UCLA vs. Arizona settles packages of less poison amid many changes

Long the biggest basketball rivals in the Pac-12, UCLA and Arizona meet again Saturday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix as newly estranged.

It will be a non-conference game. In a neutral court. In an NBA arena that was not sold out from midweek.

“It’s all weird,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said Wednesday of a game that always drew one of the biggest home crowds of the season for each team, but is now being staged elsewhere as a name, image and likeness fundraiser. The teams are scheduled to meet again next season at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and in 2027 in Los Angeles at a site to be determined.

Adding to the bizarreness is Arizona’s early season stature. The Wildcats (4-4), now members of the Big 12 Conference, fell out of the national rankings last week for the first time since November 2021 and briefly had a losing record for the first time since the start of the 2009-10 season.

Basically, they’re feeling the same kind of pain that UCLA did a year ago, in the midst of a massive attrition. Guard Caleb Love is the only returning starter on a transfer-heavy Arizona roster that will seek its first quality win when it faces No. 24 Bruins (8-1).

“They’ve had a lot of changes in their staff,” said Cronin, whose recent roster makeover has been an early success. “But they’re still the same, nothing really different in terms of what they run offensively and the things they do and how they play.”

Cronin said Arizona’s games are largely a function of a brutal schedule that has included Wisconsin, Duke, Oklahoma and West Virginia, not to mention an extended trip to the Bahamas for the latter two games.

Some metrics support Cronin’s contention that the Wildcats remain a top-25 team despite their record. According to basketball analyst Ken PomeroyArizona’s offensive efficiency is No. 24 nationally, and its defensive efficiency is No. 37. (By comparison, UCLA’s offensive ranking is No. 48 and its defensive ranking is No. 4.) Pomeroy expects the Wildcats to win the game, 75-74.

UCLA is painfully familiar with Love. A transfer from North Carolina, his late barrage of three-pointers lifted the Tar Heels to a come-from-behind victory over the Bruins in the 2022 NCAA Tournament after a quiet first half. He continues to be an erratic shooter in his sophomore season in Arizona, making 18 of 61 three-pointers (29.5%).

But there are other signs that the Wildcats are headed in the right direction. Forward Trey Townsend, a transfer from Oakland University, has averaged 14.5 points over his last four games after a slow start. Center Motiejus Krivas looks to be rounding off form after a pre-season foot injury. And guard Anthony Dell’Orso, a transfer from Campbell, has provided a reliable weapon off the bench by making 50% of his three-pointers.

The crowd inside the Footprint Center will likely skew heavily in the Wildcats’ favor, but likely won’t resemble what the Bruins are used to facing inside the McKale Center.

“In the old days it just didn’t happen, did it?” Cronin said of playing a familiar opponent in unfamiliar territory. “You played home-and-home. But the old days, that’s why they’re called the old days.”

Etc.

Cronin on forward Eric Dailey Jr., who made 47.4% of his three-pointers: “He’s as dedicated a player as I’ve ever coached, so (that’s) a product of … his work ethic.” … Cronin said a breakdown in fundamentals by guard Sebastian Mack contributed to the failed box-out on a free throw late in the Oregon game that led to a Ducks offensive rebound and three-pointer. “He didn’t pinch,” Cronin said of Mack. “Little things that are not little things, they are big things.”