Arizona men’s basketball holds off the University of Washington and Isaiah Stewart 77-70 and will now face USC tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.

A day in which the NCAA announced they wouldn’t allow fans into any NCAA tournament games due to the coronavirus saw the Pac-12 play the first day of their tournament as planned with fans. Since the tournament has moved to T-Mobile Arena, there has been a steady increase of fans each year, especially on Wednesdays.

The majority of the fans being for Arizona saw a battle between two of the best freshman big men in the conference. Zeke Nnaji and Stewart went back-and-forth all day. It was Stewart who played the better game, but Nnaji came out with the win.

“If we played Washington seven times every game would be close,” head coach Sean Miller said. 

In the first half Stewart had 16 points, was perfect from the field and the free-throw line and was trying to carry his team to another win over Arizona just like Washington did on Saturday night.

Arizona needed contributions from everyone, and they got it. Jemarl Baker Jr. had eight points with two made threes while Chase Jeter played big minutes and guarded Stewart.

Josh Green played like a man on a mission today as he was everywhere on the court and finished with 19 points on 5-10 shooting and made three 3-pointers. Nico Mannion, Dylan Smith and Nnaji also scored in double digits and added a combined 39 points.

Arizona wouldn’t let up in the second half and with the win today, the team will now play USC tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. MST. 

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