Arizona verse Ohio State Thursday night will be one of two top programs in the West Region semifinals of the 2013 NCAA Tournament going head-to-head at 7:47 p.m. ET.
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Per ESPN:
Both teams have a mix of veteran talent and emerging youngsters, leading to a few marquee positional matchups that are tough for both coaches to predict.
Ohio State hero Aaron Craft faces a stiff challenge against Lyons, the ball-hawking guard described by Miller as the hoops equivalent of a running quarterback. Deshaun Thomas, the Buckeyes' leading scorer, will be checked on most possessions by Solomon Hill, the Wildcats' rangy senior from Los Angeles.
Ohio State is the only team to make the regional semifinals in each of the last four seasons, and the Buckeyes are on a 10-game winning streak since mid-February. Arizona overcame its late-season struggles to put together yet another solid NCAA run, trouncing Belmont and unceremoniously ending Harvard's hopes last week while making better than 55 percent of their shots in both games.
"It always gets tougher the further you go in the tournament," said Craft, whose late 3-pointer propelled Ohio State past Iowa State last Sunday. "You play against great players, and as a defender, you always want to take away their go-to. They have more than one."
Arizona should have a home-court advantage as the regional's closest school to Los Angeles by far, with thousands of Wildcats fans expected to make the trip to cheer on a team with seven players from Southern California. The Wildcats had a huge advantage two years ago in the West Region final in Anaheim, although UConn still advanced on the way to the national title.
Arizona and Ohio State have never met in the NCAA tournament, but Matta and Miller faced off in the second round in 2007, three years after Matta took over the Buckeyes and left Miller in charge at Xavier. Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden led Ohio State past the Musketeers after Ron Lewis' clutch 3-pointer forced overtime, and the Buckeyes eventually reached the national championship game.
