Arizona gets tough, routs Cal
Arizona proved something to itself on Thursday in Berkeley. Arizona can play physical basketball.
Sean Miller, during his mid-week presser, stressed how the Wildcats needed to learn to play a more physical brand of basketball after last Saturday's struggle at home against the more physical UCLA Bruins.
Thursday at California, Arizona got tough, remained tough, and closed out the Bears with ease to move into a statistical tie atop the conference standings in the loss column.
The Wildcats not only embraced contact on both ends of the floor against the Bears, they also played through contact, finished off tough possessions, made the difficult defensive stops when they needed them most, and actually looked like they were having fun doing it.
The key now is doing it again.
Arizona plays at Stanford on Saturday. The Wildcats will be seeking their fourth straight conference road win of the season. A feat that will be impressive considering Arizona had dropped its first five true road games of the season.
Thursday's win over California keeps Arizona in the Pac-12's regular season title race. A win on Saturday will almost assure that the Wildcats will stay in the fight, with a chance to earn the league's top seed in the conference tournament, over the final three week's of the season.