A look at the Wisconsin-Arizona Elite Eight game

NO. 2 Arizona vs. NO. 1 Wisconsin

■ SITE: Staples Center, Los Angeles

■ TV: 3:09 p.m., TBS (7)

■ LINE: Arizona -1½; total 133

■ STORYLINE: If it feels like Wisconsin and Arizona just played each other for a Final Four berth, it’s because they did. The Badgers and Wildcats clash in the Elite Eight for the second straight year, with the West Region title at stake. In last year’s matchup, Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky scored 28 points — six in overtime — and added 11 rebounds as the Badgers won 64-63 to reach their first Final Four since 2000.

That Wisconsin team was seeded No. 2, while this year’s top-seeded Badgers return many of the same faces, including Kaminsky — the potential National Player of the Year — and versatile forwards Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes. Arizona was the No. 1 seed a year ago, while the current crop of second-seeded Wildcats is led by a new face in freshman swingman Stanley Johnson. Arizona has not been to the Final Four since 2001, losing each of its last four regional finals by a total of seven points.

■ ABOUT ARIZONA (34-3): The Wildcats are nursing a 14-game winning streak as they look to build off Thursday’s 68-60 victory over Xavier in which T.J. McConnell posted 17 points and Kaleb Tarczewski supplied 12 points and 12 rebounds. “The next step is a big one,” coach Sean Miller said after his team shot 17 of 19 from the foul line while committing only eight turnovers. “The fact that we’re playing Wisconsin ... it’s almost as if we had a summer to think about it, and we have to somehow make that to our advantage.” The Wildcats could benefit from more production from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who is 4 of 16 from the field over the last two games and had only two rebounds against Xavier after averaging 10.3 boards in the previous four games.

■ ABOUT WISCONSIN (34-3): The Badgers outlasted North Carolina 79-72 on Thursday as Dekker scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Kaminsky contributed 19 points and averages team highs of 18.4 points and 8.1 rebounds for a team that has scored at least 70 points in eight straight games. “These guys have been through a lot. They’ve seen the good runs. They’ve seen the bad runs,” coach Bo Ryan said. “But this group never gets discouraged to the point where they get down on themselves or their teammates, and that’s what’s fun.”

■ TIP-INS

1. McConnell has made 20 of 20 from the foul line in March.

2. Wisconsin guard Traevon Jackson (broken right foot) returned from a 19-game absence against North Carolina and scored four points in nine minutes. Jackson, the team’s fourth-leading scorer in each of the last two seasons, had made 84 consecutive starts prior to his injury and will continue to come off the bench today.

3. Dekker, Hayes, Jackson and guard Josh Gasser combined to shoot 9-for-32 in last year’s Elite Eight matchup with Arizona.

■ PREDICTION: Arizona 59, Wisconsin 57

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