| | TUCSON, Ariz. -- The fourth-ranked Arizona Wildcats play
five of their remaining seven Pac-10 games at home, beginning with
Thursday night's contest with USC, the only conference team to beat
them.
The teams' circumstances are far different than they were Jan.
22 in Los Angeles, when USC was one of the hottest teams in the
nation and beat Arizona 80-72.
|  | | Jason Gardner has made just 7 of his last 41 field-goal attempts. |
Lately, the Trojans have fallen on hard times. They've lost
three in a row and four out of five and, at 13-9 overall and 6-4 in
the Pac-10, are in danger of falling out of the NCAA Tournament
picture.
The Wildcats (21-4, 10-1 Pac-10) aren't taking anything for
granted.
"They beat us last time, and we're going to have to play hard
against them," Gilbert Arenas said. "We're worried about the
Pac-10 title. It's us and Stanford battling for the title."
In order for that March 9 showdown with second-ranked Stanford
to mean anything, though, Arizona must keep winning. The Wildcats
rolled to a pair of victories at Washington and Washington State
last week and want to keep the momentum going against the Trojans
Thursday and UCLA on Saturday.
Arizona coach Lute Olson said the Trojans, despite their recent
struggles, present the same kinds of problems that befuddled the
Wildcats in Los Angeles, mainly in the form of Brian Scalabrine and
David Bluthenthal.
"They both shoot the '3' well, and they force you to spread
out," Olson said. "I don't think the last game was a matter of us
not playing well, but USC just shot the lights out. I think it will
come down to shooting percentage again. We took care of the ball
and rebounded well against them, but they just shot the ball too
well."
In the USC game, Michael Wright elbowed the Trojans' Abdullah
Elmagbari in the face and neck. Referees didn't see it, but later
after reviewing tape of the incident, the Pac-10 reprimanded
Wright, and he was placed on probation for the rest of the season.
"It was a mistake," Wright said. "I did it because I was
frustrated. Our team was losing. I won't throw an elbow ever
again."
The Wildcats are hoping that point guard Jason Gardner climbs
out of a shooting slump that has plagued him for three weeks. Starting with Arizona's humbling 86-60 loss at LSU, Gardner has made just seven of his last 41 field-goal attempts, including 3 for 26 3-pointers.
"Everybody goes through a slump," Gardner said. "Hopefully, I
will improve. I made some shots in the last game, which helped
boost my confidence. ... I took some shots after practice, and that
helped."
Gardner, as the team's only point guard among the seven
scholarship players currently available, is crucial to Arizona's
hopes for the Pac-10 title and the No. 1 seed in the West. He's
needed for much more than his shooting.
"I think Jason understands that there is more to the game than
just shooting the ball," Olson said. "He is our primary ball
handler, and he knows how to distribute the ball. The worst thing
to do is to start looking for shots when a player is in a slump.
"Jason is defending well and taking care of the ball. Jason is
not attempting a lot of difficult passes, so his turnovers are
going down. He is doing a good job of selecting his passes."
The Wildcats have won 25 Pac-10 home games in a row. Their last
conference loss at McKale Center was to UCLA on Feb. 13, 1997. | |
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