Bronny James announced departure as he confirmed that……..
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The top-seeded Arizona Wildcats open the Pac-12 tournament against the No. 9 USC Trojans in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Wildcats (24-7) had a bye in Las Vegas, while USC defeated the no. 8 Washington. Huskies, 80-74, in the first round on Wednesday. Tip for Arizona-USC Thursday at T-Mobile Arena is at 12:00 p.m. MST. Boogie Ellis led the Trojans with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting against UW, while NBA lottery prospect Isaiah Collier added 14 points and seven assists..
USC (15-17) is now on a four-game winning streak that included Saturday’s 78-65 loss then. 5 Arizona ends the regular season. Head coach Andy Enfield’s team seems to be in shape at the right time, with a trio of talented guards in the starting lineup and Bronny James, LeBron James’ button man, coming off the bench. James added seven points and five rebounds against Washington on Wednesday. The Trojans fell to the Wildcats 82-67 in the second game in January, but were without Collier and Ellis in that game. Arizona will use the loss for USC . . this weekend to get better.”We knew SC gave us a gift and we can really learn from it,” Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd said this week. “That’s our focus.” Added Arizona center Oumar Ballo: “We will respond. It was a wake-up call for us. It will make us better in postseason play. “USC held Pac. -12 Player of the Year Caleb Love scored 1 on Saturday/ 10 and forced the Wildcats into 18 turnovers with 18 assists..
Just kidding…I’m actually here all week…but seriously guys, I’m not going to see another upset on Thursday in a game you all really care about: USC vs. Arizona Wildcats. We’re all pretty old. remember last saturday when the trojans beat the wildcats 78-65 in los angeles. Arizona committed 18 turnovers, shot 38.7 percent and appeared to still be in post-party mode after winning the Pac-12 regular-season title at UCLA on Thursday night.The loss seemed to have a fan or a few — or many — leaving them standing. : “Oh, WTH? Luckily, I ran into Matt Muehlebach at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night and asked him, “Oh, WTH?”” Two things,” he said. .” Yes, I guess you were disappointed. It was a classic disappointment. Second, I think USC is good. They’re really good.”If you need a refresher, the Trojans were second in the league in the preseason Pac-12 media poll. They’ve won four in a row and six of eight, and those losses include a double-overtime loss to a talented Colorado team and a three-point setback at Washington State..
USC is healthy again, and that six-game losing streak early in the season when it was missing its best players won’t matter much on March 14.”They have a lottery pick. (Isaiah Collier) and they have. a guy in Boogie Ellis who’s going to start somewhere to play pro. He can score when he wants to,” said Muehlebach, who is an analyst for Thursday’s Arizona-USC game on the Pac-12 Network. “And they have a lot of other really good players. DJ Rodman is a great player. I think Kobe Johnson has improved a lot. And so they finally click.”When you combine the two — the Wildcats not really ready and USC playing to their potential — and you get a result like Saturday.
The Wildcats can only control that, of course. above all. And I fully expect them to execute that routine.Let’s just say this: shame on them if they don’t see a first down.”I think we came into this game very physical and responded to their pressure. ,” USC :n Johnson said of Saturday’s game.”I think we have to come out, just put pressure on them and physicality right away because I felt like the last game we did a great job of stopping their best physical players.
Until we do it, we’re in a good place to do it again. “At some point reading this, you probably thought, “Wait. Arizona was playing for the No. 1 seed. In the NCAA Tournament. Is that motivation wasn’t it enough on Saturday? “Good question. I asked Muehlebach, who drew on his experience as a wildcat.”I wouldn’t say that,” he said. – I shouldn’t say that players don’t think at all about their placement. But I think the time they think about seeding is less than 10 percent or five percent. At least I don’t remember thinking much about our seeding at the time.”.
