UCLA.
“The leadership on this team with a number of players that have been through the battles; Gabe York, Kaleb Tarczewski, Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen. They’ve steered the ship through some times where it didn’t quite look as pretty moving forward as it does today,” Miller said. “We got off to a 4-4 (conference) start. Some of that is the schedule that we played and some of it is we weren’t as good. But we stayed with it and right now I hope we can continue to build and grow and play our best basketball down the stretch.”
Arizona and Colorado could have huge implications because of the way the conference stands. The Wildcats have won the last four meetings between them and Colorado. However, the Wildcats have seen four of their five losses on the road, and this year’s Colorado will prove to be a tougher test than the past.
Tipoff for Arizona and Colorado is set at 7 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
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