#8 Arizona pulls away from Stanford, reaches Pac-12 semifinals

LAS VEGAS — Stanford had already defeated No. 8 Arizona in their only match of the season, and Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Cardinal was tough on Thursday night.

Behind a balanced scoring attack and a late run, the Wildcats finally eliminated Stanford, winning the Pac-12 Conference Tournament Quarterfinals 95-84.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Lloyd. “Their size suits us very well. They have a tendency to make well-timed shots against us, and they continued to do so over and over again. Our guys held on.

Oumar Ballo scored 24 points, Cedric Henderson Jr. made 23 and Azuolas Tubelis added 20 for the Wildcats (26-6). They will play Arizona State or Southern California on Friday night.

Guard Kerr Kriisa injured his shoulder in the first half and Lloyd said he didn’t expect to have it after the break, but Kriisa played 15 minutes into the second half.

Lloyd won his 59th game at Arizona, an NCAA record for most wins in a coach’s first two seasons. Former North Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge maintained the previous mark.

“Passing Bill Guthridge is an even more special honor for me,” said Lloyd. “I thought I was never going to leave Gonzaga and I was totally fine with that. I would jokingly tell people, ‘Hey, I’ll just be the next Bill Guthridge. He was Dean Smith’s right-hand man. I’ll be Mark Few’s right-hand man and maybe get a few years to be head coach at the end of my career.’”

Lloyd improved his Las Vegas record with the Wildcats to 7-0, including 6-0 at T-Mobile Arena. They are the current champions of the tournament.

Courtney Ramey had 15 points for Arizona, who used a 12-2 run to take a 92-78 lead. The Wildcats hit 64%.

Spencer Jones led Stanford (14-19) with 22 points, Brandon Angel had 19, Michael Jones scored 13 and Harrison Ingram finished with 12.

The Cardinal didn’t make things easy for Arizona, who entered the game two out of three and had gone 3-3 in their previous six. Additionally, Stanford won three of the four games entered into this game and clinched their only meeting of the season, 88-79 on February 11.

Stanford threatened to sweep the season series, absorbing runs of 15-2 and 14-3 Arizona in the first half and 10-0 in the second to remain in striking distance for most of the game.

“This is just kind of growing our team,” said Spencer Jones. “We have been talking about it throughout the season, our ability to handle races like this. Every team is going to run, and credit to the coach, he really instilled that in us, even if we weren’t getting it at the start of the season. So we started fighting back and that was the key.”

THE BIG PICTURE

Stanford: Seventh-year head coach Jerod Haase will soon find out if he will return for eighth-year. He was given a lifeline after last season to return, but the Cardinal took a step back from their 16-16 record. Stanford’s only postseason appearance under Haase was the 2018 NIT. Haase spoke as if he was looking ahead to the next season, saying, “In terms of the record, it’s not good enough. It’s up to me to figure that part out.

Arizona: The Wildcats owned the inside, outscoring Stanford 54-22 at the lane. This strategy challenges the current wisdom that games are won and lost from the 3-point line. It’s not like Arizona is averse to shooting the 3, but in this game, the Wildcats knew the Cardinal couldn’t match it.

NEXT

Stanford: The season is over.

Arizona: The Wildcats play in the semifinals on Friday night.