COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : Wildcats Cage the Cardinals : West: Defense, Reeves lift Arizona over Louisville, 82-70.

Arizona center Joseph Blair walked off the court, both arms raised, which meant either he was happy or he was signaling another three-point shot by Khalid Reeves.

Blair couldn’t have been wrong either way, not after watching Reeves deliver five three-pointers and help usher the Wildcats into the West Regional final with an 82-70 victory over Louisville before 15,157 Thursday night at the Sports Arena.

The No. 2-seeded Wildcats (28-5) will play No. 1-seeded Missouri (28-3) on Saturday, with the winner going to the Final Four next weekend at Charlotte, N.C.

Reeves made nine of 17 shots and scored 29 points, but it was the Wildcats’ hyperactive defense that might have won it for them.

“They have a lot of ways to hurt you,” said Louisville Coach Denny Crum.

It was a deep hurt. Arizona Coach Lute Olson draped two and sometimes three defenders on Louisville’s 6-foot-9 Clifford Rozier and also made sure Arizona contested every shot from distance.

Add it all up and it was worth Arizona’s 12th victory in 13 games.

Reeves noted that Arizona is playing more loosely despite back-to-back first-round defeats the last two years of the tournament.

“I know I’m loose,” he said. “We don’t have to be uptight. We know we’re a good team.”

Olson paid homage to Reeves’ accuracy, but he said the price for this Arizona victory was paid in another location.

“We really made it difficult to score,” he said. “All the guys stepped up big time.”

The Wildcats, who led by nine points at the half, never allowed Louisville to get closer than eight the rest of the way. They sprinted out of sight at 67-52 in a mini-run punctuated by Blair’s hoop after he saved the ball when it was bounced off his knee at the baseline, and Damon Stoudamire’s second and last field goal of the game.

By the time Rozier left, tugging his jersey out of his shorts, his line was small--four shots, one hoop, five points, four turnovers.

For what it’s worth, the two common opponents for Arizona and Louisville were Kentucky (they both lost) and UCLA (Arizona split, Louisville lost by three).

The pregame forecast was for it to rain three-pointers, and so it did. However, few found their mark, but those that did were sent airborne by Arizona launchers.

Wildcats were living large from long distance in the first half, which ended with Arizona holding a 35-26 lead.

It could have been more, mainly because the Cardinals scored the last six points of the half and one-half of Arizona’s feared backcourt was as quiet as a UCLA supporter in Oklahoma City.

Reeves kept his part of the bargain with three three-pointers and 17 points in the first half, but Stoudamire struggled, missing all four of his shots and running off the court at the half without a point.

The Cardinals had 10 points from Dwayne Morton at the half, but Rozier was so tightly guarded, he would have had more room to work in a phone booth. Rozier, Louisville’s power ranger, had just one basket, two turnovers, three points and four rebounds at the half.

Crum said the Cardinals just didn’t shoot well enough to win, which was hard to dispute. Louisville made only seven of 27 three-point shots, one of 12 in the first half, when the Cardinals’ downward trend was established.

“On this level, you’ve just got to make your shots,” Crum said.

Stoudamire was on a lower level. He made two of 12 shots, but he nailed six free throws down the stretch, when Arizona busily worked the clock and got set for its showdown with Missouri.

“We’re not where we want to get,” Olson said. “We have more in mind.”