3/7/2015

Courtesy: Arizona Athletics

No. 5/6 Arizona Closes Out Regular Season as Pac-12 Champs

By: Associated Press
Release: March 07, 2015

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - T.J. McConnell had 10 points and 11 assists in his final home game, helping No. 5 Arizona close out the regular season with a 91-69 victory over Stanford on Saturday.

Arizona (28-3, 16-2 Pac-12) led by 16 points at halftime despite McConnell being in foul trouble and fought through a chippy second half to extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 38 games.

Brandon Ashley had 15 points and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 14 for the Wildcats, the No. 1 seed in next week's Pac-12 Tournament after ending the season with an eight-game winning streak.

McConnell left to a standing ovation and kissed the McKale Center ''A'' logo at center court after leaving the game with about 3 minutes left.

Chasson Randle had 16 points and Stefan Nastic added 14 for Stanford (18-12, 9-9), which lost seven of its final 10 games.

Arizona had little to gain from this game other than maintaining momentum into next week's Pac-12 Tournament after wrapping up its second straight conference title with Thursday's 39-point win over California.

Stanford needed a big boost to have any shot at making the NCAA Tournament.

The Cardinal dented their chances with a 67-62 loss to Arizona State on Thursday and lost starting forward Michael Humphrey to a sprained left ankle 4 minutes into the game. The 6-foot-9 freshman was out against Arizona and is questionable for the start of the Pac-12 Tournament.

Stanford managed to hang with the Wildcats well into the first half, overcoming a slow start to pull within 27-25.

Arizona took over after that, forcing the Cardinal into one tough shot after another during a 13-0 run that made it 42-27.

The Wildcats made 16 of 29 shots - 5 of 9 from 3-point range - and led 47-31 at halftime after York hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. And they did it without much help from McConnell, who played 8 minutes after picking up two fouls.

The game got physical to open the second half, with players pushing, shoving and falling to the court as the crowd grew animated.

It did nothing to change the outcome.

Stanford managed to pull within 12, but Arizona stretched the lead again behind a three-point play on a two-handed dunk by Hollis-Jefferson and another two-hander by Kaleb Tarczewski over Nastic.

TIP INS

Stanford: The Cardinal have lost 11 straight to Arizona. ... Randle and Nastic both fouled out.

Arizona: The Wildcats honored McConnell, Matt Korcheck and Drew Melon during a postgame ceremony for Senior Day.