UA crushes ASU on Senior Day in McKale
UA 106 ð ASU 81
Fil Torres may have saved his best for last.
On an afternoon when the Arizona men's basketball team honored its seniors, Torres and the Wildcats routed rival Arizona State, 106-81 in McKale Center.
With 2:06 left to play and No. 22 Arizona (19-8, 11-7 Pacific 10 Conference) holding a commanding 22-point lead over the Sun Devils, Torres pulled up from behind the 3-point arc and buried a trey to send the 14,587 in attendance into a frenzy.
"It's indescribable," Torres said of the crowd's reaction. "I'm going to remember that for a long time coming."
Although the senior finished with just three points, his younger teammates picked up the difference. Chris Rodgers was one of four Wildcats who tallied 20 points or more as Arizona closed out the regular season with a third-place finish in the Pac-10.
Rodgers' 20 points were good enough for a career high, behind 8-10 shooting and three assists. Center Channing Frye matched Rodger's total and was joined by Salim Stoudamire and Hassan Adams, who scored 21 points each.
After falling behind 11-8 early on three Kevin Kruger 3-pointers, Arizona's Adams erased the deficit with a 3-pointer of his own, which followed an Andre Iguodala layup. Iguodala finished the game with 12 points and 11 boards for his 10th double-double of the year.
Arizona, leading the nation in scoring with an average of 87.2 points per game, shut the Sun Devils down in the game's first frame, holding the Pac-10's leading score, Ike Diogu, to just six first-half points.
The sophomore, who didn't get his first basket until seven minutes into the game, needed a strong second half to earn his eighth double-double of the season. By finishing with 19 points and 14 rebounds, Diogu extended his streak of scoring 10 or more points to 59 consecutive games, the nation's longest such streak.
"I felt that I was trying to be aggressive the whole game," Diogu said. "Every time I got the ball, I was trying to score."
Arizona needed to adjust to the sophomore's second-half outburst.
"Ike (Diogu) is a good player," Frye said. "In the second half, I needed to re-establish myself in the middle."
Arizona shot 54.2 percent from the floor because of efficient ball movement. Rodgers wasn't the only Wildcat with a career best against the Sun Devils - Mustafa Shakur dished out 11 assists to top his previous high of seven.
"Mustafa plays with so much poise and confidence," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "He did a great job on the boards and did a great job of pushing the ball and making good decisions."
The freshman finished with seven points to go along with five boards.
After the game, Diogu - a possible first-round NBA prospect if he left early - addressed his future with the Sun Devils.
"Any time you leave, you want it to be on a good note," Diogu said. "We just had a tough loss, and I'm not thinking about anything else other than this game today."
For Diogu and his Sun Devils, the season is over. ASU finished with a 10-17, 4-14 Pac-10 record one year removed from an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
As for Arizona, the postseason begins on Thursday against Southern California in the Pac-10 Tournament. Arizona enters the eight-team tourney as a No. 3 seed.
"It is time to step it up," Stoudamire forewarned. "It is fun to play this time of year. We get a lot of exposure, especially if we win."