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Men’s basketball: Get to know Wisconsin’s Elite Eight opponent, Arizona (again)

Mens+basketball%3A+Get+to+know+Wisconsins+Elite+Eight+opponent%2C+Arizona+%28again%29
Joey Reuteman

LOS ANGELES — It’s nearly the same scenario as last season, Arizona and Wisconsin will battle Saturday evening with a Final Four berth on the line.

Forty minutes wasn’t enough time to decide a winner in last year’s Elite Eight game, and No. 2 Wisconsin triumphed in overtime 64-63 to clinch its first Final Four in 14 years.

And by the time the final buzzer sounds at the Staples Center and one of the teams wins the West Regional title, both teams will be very familiar with one another.

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Here’s your chance to get a chance to know the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats.

Arizona Wildcats

Location: Tucson, Arizona

Enrollment: 31,670

Nickname: Wildcats

Mascot: Wilbur T. Wildcat and Wilma T. Wildcat

Conference: Pac-12

Head Coach: Sean Miller; 249-95 (.724) all-time, 129-48 (.729) at Arizona. Miller served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 1992-93.

Regular Season Record: 34-3, 16-2 Pac-12

Bear Down?

With its nickname being the Wildcats, it can be confusing for a person unfamiliar with Arizona sports history to be confused by its fans chanting phrase: “Bear Down!”

The chant comes from a story all the way back in 1926. John Byrd “Button” Solomon, president of the student body and quarterback of the football team, was involved in a car accident that left him critically injured.

Shortly before he passed, he received a visit from the team’s coach. Solomon told his coach, “Tell them … tell them to bear down.”

The rest is history.

Season Recap

Arizona entered the season ranked No. 2 in the nation, one slot above Wisconsin. The Badgers leapfrogged the Wildcats after the third week of the season.

Like Wisconsin, Arizona got off to a perfect start to its season, winning 12 games in a row. A 65-63 overtime win against Gonzaga in overtime was a highlight of the run, as well as a win over then-No. 15 San Diego State to win the EA Sports Maui Invitational tournament championship.

The Wildcats first loss came on Dec. 23 at UNLV. The other remaining losses were to Pac-12 foes Oregon State and Arizona, both on the road.

Arizona closed out regular season play on an eight-game win streak to clinch the Pac-12 championship by three games. The Wildcats then stormed through the Pac-12 tournament, winning three consecutive games en route to their first conference tournament title since 2002.

How They Got Here

In the NCAA tournament, the second-seeded Wildcats handled Texas Southern 93-72 and trounced Ohio State 93-78 in the second and third rounds of the tournament, respectively.

In the Sweet 16, they faced their toughest test of the tournament thus far against No. 6 Xavier. The Wildcats trailed for the majority of the second half until the 5:27 mark, but finished the game on a 17-7 run to dismiss Xavier 68-60.

Notable Players

Stanley Johnson

Johnson, a 6-foot-7 freshman forward from Fullerton, California, came out of high school ranked as a top-three overall recruit and the top recruit at the small forward position.

A lengthy wing (similar to the Badgers’ Nigel Hayes), Johnson translated his high school success into college play. He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and to the first-team all-Pac-12. He led all Pac-12 freshman in points (14.1 per game) and steals (1.5)

His 14.1 points per game leads the Wildcats. He also has averaged 6.6 rebounds and 29 minutes per game.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

Hollis-Jefferson is the team’s leading rebounder, bringing in 6.8 boards per game. The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward is the team’s third-leading scorer, averaging 11.1 points per game.

Hollis-Jefferson earned his way to first-team all-Pac-12 honors, as well as being named to the all-Pac-12 defensive team. Hollis-Jefferson recorded four double-doubles this season while shooting 50.2 percent from the field. In Arizona’s last 46 games, Hollis-Jefferson has scored more than 10 points in 30 of them.

In last year’s Elite Eight matchup against Wisconsin, Hollis-Jefferson scored 10 points.

Hollis-Jefferson hails from Chester, Pennsylvania, the same place Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan is from.

T.J. McConnell

Like Hollis-Jefferson, McConnell was named to the all-Pac-12 team and the all-Pac-12 defensive team. The senior point guard is the generator for the Wildcats offense, as he averages a team-high 6.3 assists per game.

McConnell contributes to the scoring attack by averaging 10.3 points per game, while also hauling in 3.9 rebounds a contest.
The fifth-year senior had nine points against Wisconsin in last year’s West Regional Final.

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