LAS VEGAS — March Madness has arrived and with that comes potential upsets and games that go down to the wire. Top-seeded Arizona got everything it could handle from No. 9 seed Stanford in an offensive showcase that ended with the Wildcats securing an 84-80 win over the Cardinal in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Tommy Lloyd's team closed out the game going 3-for-3 from the field and outscored Stanford 10-5 in the game's final three minutes at T-Mobile Arena.
"These first games in these tournaments, especially when you have a bye, they are like this," Lloyd said. "The other team has rhythm and a little bit of belief from a special game the day before where they kind of pulled a rabbit out of a hat, so to speak, but you give them a ton of credit. And they are a spirited group, a high character group. And I knew it was going to be a tough game today."
The win for Arizona makes it the first postseason victory of the Wildcats since the 2020-21 season when the sports world was shut down due to the start of COVID-19.
Although Arizona's defense struggled, the Wildcats were led by the combination of center Chrisitan Koloko and guard Benn Mathurin.
The duo of Koloko and Mathurin combined for 44 points while shooting 59% from the field on 29 shot attempts.
In the three games versus Stanford, Koloko has scored 51 points averaging 17 points and has collected 21 rebounds. His 24 points against the Cardinal set a new career high for the junior big man.
"I'm just taking what the defense gave me. Coach drew up some plays. I was open, so I was just staying there," Koloko said on his performance. "I just got to give credit to my teammates, they found me. Whatever the defense does, I'm just going to play to it."
The Wildcats struggled on the defensive end as Stanford shot 11-for-20 from the 3-point line while shooting 55% from the field. Arizona kept pace on offense in large part by getting to the free-throw line 19 times.
Just like the last meeting between these two teams, Stanford forward Spencer Jones was able to keep his team in the game with a career-high 28 points.
Although Jones led the team in points, freshman Harrison Ingram became stronger as the day went along and scored nine of his 16 points in the final four minutes of the game.
"He's a talented player. He's a McDonald's All-American, freshman of the year in the conference," Lloyd said of the performance by Ingram. "And I thought he maybe had just been trending downwards a little bit, just maybe freshmen wall or whatever reason kind of.
"But today he kind of came out and you saw he had little bounce in this step. And he made a play or two early. And like their whole team. Their whole team rose to that occasion. They are spirited. Their locker room was too far from ours, and they were excited to play, excited at halftime."
One of the critical moments of the game came with just over 32 seconds left in the second half when Arizona point guard Kerr Kriisa drove through the lane and, while passing the ball, came down in traffic and rolled his ankle.
"It's a sprained ankle of some kind. I have no idea the severity of it or anything like that," Lloyd said. "But obviously it's a quick turnaround, so it will be tough. We'll just play it by ear.
"... I'm going to talk to my trainer after this and we'll see. I'm not making any of those calls right now."
Kriisa had to be helped off the floor and couldn't put any weight on his right ankle. He wouldn't return to the bench and ended his day with 10 points and five assists.
If Kriisa is unable to go, senior Justin Kier could get the start after serving as the team's backup point guard through the season. Kier has been a starter while at previous programs and started on senior day against Cal to end the season.
The Wildcats will now face Colorado in the semifinal round Friday at 7 p.m. MST after the fourth-seeded Buffaloes defeated No. 5 seed Oregon, 80-69, Thursday afternoon. The game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
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