The Arizona Wildcats were the class of the Pac-12 all season and they put an exclamation point on that fact with an impressive 80-52 win against the Oregon Ducks in the final of the Pac-12 Tournament. The victory gives Arizona its first Pac-12 Tournament championship since 2002.
Arizona wins 2015 Pac-12 basketball tournament with dominating win against Oregon
The Wildcats made their case for a No. 1 seed.
While Oregon looked prepared to give the No. 5 Wildcats a game early on, that thought faded quickly. The Wildcats took a 13-10 lead with 12:26 to play and never looked back. A few small runs -- sparked largely to a staunch defensive effort -- allowed Arizona to separate. A 10-0 run punctuated the first half and the Ducks never threatened in the second half.
Arizona was especially impressive on the defensive side. Oregon is one of the better offensive teams in the country but was held well under its 76.3 points per game average. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley dominated defensively in the post, limiting Oregon’s bigs all game. Ashley also got it done on the offensive side, finishing with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
The Pac-12 final hasn’t been kind to Arizona in recent years with three losses in the last four games, including a couple of heartbreakers. Those was no drama this year as the Wildcats spent most of the second half in celebration as they built out the lead into a full on blowout.
The attention will now turn to Selection Sunday where Arizona will see if it’s resume is good enough to earn a No. 1 seed. The Wildcats were slotted as a No. 2 seed in the latest bracketology from Chris Dobbertean of SB Nation. While Oregon came up well short in the final, it did boost it’s resume with a solid run up to that point and should have helped their status for the NCAA tournament.
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