NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Arizona Makes It Look Easy, Even Without Tolbert

Tom Tolbert, University of Arizona center, watched most of his team’s 90-50 victory over Cornell Friday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion from the bench, sitting very, very still.

Tolbert injured his lower back while making a sudden turn with more than four minutes left in the first half and had to sit down. Carefully. He didn’t make any sudden moves, and he needed help getting up to walk to the locker room at halftime.

Joe Turner, a 6-foot 8-inch, 203-pound senior, took over at center, and the Wildcats didn’t seem to miss Tolbert, who is 6-7, 242. At least, not against Cornell.

Arizona, top-seeded in the West Regional of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament, easily recorded its first tournament victory since 1976.

But routing the 16th-seeded Ivy League champion and banging with the big bruisers from the Big East are two different things. And if Tolbert isn’t able to play in Arizona’s 1:55 p.m. game Sunday against Seton Hall, Arizona could be in trouble.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson could say only that Tolbert had twisted his back, that the doctors and trainers wanted to wait another day before evaluating his status for Sunday, and that Turner would be in the starting lineup against Seton Hall. Turner will face Mark Bryant, 6-9 and 245.

Cornell Coach Mike Dement said he hoped Tolbert was not seriously hurt and wished the Wildcats the best in the rest of the tournament.

“Now that they’ve beaten us by 40, I hope they win it all,” Dement said.

Sam Jacobs, Cornell’s high scorer with 10 points, wouldn’t be too surprised if Arizona did win it all.

Said Jacobs, “They were flying at me from everywhere. They have the longest arms I’ve ever seen . . . They’re great athletes, individually. Each and every one on the team. We’re not used to that kind of competition day in and day out.

Truly, it was a mismatch.

Olson, who used every player on his bench and spread the playing time liberally among the first nine players, said, “Both our size and our quickness bothered them. We had more talent, obviously . . .

“We had access to about six of their game types. Mike and his staff do a great job. They are as sound as a team can be. Everything that you can do, fundamentally well, they do fundamentally well. They just don’t have the horses we do.”

Cornell knew that going in. So there wasn’t any head-hanging afterward.

Cornell forward Dean Kartsonas, a senior, said, “We came out to L.A. to play one of the top teams in the nation. It was a great opportunity. We set the standard this year, and I hope that can continue. We won the Ivy for the first time in quite a while.”

Next for this Cornell team? “We’re going to the beach,” Dement said.

Cornell was down by 17 points at halftime.

“We turned the ball over 15 times in the first half,” Dement said. “I’d like to think that it was because of a two-week layoff, but they were bigger and quicker than we were.”

Cornell had 27 turnovers, including 10 steals by Arizona. And Arizona shot 55.1% to 36.7% for Cornell.

Arizona forward Anthony Cook had his career high, 24 points, making 8 of 12 shots from the field. Arizona’s other forward, junior Sean Elliott, made 6 of 10 and finished with 17.

Arizona clearly is not as good a team without Tolbert as with him. But, in praise of Turner, Olson reminded everyone of Arizona’s title game in the Great Alaska Shootout, when Tolbert picked up three quick fouls and had to sit out most of the first half against Syracuse. Turner played 20 minutes and had 10 points and 7 rebounds in an 80-69 victory.

“Joe Turner did an outstanding job in that game,” Olson said. “We have great confidence in Joe. . . . He has those long arms, and he gets a piece of a lot of balls. He just doesn’t have the wide body and strength that Tom has.”

And Seton Hall’s Mark Bryant has.