Arizona Wildcats take on Washington Huskies live on Thursday night in Pac-12 College Basketball action at 9:00 PM ET.
The Arizona Wildcats have been one of the surprise teams in the Pac-12 this season and are in second place behind Oregon as the schedule heads towards February. The team will try to continue its strong play on Thursday night as they visit the Washington Huskies in Seattle.
Wildcats head coach Sean Miller has been trying to instill a defensive ferocity to the team, but the wildcats struggled last Thursday against UCLA, giving up a season-high in points in the 84-73 loss. The team rebounded in a 74-50 blowout of USC after playing stellar on defense, but the Huskies will be another story.
Washington has owned Arizona of late, winning three straight games against the Wildcats. Arizona will need to play like it did against USC to get Washington off balance, as they held the Trojans to a season-best 28.1 opponent field-goal percentage. Sophomore Nick Johnson scored 14 to lead four players in double figures and once the Wildcats built the lead to over 30 points, USC could not muster a comeback.
"Once in a while when you lose, all of a sudden it's really the focus," Miller said, "not just for me or our staff, but for everybody. That's why it's so difficult to win every game, and when you lose, what you hope is you learn from it. You're able to move forward, kind of refocus yourself on the things that make you a good team, or more important, maybe some things that we really had to get better at."
The Huskies have won five of the past six against the Wildcats and are 12-8 on the season after an 81-76 loss to Oregon on Saturday. Washington will feel comfortable against Arizona at home, as the team has a five-game winning streak over the Wildcats on their own court.
"We have a really big road trip coming up at both of the Washington schools -- places where we have not won in recent times," said Miller, whose team visits Washington State on Saturday. "Being in Seattle always makes it a difficult game."
Washington started off as one of the best teams in the Pac-12 after opening conference play 4-0, yielding less than 60 points per game, but since then, things have been a different story. The Huskies are giving up an average of 76.3 points during a season-worst three-game slide, including in losses to Utah and Oregon State.
In the loss to Oregon on Saturday, Washington was weak on defense and allowed the most points scored on them this season. The game was close throughout with Washington forcing a season-best 23 turnovers, but the Ducks shot better down the stretch. Freshman Andrew Andrews had 15 points off the bench while C.J. Wilcox scored 14.
"I am really proud of our effort, of how we stayed with it. We didn't quit," coach Lorenzo Romar told the school's official website. "We did a good job coming out being ready to play. ... If we bring that focus and effort we'll be on the positive side more than not."
The Huskies will be looking to avoid their first four-game losing streak since 2008 and will be trying to fight off history, as Washington has dropped nine of its last 10 against Top 25 opponent.
The Wildcats are ranked 34th in scoring with 75 points per game and have been hitting the boards hard, averaging nearly 40 rebounds per game. The team is shooting below 50 percent from the field, ranked 75th in the nation, while Washington is even worse, ranked 140th.
Arizona has tough matchups coming up, with home game against Stanford and California and road contests against Washington State, Colorado and Utah.
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