Arizona Forgets the Past to Win

Visions of East Tennessee State were dancing through the minds of Arizona fans.

Memories of Santa Clara and Miami of Ohio also reared their ugly heads.

Arizona, for all of its wild success in the NCAA tournament, still has a hard time shaking its shocking upset losses of the past.

That’s why Utah State, the 14th-seeded team in the Chicago Regional, having its way with the third-seeded Wildcats in the first half Thursday night at Taco Bell Arena brought so many negative flashbacks.

That is, until the second half of the Wildcats’ eventual 66-53 victory got under way.

Trailing by three at halftime after being limited to 26 points, Arizona stormed past the deliberate Aggies with a 16-2 defense-fueled run to open the second half and the Wildcats cruised in front of 11,894.

“Last year, we would have been bickering at each other and pointing fingers,” Arizona senior guard Salim Stoudamire said. “We got the jitters out now.”

Arizona, which improved to 28-6, will play No. 11-seeded Alabama Birmingham on Saturday. Utah State finished 24-8.

Because of its style, Utah State was compared to both a deeper Stanford and a more athletic Washington State, two Pacific 10 Conference teams that gave Arizona trouble this season.

As such, the Aggies frustrated the Wildcats early, harassing Stoudamire, the nation’s top three-point shooter at 52.5%, into a one-for-five performance from beyond the arc in the first half.

Arizona had lost first-round games to 14th-seeded East Tennessee State in 1992, 15th-seeded Santa Clara in 1993, 12th-seeded Miami of Ohio in 1995 and 13th-seeded Oklahoma in 1999 and seemed ripe for another upset loss.

Instead, Arizona came out of the locker room pressing to speed up the tempo as a three-pointer by Stoudamire, who finished with 17 points, broke a 31-31 tie and the Wildcats were on their way.

“It was a combination of both -- what they were doing and what we weren’t doing,” said Arizona senior center Channing Frye, who had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.

So Arizona filled the Utah State passing lanes and disrupted its rhythm, resulting in the Aggies’ shooting 26.7% in the second half.

“We missed some open shots, but they really turned their defense up,” said Utah State Coach Stew Morrill. “They made it so we couldn’t score in the second half.”

The Aggies’ leading scorer, senior Spencer Nelson, made one of seven shots and was held to six points, more than 10 below his average.

“Part of it was we just said, ‘No more outside shots until Channing has touched the ball,’ ” said Arizona Coach Lute Olson. “You’re going to get better shots on the outside if you keep the ball inside because Channing is so much of a threat ... they’ve got to help. And when they help, we’re going to get opportunities.”