Arizona Makes Presence Felt

In a battle of NCAA tournament-ready teams, this year’s preseason No. 1 defeated this week’s No. 1 Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.

Michael Wright’s basket with three seconds left lifted No. 8 Arizona to a 76-75 victory over No. 1 Stanford before a crowd of 7,391 in a game taut with as much drama as any postseason tournament going on this week.

With Stanford leading by one, Casey Jacobsen had a chance to put the game away, but missed a three-point shot with 15 seconds left.

Arizona called time out with 12 seconds remaining and set up a play for Wright. From the high post, center Loren Woods pushed the ball inside to Wright, who wheeled in the lane and scored the game-winner.

“Loren threw a great pass and I just muscled it in,” Wright said.

In the end, Arizona’s victory was actually a win-win for the Pacific 10 Conference.

Stanford, 27-2 overall and 15-2 in the Pac-10, had already clinched at least a share of its third consecutive conference title.

Thursday’s one-point loss to a top 10 school will probably have little impact on Stanford’s postseason standing.

Provided the Cardinal can take care of Arizona State at home on Saturday, it will head into next week’s NCAA tournament as the top-seeded team in the West Region and open first-round play in San Diego.

“I think it will help us, I really do think it will help us,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “It

will prepare us for knowing how critical plays are. We had three, four plays, we needed to make one and it’s pretty much over. We have to learn from that. That’s the kind of game you’re going to have in the tournament.”

Arizona’s victory was more important, as the Wildcats (22-7, 14-3) can all but clinch being seeded second in their tournament region with a victory at California on Saturday.

The Wildcats, after a season filled with tragedy and turmoil, are starting to play like the team some said could rank with one of the great squads in NCAA history.

“In the beginning, when we were talking No. 1 ranking and all that stuff,” Arizona’s Richard Jefferson said, “we told everybody we would be playing our best basketball in March.”

Since losing to Stanford in Tucson on Jan. 6, Arizona is 14-2.

They still have a few kinks to work out, namely Woods. On March 1, Woods scored two points in 19 minutes in a home win over Oregon State. Woods called his game “garbage” and said he should have left school last year and made himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Woods bounced back with a 17-point game against Oregon last weekend and chipped in 10 points and four assists against Stanford, and delivered the game-winning pass to Wright.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson was pleased with Thursday’s win, but said the Wildcats cannot offset a huge win over Stanford with a loss to California.

“I told them, enjoy this win tonight, but when I see you at breakfast tomorrow, I better not hear one word about last night,” Olson said. “That’s over and done with. We need to be ready to play Cal. If we get through Cal, it would be hard to see us being lower than a No. 2 seed. But I’m not in charge of that.”

Stanford’s loss also has to be put in context.

Jason Collins picked up his third foul five minutes into the game and didn’t play the rest of the half.

Justin Davis, the Cardinal’s talented and athletic forward, did not play because of an ankle injury.

It was one reason Stanford was outrebounded, 36-27, and had only one offensive rebound in the first half.

But it was still a game Stanford won’t forget.

“This was a tournament-like game,” Jacobsen said. “Maybe what we learned tonight will manifest itself later. We are going to have to make plays. We can’t have mental lapses like we did.”

Arizona guard Gilbert Arenas led all scorers with 22 points.

Jacobsen and Mike McDonald led Stanford with 20 points each.

There was talk that this might not be the last time the teams will face each other this year.

A rematch in the Final Four perhaps?

“We’re not looking that far ahead right now,” Jefferson said. “I personally believe Stanford’s a lock for the Final Four. It’s up to us to do what we need to do.”

Thursday, Arizona took an important step.

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Pac-10

Standings

Stanford: 15-2

Arizona: 14-3

UCLA: 14-3

California: 11-6

USC: 10-7

Arizona St.: 5-12

Washington St.: 5-12

Oregon: 4-13

Oregon St.: 4-13

Washington: 3-14