Oregon Stuns Arizona--Again
This was supposed to be Arizona’s revenge. Instead, it was another Duck drubbing of the Wildcats.
Thirteen days after handing Arizona the most one-sided loss in Coach Lute Olson’s 19 seasons at the school, Oregon defeated the 15th-ranked Wildcats again, 90-80, Friday night at Tucson.
“We felt we wanted to make another statement, having played so well up there in Eugene,” Oregon Coach Ernie Kent said. “Probably the best thing for us was to turn around and play them again.”
Only a three-point basket by Will Bynum with 23.9 seconds to play prevented it from being Arizona’s worst home loss of the Olson era.
Luke Ridnour set career highs with six three-pointers, 23 points and 10 assists as the Ducks (10-3 overall, 3-0 Pacific 10 Conference) won at McKale Center for the first time since 1985, a span of 16 consecutive losses.
Oregon swept Arizona (8-4, 1-2) for the first time since the 1982-83 season.
Oregon, which made 13 of 22 three-pointers in its 105-75 rout of Arizona in Eugene on Dec. 22, hit 10 of 17 threes this time.
A year ago, the Ducks lost at Arizona, 104-65.
Jason Gardner scored 22 points for Arizona, but was just seven for 19 from the field and three for 11 on three-pointers for the Wildcats, who were without Luke Walton, their best passer and defender. Walton, one of only three non-freshmen in Arizona’s rotation, strained his right Achilles’ tendon in Arizona’s victory over Pepperdine on Dec. 29.
“Even with Luke, I don’t know how much better we would have been,” Olson said. “We are having a miserable time getting our guys to play with some continuity.”
The worst loss for Arizona at home under Olson is a 61-49 defeat to Tennessee on Dec. 23, 1983, Olson’s first season.
No. 12 Stanford 82, California 62--Julius Barnes scored a career-high 27 points as the Cardinal opened conference play at Palo Alto with an easy victory.
Josh Childress had 13 points and Matt Lottich had 12 as Stanford (8-2, 1-0) defeated California (9-2, 0-1) for the 10th consecutive time.
Joe Shipp scored 15 points and Brian Wethers had 14 for the Bears, who had a five-game winning streak stopped.
The teams meet again Sunday, marking the first time they’ve played consecutive games against one another since the end of the 1989-90 regular season.
Arizona State 67, Oregon State 58--Chad Prewitt had a career-high 25 points and Tommy Smith scored 18 at Tempe, Ariz., as the Sun Devils avenged a loss to the Beavers last month.
Arizona State (8-4, 1-2) won its fourth consecutive and snapped Oregon State’s three-game winning streak, which began with a 62-57 win over the Sun Devils on Dec. 22.
Philip Ricci had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Beavers (8-5, 1-2).