Arizona Wildcats drop in polls following split in Oregon
Feb 6, 2017, 12:11 PM
Arizona's Keanu Pinder, left, Dusan Ristic and Kadeem Allen watch from the bench as Oregon closes out the NCAA college basketball game with a 85-58 win Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Chris Pietsch)
(AP Photo/Chris Pietsch)
On Saturday in Eugene, the Arizona Wildcats suffered their worst loss since 2009, as the Oregon Ducks stomped them 85-58 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the lopsided score might indicate.
The Ducks shot 65.2 percent from the field while making 16-of-25 three-point attempts while the Wildcats struggled to get much going, and the result was a final score that few expected to see.
But, while the game proved disastrous for the Wildcats on Saturday, on Monday, it did not cost them too much in the polls as they dropped from No. 5 to No. 9 in the Associated Press Poll from fifth to 10th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
They can thank the rest of college basketball for that, as on Saturday alone five other top-10 teams were on the wrong side of the scoreboard, too.
The loss to Oregon left Arizona with a 21-3 record that includes a 10-1 mark in the Pac-12. The Ducks have the same conference record and via the tiebreaker now sit at the top of the standings, but have five of their final seven games on the road whereas the Wildcats have five of their final seven in Tucson.
Arizona is one of three Pac-12 teams in the top 10 of both polls, joining Oregon (5, 6) and UCLA (10, 9). The top four of Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas and Louisville is the same in both the AP and USA Today polls.
