Arizona is the Pac-12 Regular Season Champion. The last ever Pac-12 Regular Season Champion. Following an 88-65 win over the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion, and a 74-68 home loss by No. 18 Washington State to rival Washington, the Wildcats stand alone atop the Conference of Champions standings and have secured the No. 1 seed in next week’s Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. It marks Arizona’s first win at Pauley Pavilion since 2017, and the first season sweep over UCLA since 2010.
It was another efficient night from the floor for the Cats, who shot 52 percent from the field and assisted on 16 of 28 made baskets. UA also flexed its size inside and defensive speed and intensity, out-rebounding the Bruins 41 to 29, and pacing UCLA 18-3 in fast break points.
Freshman KJ Lewis erupted for 18 points on 6-9 from the field, including 2-4 from 3-point range. Lewis also tallied five rebounds, and four assists off the bench for Tommy Lloyd’s squad. Potential Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year, Jaden Bradley, also had an impressive outing. The sophomore guard finished with 13 points on 4-5 from the field and 4-4 from the charity stripe off the bench. Caleb Love (17), Pelle Larsson (12), and Kylan Boswell (10) all finished in double-figures as well.
The Pac-12 Regular Season Champs square off against the USC Trojans on Saturday, March 9, at 8:00 PM MST in their final regular season Pac-12 conference game.
Read what Tommy Lloyd, Caleb Love, and Keshad Johnson said following Arizona’s 88-65 win over UCLA:
Tommy Lloyd on winning on the Pac-12 Regular Season title:
“Players coach I guess. I didn’t expect that, I was assuming that we were going to have to win on Saturday too, but you know, hey, if the guys want to celebrate it, they earned it. It’ll test our maturity for Saturday, but I think we got a mature group with some winners, so I expect them to come out and respond on Saturday.”
Lloyd on Arizona’s performance against the Bruins:
Good, I mean it was good. It was a good effort, I mean, they came out and it was an even game for a while and our guys settled in and played good team basketball. I thought we were able to make a really good run at the end of the first half there to kind of get some separation. That’s crucial, that’s something we talk about, that something we work on. We you get that 6-8 point lead, can you make that next run? You can’t always, it doesn’t always happen, but they did today. That gave us a nice lead going into halftime, and then we came out and we started the second half pretty good.”
Lloyd on Arizona’s defense scheme:
“We played normal defense today. I mean, I think we’re a good defensive team. Maybe, you know, there’s some points of the year we’re trying to get too tricky or too scout heavy, and I think we literally did our normal defense today. We didn’t do anything different.”
Lloyd on Arizona’s balance scoring attack between the veterans and younger players:
“We’re getting deeper into the season, and so we have vets. We have our four vets, and you know it’s obvious who they are. Those guys have been through the wars and they’re winners. And we have this group of young guys that are really talented. We’ve really tried to be you know conscientious this last two weeks of building up these younger guys and getting them ready for the experience that’s coming.
They’re awesome, high character guys, and sometimes when you’re player six seven and eight on a program like this it’s hard, because you think next year will be my turn, but we we don’t need next year we need now. Those guys are really good players, they’re really talented, and they’ve been through a whole season, a bunch of high level games. They know what we want to do, what we don’t want to do, so I asked them all to step it up a little bit, and luckily they responded.”
Lloyd on KJ Lewis hitting a “freshman wall” this season:
“No, that kid has no wall. I mean, from the first day he stepped on campus, he’s played with tremendous effort ’til now, so, he’s been awesome.”
Lloyd on if Caleb Love is the Pac-12 Player of the Year:
“I don’t think there’s any doubt. There’s no doubt in my mind, he’s the player of the year. I’m more interested – I’m not interested in player of the year, coach of the year, I’m interested in team of the year. That’s what drives us, it’s ours, us, together, I mean, those are words we use all the time in our program.”
Keshad Johnson on Washington State losing to Washington and Arizona claiming the Pac-12 Regular Season Championship:
“I found out last time I got subbed out into the game, probably four minutes to the end of the game. That’s all we was wanting for, and we got a ‘PTC’ mindset, Pac-12 Champions mindset.”
Johnson of Arizona fighting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament:
“It’s March, everything comes into play in March. No. 1 seed, luck, discipline, guys staying healthy, everything come into play. We just got to use that to our advantage, whatever seed we get.”
Caleb Love on Arizona’s stronger start against UCLA in Pauley Pavilion than at McKale:
“We just wanted to set the tone. You know, they got the best of us – well, they didn’t see the best of us at McKale, and we wanted to set the tone coming out in the first four minutes. We kind of sustained it throughout the game, and we came in the second half, and continued that. Our guys off the bench gave us great energy, hats off to them, they put so much work in. KJ had a big game, JB [Jaden Bradley] came in being steady as he always is. We need everybody every time we step on the floor, everybody that contributes.”
Love on Arizona fans traveling and hearing “U-OF-A!” chants at Pauley Pavilion:
“We appreciate the fans, always. They travel really well and it just goes to [show] the Arizona brand. How big it is, and we just wanted to deliver.”
Love on likely being named Pac-12 Player of the Year:
“Whatever happens, happens. But, I just give all my credit to my teammates because they helped me and they build me up. Like I said, I’m always grateful for them for taking me in as one. My coaches, they’ve just been, they’ve been there for me since they recruited me out the transfer portal. I just give my credit to them, because you know they helped me get to this point.”