Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal Preview: Oregon Ducks vs. Arizona Wildcats

No. 1 Oregon Ducks vs No. 4 Arizona Wildcats

6:00 PM PT - MGM Grand Arena - Las Vegas, NV

TV: Pac-12 Network - Stream: Pac-12 Live

Last night, the Oregon Ducks made an impressive comeback against the Washington Huskies to avoid the upset and advance to the Pac-12 tournament semifinal. They'll face the Arizona Wildcats, who defeated Colorado to advance to tonight's matchup against the Ducks.

Oregon Notes

PROBABLE STARTERS

For the second straight season, the Ducks are on the cusp of the Pac-12 tournament championship game. Last night, Oregon erased a 12-point first half deficit against the Washington Huskies to advance to tonight's semifinal. The Ducks went on a 20-7 run to erase the gap before halftime and continued to play well into the second half. The Huskies almost wiped out a double digit deficit themselves, but the Ducks were able to hang on for the win.

Balance and depth has been the name of the game for Oregon this season, and last night was no different. Four of Oregon's starters scored at least 15 points, with Elgin Cook and Chris Boucher leading the way with 19 points each. The Ducks have so many different ways to beat their opponents, and that is what makes them so deadly. If one guy goes cold, the Ducks have a number of different guys to turn to and that balance was a big key to yesterday's win.

The last time these two teams faced, the Ducks stormed into Tucson and snapped Arizona's 49-game home winning streak, the longest in the nation to that point. That was the only time this season that Arizona lost at home as the Wildcats went on to win their final six games at home.

Arizona Notes

PROBABLE STARTERS

The Wildcats are coming off an 82-78 win over the Colorado Buffaloes yesterday in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal. Arizona dominated the first half, heading into the break with a 17-point lead, but the Buffaloes outscored Arizona by 13 points in the second half. The comeback fell just short, however as the Wildcats held on for the win.

Tonight's game is a rematch of last year's Pac-12 tournament championship game between Arizona and Oregon. In that game, the Wildcats dominated the Ducks, coming out on top with am 80-52 win and the first Pac-12 title for Arizona since 2002. The Wildcats would go on to the Elite Eight before falling to Wisconsin.

Oregon will need to show up defensively tonight if they want to stay in this game. Heading into the tournament, the Wildcats led the conference in scoring margin (+10.2), field goal percentage (.491) and three-point field goal percentage (.412). Arizona can light up the scoreboard, ranking second in the conference in scoring this year averaging 82.4 points per game going into the tournament.