TODAY’S GAME

ARIZONA vs. KANSAS

* How they match up: Notre Dame tried to play up-tempo with Arizona in Thursday’s semifinal and is back in South Bend now after coming out on the short end of 88-71. Kansas, unlike the Irish, has the starting players to match Arizona step-for-step, led by senior forward Nick Collison, coming off a 33-point, 19-rebound effort against Duke. The schools played one of the stranger games of the season Jan. 25 in Lawrence. Kansas jumped out to a 20-point first-half lead, shooting 64.7% from the field but Arizona dominated the second half and won by 17. Look for Kansas to pound the ball into Collison in an effort to exploit his 17-pound advantage over Arizona’s Channing Frye.

*--* ARIZONA Starters Pos Player Ht Wt Stats F Luke Walton 6-8 245 42.3% FG, 10.5 ppg F Rick Anderson 6-9 225 53.7% FG, 6.7 rpg C Channing Frye 6-10 238 57% FG, 12.8 ppg G Salim Stoudamire 6-1 176 44.9% 3pt, 87.3% FT G Jason Gardner 5-10 191 14.5 ppg, 4.9 apg Key reserves G Hassan Adams 6-4 201 48.5% FG, 3.4 rpg F Andre Iguodala 6-6 200 6.7 FG, 4.8 rpg KANSAS Starters Pos Player Ht Wt Stats F Nick Collison 6-9 255 18.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg G Keith Langford 6-4 205 15.7 ppg,, 5 ppg G Kirk Hinrich 6-3 190 48.6% FG, 17 ppg G Aaron Miles 6-1 175 74.7% FT, 6.4 apg F Jeff Graves 6-9 275 5.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg Key reserves G Michael Lee 6-3 215 21 steals, 4.6 ppg F Bryant Nash 6-6 205 3 ppg, 2.5 rpg F Moulaye Niang 6-10 215 7 minutes per game

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* Keys to the game: Kansas needs a bounce-back game from star senior guard Kirk Hinrich, who had twice as many turnovers as points, 4-2, in the win over Duke. Hinrich is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 17 points a game. Another big question: Does Kansas have enough depth to trade shots and fouls with Arizona? The Jayhawks are thin on the bench after losing starting forward Wayne Simien to a season-ending injury, while Arizona packs a tremendous one-two freshman punch with guard Hassan Adams and forward Andre Iguodala. Adams scored 14 points in 22 minutes off the bench against Notre Dame and Iguodala provided some tough defense.