Home Court... Hurts?

Is it possible that playing at home can negatively impact the home team? I'd like to say no, but I can't help but think yes. In college basketball, most any team can give another a scare and this season, most any team can pull off an upset. All AP top 10 teams have been upset at least once, most of which have come on the road; however, playing in front of the home crowd does not give a team that is picked to win the extra push necessary. Any basketball coach will tell you that it is difficult to win on the road and that they put in more preparation for road games. What a coach won't tell you is that the team will not focus as much for a game that has "already been decided". Oftentimes you will see a team not play as hard as they should and then receive a scare from lower competition. Other times, you may observe a team that is trying to impress the home crowd by playing a more stylish brand of basketball with no-look passes or alley oops. Sometimes, it doesn't work out and the away team will capitalize. Judging from the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team today and other home games at the McKale Center, they haven't played the brand of basketball that they would like. Instead, there was a crowd watching their every move, just waiting to explode. That will oftentimes get you mixed results if the other team came to play. Either you will have a closely contested game that goes back and forth seeing the home team as the eventual winner, or you will see the away team come bursting out of the gates to quickly silence the home crowd and grind out a road win. Today, as the Wildcats played the Cal Golden Bears, there was no sense of urgency, especially at the start of the 2nd half, by the home team. Before fans could return from concessions to their seats, Cal had come bursting out of the gates to grab a 10-point lead. The crowd was stunned and the team never recovered as the Golden Bears pranced away with a 77-69 win over the 7th ranked Arizona Wildcats. With tickets had to come by in Tucson for these basketball games, each fan is waiting for a Mark Lyons trey, a Solo fade away, or a Nick Johnson alley oop that they see so often on TV. The players know what the fans want to see and every now and then, you catch them not prepared or trying to impress. In a season like this one, you cannot afford to do that.

The Cats come up short against the Huskies, lose 79-70

This was a key game for the Cats since they had to return the favor to the Huskies for the White-Out game in Tucson. Sadly, things didn't work out that way. I've always thought that  for many years, the Huskies had one of the most (if not the most) athletic basketball squads in the Pac 12. It's just that Lorenzo Romar never coached them to their fullest potential. Well this time around, the Huskies did out-muscle the Cats as this game had no down to the wire finish. The lack of depth showed for Arizona as they looked tired and just a step behind Washington. Arizona would hang around in the first half as they trailed only 39-37 at halftime. However, star frosh Tony Wroten would show why he'll win Pac 12 Freshmen of the Year instead of Nick Johnson as he led the Huskies on a run that the Wildcats would ultimately fail to answer.

Cats squeak by the Utes, 70-61

The Cats came into the game playing for a Pac 12 lead, but left the game holding their breaths. The Utes really gave them a scare as they started shooting lights out in the first half while the Cats were still trying to rub the sleep out of their eyes.After facing a 33-25 deficit at halftime, the Cats would slowly claw at the Utes lead by shooting treys. Brendan Lavender, Nick Johnson, and Kyle Fogg combined for a hot 11-22 beyond the arc. The Cats eventually would take the lead and hold onto it as a sigh of relief left the McKale Center.

Wildcats come up short in the White Out, fall to the Huskies 69-67

When these two teams meet up, expect an exciting match-up. Nothing will be more memorable to a Cats fan than the epic block by Derrick Williams that secured the win in last years' White Out, but Cats fans will remember this game for the wrong reasons. It took Arizona a while to start clicking on offense, but they did once Kevin Parrom came into the game with 7 quick points. However, KP would injure his foot and leave the game at the end of the first half, but everyone in McKale was rejuvenated by a monster Solomon Hill put-back dunk at the buzzer. The Cats took a 32-29 lead into the locker room, but the Dawgs showed off their physicality as they muscled there way for offensive rebounds and the lead. The Cats would fall behind by 10 points as the game winded down, taking the crowd out of it. However Solomon Hill led a late rally for the Cats and he eventually tied the game with a trey with only 5.9 seconds left in the game. The Dawgs went up court in a desperate frenzy when CJ Wilcox ran into a set Solomon Hill. The referees hesitated but finally called a blocking foul on Solo. Wilcox would hit the free throws and UDub would go up by 2. Freshmen point guard Josiah Turner would take the ball to the basket with little time left, only to take a hard block by freshmen Tony Wroten. The ball popped out and freshmen guard Nick Johnson cleaned up with a putback jam, but it was 0.2 seconds late and the Huskies hung on for a key win. It's unfortunate to see the Cats get called for the foul after they fought so hard to tie the game. The Cats lose a crucial game on ESPN as they fall short in a game they could've had.

Arizona survives against Oregon State in OT, 81-73

Thursday's game featured some stellar guard play from the top players in the conference. OSU was led by their dynamic scorer, Jared Cunningham, as they came to the McKale Center looking for a win. The Beavs gave everything the Cats could handle as they toojk a 28-26 halftime lead by quieting Arizona's top two leading scorers in Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill, but the guards stepped up big time for the Cats. Arizona went 12-22 beyond the arc as Nick Johnson, Kyle Fogg, and Brendan Lavender scored 19, 23, and 18 points to tie the game and send it to OT. The Beavers nearly won in regulation as Ahmad Starks went on a scoring rampage, but his buzzer beater rimmed out and the game went to OT at the McKale Center. Arizona would outscore OSU 9-1 in the five minute period, but a lot happened in the short time period other than scoring. Foggy just made a great lay-up over Cunningham and was fouled, which essentially iced the game. However, the two got in a scuffle and four technicals were handed out, two for each team. The Cats would hang on to win and improve to 12-5.

Cats romp a sloppy ASU squad, 68-51

Take that ASU! Cats went into Pac-12 play as the favorites over an inferior ASU Sun Devil basketball squad and the Cats came out victorious with no letdown, whatsoever. ASU is a bad team, but they were awful as they had 13 first half turnovers and only 20 points in 20 minutes. The Cats didn't take advantage of the poor ASU team, but they didn't have to. The defense suffocated the Sun Devils and the offense started picking up late in the first half. The regulars for Arizona excelled (Solomon Hill, Jesse Perry), but the Frosh guards stepped up their game as Nick Johnson put up a few highlight dunks and 14 points against his dad's team and Josiah Turner was a spike in the Sun Devil's side as he came up with 5 steals. Cats go to the Honda Center next Thursday to take on a homeless UCLA Bruins team.

Arizona starts quick, hold off Oakland, 85-73

Laval Lucas-Perry's return to the McKale center did not go as he wished for two reasons: the Cats ran away with the game and Reggie Hamilton stole the show with a stellar shooting performance for the Oakland Grizzlies. Solomon Hill had a career high 23 points while Kyle Fogg had his 1000th career point. The achievement by Foggy came with his 17 point performance and in doing so, he has become the 46th Wildcat to score 1000 points in a collegiate career. The Cats were previously plagued with slow starts, but got off to q quick start tonight. The Grizzlies tried to crawl back but their sharpshooting only brought them within 4 at the half. Key buckets by Solo, Foggy, Perry, and Johnson put Oakland away for the ninth Arizona basketball win of the season.

Wildcats fall short against the Gators, 78-72 OT

These two teams had very similar styles coming into tonights match-up: they're both guard driven teams. The Gators have Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton while Arizona has Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner, problem is Turner was suspended from Wednesday's game. The Cats hung in the game as they closed out the dual threat of Florida guards, however Patric Young dominated the point with 25 points. After building up a lead that vanished in the last few possessions, the Cats had a chance for the buzzer-beater down by one, but Nick Johnson dribbled the ball off his foot. The Gators then went up by three, but they fouled Solomon Hill. Hill made all three free throws and the game went into OT. The Gators proved that playing OT in an opponents home-court is never easy as the Gators pulled away.

Wildcats basketball holds on against NM State, 83-76

Nick Johnson scored 19 and Jesse Perry chipped in 15 more as the Cats held on against an upstart New Mexico State team in Las Cruces. The game was too close at the half as Arizona led by only 4, but Sean Miller coached his team to their fifth win of the season. Arizona will return to the McKale center to take on their in-state "rival" NAU on Saturday.

Number 23 Cats fall again to SDSU, 61-57, 22-game home win-streak ends

Number 23 was the theme tonight: No. 23 Arizona didn't get their 23rd straight home win, mostly because they didn't have number 23 on the court. They lacked the offensive juice D-Will would have provided as the Cats couldn't keep up with the Aztec's sharp shooting. Whenever the Cats held the Aztecs on defense, the offense couldn't get anything going. Perhaps the only bright spot was the exhilarating guard play from the Freshies Josiah Turner and Nick Johnson. Unfortunately, Freshman can't command the tempo and claim leadership of a team, so the seniors need to step up.