Deandre Ayton’s career night leads Arizona past UCLA in Pac-12
Deandre Ayton admitted he had butterflies for his first collegiate postseason game. The Arizona star brought his hard hat for the second one.
After a shaky quarterfinals performance, Ayton had a monster outing Friday night to send the Wildcats into the Pac-12 tournament championship game.
Ayton, the potential No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Wildcats’ 78-67 overtime victory over UCLA before an announced crowd of 16,596 at T-Mobile Arena.
“I had some butterflies the first game,” Ayton said. “It was just business after that first game. The nervousness went away.”
There were no signs of nerves in the semifinal round, as Ayton came up huge down the stretch during an off night for his teammates. He scored 13 straight points for the Wildcats in the second half and overtime.
Arizona, the No. 15 team in the nation, held UCLA scoreless in the extra period and will get an opportunity to defend its tournament title.
The top-seeded Wildcats will go up against Southern California, the second seed, for the conference crown at 7 p.m. Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
USC defeated Oregon 74-54 in the second semifinal. Jonah Mathews scored a game-high 27 points for the Trojans, who led by as much as 28 points. MiKyle McIntosh scored a team-high 21 points for Oregon. Las Vegas native Troy Brown had 11 points and five rebounds for the Ducks.
With Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Super Bowl 52 MVP Nick Foles sitting courtside, Arizona and UCLA put on a show with future NBA players trading baskets.
Thomas Welsh scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. UCLA star guard Aaron Holiday scored 15 points and gave the Wildcats plenty of fits before cooling off in the final minutes because of fatigue.
Holiday played every minute of UCLA’s two-game Pac-12 tournament run. He missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the end of regulation.
“I don’t know if there’s a better guard we faced or if there’s a better guard in college basketball than Aaron Holiday,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “The season he’s had, what he’s meant to his team.”
Ayton had 10 points and six rebounds in Thursday’s victory over Colorado. Allonzo Trier, a Findlay Prep graduate, and Dusan Ristic made up for the freshman’s sluggish postseason debut. Ayton returned the favor Friday with his memorable performance.
“He’s a special talent,” Arizona guard Rawle Alkins said. “I see it every day in practice, so it’s nothing new to me. It’s just another day in the office with him.
“He should be the player of the year. I don’t see anyone playing better than him right now.”
Ayton might not be a lock to win the College Player of the Year award, but he probably wrapped up the No. 1 pick in June’s draft with his career night.
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GManzano24 on Twitter.