Oregon Ducks fall short against Arizona Wildcats in Pac-12 championship game

Once the Wildcats got rolling, there was no stopping them on the way to the Pac-12 semifinals.

The Trojans, who as recently as Wednesday night felt compelled to openly campaign for a spot in March Madness, showed they possess just enough madness to belong there and enough moxie to scare plenty of teams once they arrive.

“I’m trying to make sure I’m not just staying behind the 3-point line”, said Markkanen, who is often compared to a young Dirk Nowitzki. “My hat goes off to them”. “Oregon’s a really good team, and they weren’t going to lay down and just let us walk away with a win”.

Now, they enter an offseason of uncertainty, particularly regarding Romar’s future as UW’s coach.

Arizona (28-4) played a solid first half, building a one-point lead. He can create offense through his catches because he either scores off his catches or kicks it out off the doubles to the perimeter for open shots. UCLA took advantage of the offensive drought, leaping out to a 14-3 lead.

Time after time, it was Trier disappointing, because he wore sweatpants and I had the occasional thought of “oh look, Zo got some new kicks”. “But I think settling in and being more assertive in the second half and having a presence was the difference”. The silky smooth junior scored a whopping 17 points in the first half.

“Yeah, we need to have more balance”, Boyle said. “There’s no doubt about it”. A night after toppling UCLA in the semifinals, Arizona took down OR 83-80 to claim its second Pac-12 title in three seasons.

Since 2006, Pac-12 teams are 10-6 in the West Regional semifinals and finals and 1-11 in other regional semifinals or finals.

The Ducks gained a little separation to start the second half, opening with an 8-2 run.

By adjusted efficiency, the Pac-12 was the worst of college basketball’s power conferences this year.

In the end, it came down to the top two seeds in the conference tournament and it was the Wildcats that came out on top.

“No matter what happens this week, the one thing that I do know is it’s about playing our best next week”, Arizona coach Sean Miller said.

As does Lauri Markkanen, who was 4 for 4 from the floor for 11 points despite being blanketed on defense.

The Buffaloes split with Washington State during the regular season, losing by two in overtime on the road, winning by 32 at home.

Game 1 ” No. 8 Arizona State vs.

OR had a setback before the game even started with the loss of Boucher, the versatile 6-foot-10 forward who was the team’s third-leading scorer and the Pac-12’s leading shot blocker. We’ve had a hard time with him in all three games.

White had a rough game against Arizona the first time out, scoring seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.

Cal faces Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

Ennis finished with 16 points for OR, and Jordan Bell had 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

The Wildcats continued to click offensively and enlarged the lead to 49-35 at the 15:23 mark when Trier drilled a long three-pointer with the shot clock running out.

No. 3 UCLA set up the re-rematch – it will be their third meeting this season, the rubber match – by slipping past USC 76-74 in the final quarterfinal Thursday, about three hours after the Wildcats took care of Colorado.