After seeing the UNLV women on Wednesday, I flew to Phoenix Thursday and tried to enjoy a couple of Arizona Fall League games with friends. I wrote in detail about the decline of that league last year and will not revisit the topic on this go-around. On Friday, I picked up a rental car and drove to Tucson, home of the University of Arizona, who had a basketball game that night and an afternoon football contest the following day.
The U of A campus is east of downtown and street parking is free after 5 p.m. I found a spot near a sorority house on 1st Avenue, conveniently close to Dirtbag's, a college bar that caters to old folks like me as well. After a very satisfying dinner I walked over to the arena, picking up a ticket on the secondary market for a substantial discount from face value. I entered from the south (pictured above) and found myself in an interior concourse that had several displays worth checking out.
It was somewhat disorienting as I am used to reaching the main concourse first, but I took my time to read the displays. Of course, Arizona won the national title under Lute Olson in 1997 and there is a detailed biography of Olson that is worth reading to get an understanding of the history of the program.
Many Wildcats went on to the NBA and they are honoured above, while those who also won titles at the top level are recognized in a separate display.
The photographic roster is something I am seeing more and more as I tour, and I appreciate them, though in this era of NIL and the transfer portal, it must be a lot of work every offseason to update them.
With that done, I entered the seating bowl, which was still quite empty. There are two levels of seats around the entire court, with the lower level more comfortable padded blue seats, while upstairs are red plastic chairs. You can move freely around the concourse between the levels, which I did often as the jet lag hit early in this game.
The court is named for Olson and the court design is new this year and features the cactus logo for the first time since 2009. The bright green really stands out against the seat of blue and red that otherwise dominates.
The McKale Center opened in 1973 and is named for Pop McKale, who was involved in all aspects of Arizona athletics from 1914-57. It holds 14,688, but as there are no suites to force the upper level higher, so you get a good view from there too.
The Wildcats had a lot of success for a decade late in the last century, and they are still a basketball blue blood, making the tournament regularly, though upset losses are the norm in recent years, including a defeat to 15th-seed Princeton in the first round in 2023. At one end of the concourse is the Champions Club, which seems to be a museum with memorabilia and trophies on display, but it is only open to ticket holders during the game. If you want to see it, you will have to visit on weekdays during business hours.
Retired jerseys are displayed on pillars around the seating bowl; below is namesake Sean Elliott's #32.
The ZonaZoo behind is the official student section, which stretches from the court up to the top row of the upper deck. With this being homecoming weekend, it was not filled up as there were a number of parties around campus that were likely far more interesting than the game.
Overall, I enjoyed my brief time here, though I would have appreciated a more entertaining game to fight off the jet lag. But it's early in the season and power conference schools will schedule patsies to pad their record in hopes of a better seed come tournament time. Of course, if you play too many weak teams, you run the risk of getting upset when March rolls around. Something to think about for all you future basketball coaches out there.
The Game
The Utah Tech Trailblazers were the sacrificial lamb on this night, coming in as 33.5-point underdogs, while 13th-ranked Arizona was celebrating a neutral-site win over #3 Florida on opening night in Las Vegas.
After scoring the first five points of the game, Arizona got sloppy and allowed Utah Tech to go on a 9-0 run. After that, there were five lead changes, and it looked like the battle might be competitive. But that last lead change was part of an 18-2 run that gave the Wildcats some breathing room, which they needed as the Trailblazers ended the first half on an 11-4 spurt to make it 44-37.
After Arizona scored the first seven points of the second stanza, Tech responded with seven straight of their own. But Arizona ended the suspense with a 17-4 barrage over seven minutes and the rest of the game was only useful to see if they could cover that point spread.
In the end, they got it up to 26 and no more, perhaps a moral victory for Utah Tech, who lost 93-67. Look at the difference in assists below; I've never seen such a discrepancy. That was one of several examples of statistical dominance, as Arizona outscored the Trailblazers 58-24 in the paint and 26-3 on the break.
The Wildcats took an incredible 63 shots from the field, sinking 36 of them for a 57.3% success rate. Even then, some fans were not happy with the performance, probably because they did not cover.
Notes
Between the two teams, there were 11 countries other than the US represented. Utah Tech has players from Angola, Canada, France, and Nigeria, while Arizona has imports from Australia, England, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Russia, Senegal, and South Sudan. That's some impressive recruiting.
With the two wins, Arizona moved up to fifth in the AP Poll, and they proceeded to beat Northern Arizona and then #15 UCLA at the Intuit Dome, which moved them up another spot in front of Duke. Looks like an exciting season upcoming in the desert.
Best,
Sean
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