LAS VEGAS — UCLA v. Arizona – Chapter 3 will take over Las Vegas on Friday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Both teams narrowly won their quarterfinal appearances, as No. 1 seed UCLA beat No. 9 seed Arizona State 80-75 and No. 4 seed Arizona beat No. 5 seed Colorado 79-69.
The Bruins will be looking for their third straight win over the Wildcats after a pair of wins on ESPN, the latter of which came when College GameDay visited Westwood on March 2. Senior point guard Larry Drew II was the common denominator in those wins, with a combined 21 points, 18 assists and just six turnovers.
Arizona coach Sean Miller and senior forward Solomon Hill spoke about the matchup following their win on Thursday.
Miller
“We’re excited to move on and we know we’re playing a team that beat us twice tomorrow at 6 p.m. We know we’re going to have to play our best to beat those guys.”
“We know UCLA is very good. Larry Drew is a huge reason we’ve lost both games. He’s scored and got his teammates easy baskets. I’m pretty sure we’re not the only team that feels that way. We need to make sure he doesn’t control the clock at the end of the game. They have talented players. We have to be able to create shots and anytime a team beats you twice, you really want to get that one win. I think we have a team that’s dedicated to coming up with a great game plan and executing it. We know it’s going to be a really hard-fought game.”
Hill
“I think we played a lot harder in the last game than we did in the first. Larry Drew gets a lot of their guys’ easy shots. If we can contain him and get going offensively, it should be a good game.”
Compiled by Sam Strong, Bruin Sports senior staff