KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshmen Hassan Adams and Chris Rodgers, along with sophomore Isaiah Fox and junior Jason Ranne, look on anxiously during UA's 96-95 double-overtime victory over Gonzaga on Saturday. Adams played just four minutes while Rodgers picked up three fouls in 10 minutes of play in the win.

UA reserves forced to trade floor time for chance at title

For the first time since the final buzzer sounded against Gonzaga, Rick Anderson had a chance to relax.

Sitting in the hot tub Sunday in the McKale Center training facility after a night where he was unable to sleep, Anderson was taking the first step in recovering from all the minutes he logged against the Zags in Salt Lake City. He played a career-high 40 minutes in the double-overtime affair.

"In the second overtime my legs felt numb," Anderson said. "When you play that many minutes you really don't think about it when it comes down to the last five to 10 minutes of the game."

But after spending quality rehab minutes in the spa with fellow senior Luke Walton Sunday and yesterday, Anderson said his legs are "starting to feel really good."

As uncharacteristic as it was for Anderson to play 40 minutes, it was even more out of the ordinary for the entire UA bench to play a combined 33 minutes. Only freshmen Andre Iguodala (16) and Chris Rodgers (10) got on the court for more than 10 minutes. The reserves scored only four points, good for UA's lowest bench output of the season.

"You're going to go with your best experienced and the best combinations that you put together," UA head coach Lute Olson said.

It was the starting five that Olson felt the most comfortable with on Saturday as each played at least 40 minutes. With all the minutes the starters tallied, freshman Hassan Adams, one of the usual contributors off the bench, was given only four minutes of action on Saturday.

"Probably the reason is for what the guys on the court were doing," Olson said.

Prior to the game the concern was how the altitude in Salt Lake City (approximately 4,500 feet) could affect the players. With both Stoudamire and Gardner suffering from asthma, Olson said only Stoudamire clearly was affected by it, even though he played 42 minutes.

"With timeouts being two minutes 15 seconds that's the kind of time you would normally take them out," Olson said. "They (the timeouts) are happening a number of times during the course of the game."

With the Sweet 16 game on Thursday against Notre Dame, the Wildcats will take on a team that likes to run the ball up the court.

But Gardner isn't worried about being tired either.

"We know if we're tired, our season could be over," he said.

Other notes ·

Olson said yesterday he was upset there was no foul called in double-overtime when Stoudamire was called for a turnover.

With 22 seconds left, one referee called a ball that went out of bounds off Stoudamire's hands in favor of Arizona, but an official ran over to correct the call.

Olson said he thought he was going to call a foul, but instead he switched possession to the Zags, setting up a chance to win the game.

"If that was not a foul I don't know what was," Olson said ·

Olson said Walton is feeling much better after fighting the flu in Salt Lake City.

Walton had to go back into the locker room during pre-game warm-ups on Saturday and only ate cereal for a pre-game meal. Walton still managed 45 minutes ·

The Wildcats practiced yesterday and will practice today before they leave for Anaheim this afternoon.

Olson said Wednesday's practice at the Arrowhead Pond would be more of a shoot-around.

The schedule for the week is similar to what the team has used throughout the season ·

Texas guard T.J. Ford was honored yesterday as the Naismith player of the year for all of college basketball. Just a sophomore, Ford is currently second on Texas' all-time assists list. Walton and Gardner were finalists for the award.