Arizona Wildcats rise into top 10 in national polls
Jan 23, 2017, 12:33 PM | Updated: 1:18 pm
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Arizona Wildcats are no longer flying under the radar.
Sean Miller’s team, which has generally been regarded as very good, but not great, is now a hot topic around college basketball after it went into Pauley Pavilion and knocked off No. 3 UCLA 96-85.
The victory came after Arizona had beaten USC 73-66 a couple days earlier, and pushed the Wildcats to 18-2 overall and 7-0 in the Pac-12.
Not surprisingly, on Monday, Arizona rose in the national polls, moving to seventh in the Associated Press and ninth in the USA Today Coaches Poll after last week being ranked 13th and 14th, respectively.
With their rise, the Wildcats are the top-ranked Pac-12 team in the AP Poll but still sit behind UCLA, who is eighth in the AP but seventh in the Coaches Poll. Oregon is sitting at No. 10 in both polls.
Winners of 12 straight games, the Wildcats are led in scoring by freshman Lauri Markkanen, who is averaging 17.1 points per game. Fellow freshmen Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins are chipping in 12.1 and 11.9 points, respectively, while junior Dusan Ristic is averaging 11.9.
Senior guard Kadeem Allen is pouring in 10 points per game, while sophomore guard Allonzo Trier scored 12 in his season debut against the Bruins.
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