For the second game in a row, TJ McConnell took over the game and provided enough offensive spark to make sure that Arizona advances to the Elite 8 and they did just that by beating Xavier 68-60 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The first half was a big struggle for Arizona on both the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side. Chris Mack threw out a 1-3-1 zone, something that the Wildcats had not really seen much of this season. Dee Davis was really good running the point distribuiting the ball down low to aide his big men. Matt Stainbrook was a handful in the low-post manhandling Kaleb Tarczewski and getting most anything he wanted around the rim. The couple of times Xavier switched to man-to-man defense, Arizona took advantage and was able to find holes and drove to the rack for easy buckests. But for the majority of the first half both sides played sloppy offense as the two ended the first half with 28 points a piece.
One of Arizona's staples this season is that they can grind out games and they did just that. Xavier was leading by two points with around nine minutes left to go in the game. Then the Wildcats drove the lane, upped the tempo, and really clamped down on their defense allowing the Musketeers to make just one shot from the field the remainder of the game. This led to Arizona going on a 21-9 run, which eventually led the victory over Sean Miller's former assistant, Chris Mack.
There was a lot of things to like about the Xavier team and of course the standout guy was Matt Stainbrook. Stainbrook was giving everything Kaleb Tarczewski could handle and then some down low finishing up with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes of action. However, the senior looked like he was running out of gas late on and picked up four fouls in the final 6:18. Off the bench, Jalen Reynolds put on a show in just 28 minutes, ending the night tied for second in points with 12. Reynolds was phsyical down low, driving at Brandon Ashley and Tarczewski making 5-9 shots from the field overall including five huge offensive rebounds.
Stanley Johnson had a much improved performance on Thursday night finishing with 12 points -- which was also tied for second on the team. It his outside shooting that was critical tonight, making 2-5 from deep, as Arizona tried to break down Xavier's defense. After a shakey first half offensively, as he turned the ball over four times, but made 13 of his 17 points in the latter twenty minutes. He also stuffed the rest of the stats per usual coming down with seven rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block. He will not be happy with his turnovers and will look to make better decisions in the Elite Eight round on Saturday.
When the brackets got released on selection Sunday, everyone wanted the rematch between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Arizona Wildcats and that is exactly everyone gets as the two will play Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.