Bear Down Wildcats

Men's Game 28: #rv/24 ARIZONA (19-8, 9-5) AT USC (19-9, 8-7)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 27
Time: 8:00 p.m. (MST)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. - Galen Center (10,258)
TV: ESPN (Dave Pasch and Bill Walton)
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Jeffries & Hansen), 1290 AM 107.5 FM

Game Notes: https://arizonawildcats.com/documents/2 ... _atUSC.pdf" target="_blank
Gameday Link: https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2020/2 ... t-usc.aspx" target="_blank
Live Stats: http://www.arizonastats.com" target="_blank

A very critical game if we are to move up into the Top 4 for the PAC12 tourney.

We still control our own destiny with a sweep of the final 4 games, but that seems somewhat unlikely.

Lets all cheer for California/Stanford against Colorado this week. If we can go 3-1 down the stretch and Colorado loses one we will end up tied in the loss column and we own the head-to-head tie breaker. Unfortunately, Colorado ends the season against 3 bottom 6 PAC12 teams while we have to play two Top 6 PAC 12 teams.

Too bad they put Pasch and Walton in on critical games. They are fun during blowouts, but I just want this to be about basketball.

Ailing USC looks to get better on and off the court

At the end of a miserable weekend, Nick Rakocevic stuffed his 6-foot-10 frame into his seat on a late Sunday flight out of Salt Lake City, closed his eyes, and thought of how badly he wanted to be home.

USC’s senior forward had spent most of his final Pac-12 trip vomiting. The flu-like virus he’d contracted in Colorado hit him like a freight train in Utah, sapping all his energy.

Unable to keep any food down, Rakocevic lost 16 pounds in three days. Still, on Sunday, he emerged from his hotel room for the first time, determined to start against Utah. He played the first two minutes in the eventual loss, before realizing he could barely stand.

On that flight, with the Trojans’ NCAA tournament hopes in flux, it seemed the entire team shared in his misery. Emotionally and physically drained, the Trojans stewed over the two losses and the damage that was done. No one suffered worse than Jonah Mathews, the senior guard and Rakocevic’s road roommate, whose flu symptoms struck mid-air and without warning.

“It was like, dude, we’ve taken a beating. Can we just go home?” Rakocevic recalled thinking. “We just needed to get home. It felt like everything will be better there.”

USC won’t need to leave home again during the final stretch of the regular season. But with only three games remaining — all of them against Pac-12 Conference contenders — it’s fair to wonder if a home remedy will be enough to turn the Trojans around.

Coach Andy Enfield would prefer to keep their focus solely on the game at hand. But after losing five of seven games, Rakocevic acknowledges that the team’s postseason fate has been a constant topic of conversation among players, only two of whom have participated in the NCAA tournament.

“They know what’s at stake,” Enfield said. “We’re still in good position. We just have to win some home games. That’s the bottom line. Just win as many as we can down the stretch.”

The Trojans (19-9 overall, 8-7 Pac-12) may need to win all three games to convince the selection committee, beginning Thursday against Arizona (19-8, 9-5) at Galen Center. It may be their final shot at a Quadrant 1 victory. USC has two victories in nine such opportunities this season.

A few of those opportunities, Enfield said, slipped just through the Trojans’ fingertips.

“We’ve had four close road games to the teams ahead of us in the Pac-12,” he said. “A double-overtime loss at Oregon. Arizona was a one-possession game with five seconds. Arizona State we lost at the buzzer, and Colorado, we had a chance to tie as well. If you look at those four road losses, we played hard, competitively. But we just didn’t have enough to win a close game.”

They won’t get any sympathy from the selection committee, not even with their ailing seniors unlikely to be at full strength against Arizona. Neither Rakocevic nor Mathews practiced until Wednesday, but both are expected to try to play.

Rakocevic said Tuesday that he was still trying to stabilize his diet and had yet to have a full meal. Mathews was a few days behind him in his recovery. In less dire circumstances, both might take it easy this week. But against an Arizona team that scored 85 points in the first meeting, USC could certainly use them.

“It’s come down to crunch time, and we have to do everything we can to win these last games,” Rakocevic said. “At the same time, we have to know that no one is going to feel sorry for us. There are no

Rakocevic thought back to 2017, the last time USC found itself firmly on the bubble entering the season’s final stretch. The team had lost four in a row entering the last weekend, but responded by blowing out its final two opponents and securing a spot in the First Four of the NCAA tournament.

Rakocevic was a freshman, feeling the magic of March for the first time. This week, he tried to describe that feeling to his teammates. Only Mathews could relate.

“We tried telling them, it’s a crazy feeling,” Rakocevic said. “To have a whole plane for yourself, your coaches, fans, the band. You’re at the hotel, and you see pictures of you hung up. That March Madness feeling, it’s nuts.”

AZ -5

Cracking 1!

Andy Enfield implores the healing power of the Az wildcats to come to the aid of his players...best game of their lives tonite career highs for all ill players...and yet no one ever thanks Az...sad.

It will be like Jordan’s “flu” game.

Cracking 2!

17 lbs since Friday? Jesus h christ. I can't imagine what it feels like to lose that much weight that quickly.

At any rate, fuck him. Bear down and win this game!

azgreg wrote:

Yeah I doubt he's strong enough to really play much. Young people recover quickly but still that's a ton.

ASUHATER! wrote:

azgreg wrote:

Yeah I doubt he's strong enough to really play much. Young people recover quickly but still that's a ton.

They'll recover just enough to play out of their minds against us. Just how our luck seems to go.

Come on, azgreag, it seems you are slowing down.

Time for the freshmen to grow up. No fkn excuses this late in the season.

Josh Green out tonight?

Cracking 3!

Ira starting in place of Green

Wow, Josh and Max out, Baker and Dylan gonna need to put up numbers.

Why is it always Walton? I'm so over him seriously he does not need to do every one of our goddamn games. Give us a break ESPN and Pac-12 network please. I beg for him to say something horrendously inappropriate so you get suspended for some reason

Looks like bad Dylan Smith tonight.

Enfield is on his 7th season at USC. Time flies.

The Butcher wrote:Why is it always Walton? I'm so over him seriously he does not need to do every one of our goddamn games. Give us a break ESPN and Pac-12 network please. I beg for him to say something horrendously inappropriate so you get suspended for some reason

At least we get RJ as well on Saturday. Though obviously we'd all prefer if there were no Bill at all.

That was quite the TJ McConnell play.

What a terrible inbound pass.

Green & Hazzard out??

Nico, Dylan, and Baker had better be playing NOT to foul tonight. Zero depth at guard.

Cal 43 Colorado 33 2nd half

We look like hot garbage right now.

Chucking 3's

WildcatStunner wrote:Chucking 3's

Do what we do

UAEebs86 wrote:

WildcatStunner wrote:Chucking 3's

Do what we do

DWWD
Doodie

If this was any other team but the Cats, I couldn’t stand to watch this crap...

... basketbawful!

Nico cant consistently lead a team of college guys with two other very talented prospects.

Stone really getting on Smith's case

Merkin wrote:Stone really getting on Smith's case

He needs to........the idiot should have passed the ball instead of charging into a wall of bigs and travelling.

Lol oh my jeter

Cal up 14 with 8:21 left. Bradley can't miss for Cal.

If we can find a way to win tonight we only have to sweep the Washington schools to get the bye in the P12 tourney.

dmjcat wrote:

Merkin wrote:Stone really getting on Smith's case

He needs to........the idiot should have passed the ball instead of charging into a wall of bigs and travelling.

You never hear the announcers go "that was a smart decision by Dylan Smith".

Not sure the last UA player with lower basketball IQ.

Merkin wrote:

dmjcat wrote:

Merkin wrote:Stone really getting on Smith's case

He needs to........the idiot should have passed the ball instead of charging into a wall of bigs and travelling.

You never hear the announcers go "that was a smart decision by Dylan Smith".

Not sure the last UA player with lower basketball IQ.

Ironically, he’s (again) playing better than Nico so far tonite....

pc in NM wrote:

Merkin wrote:

dmjcat wrote:

Merkin wrote:Stone really getting on Smith's case

He needs to........the idiot should have passed the ball instead of charging into a wall of bigs and travelling.

You never hear the announcers go "that was a smart decision by Dylan Smith".

Not sure the last UA player with lower basketball IQ.

Ironically, he’s (again) playing better than Nico so far tonite....

Can't remember the last time Mannion was the best guard on the court.

We are awesome...at looking like a fringe top 25 nothing team

Nicos shot are nowhere near going in.....his confidence appears completely shot

Honestly, Walton’s verbal diarrhea is more interesting than the game he’s ignoring....

2/14 on 3's

Did Javier not see the UCLA game?

Cal by 14 with 4:09 left

This is hard to watch. Terrible game by both teams so far