No. 2 USC needs road win to keep title hopes alive

As No. 2 Southern California gets set for its game tomorrow night against a rejuvenated Arizona football squad, the host Wildcats are certain of two things: they have so much to gain, while the visiting Trojans have everything to lose.

"I hope they feel they have to come ready to play," said UA safety Darrell Brooks. "They don't want anything bad to happen so we are both coming into this game fully focused and trying to win." [Read article]

Fortunately, this one didn't count.

The Arizona women's basketball team committed 31 turnovers and managed just eight free throws in its final exhibition game of the season, allowing Athletes in Action to pull out an 81-77 overtime victory last night in McKale Center.

Athletes in Action, an Ohio-based Christian squad made up of former collegiate and professional players, was out-shot from the field by Arizona, 43 percent to 38 percent, but made 23 of 28 shots from the free-throw line. The Wildcats shot 8 of 12 from the charity stripe. [Read article]

With its magic number of wins needed down to three, the UA volleyball team now faces an Oregon State team also in need of wins, though of the slightly more magical variety.

Arizona (13-13, 7-8 Pacific 10 Conference) travels to Oregon State (15-12, 5-10) for OSU's senior night matchup after handling Oregon (3-21, 0-15) last night, 3-0.

The Wildcats earned their 11th consecutive win in Eugene in routine fashion, 30-22, 30-20 30-26. Sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Abernathy led the way with 18 kills on a .355 hitting percentage to go with 10 digs. [Read article]

Despite a final 2003 mark of 6-11-2, the Wildcat soccer team has plenty to boast about.

It had two road wins in the Pacific 10 Conference for the first time ever. It averaged three more shots per game than its opponents.

And yesterday, two Wildcats were named to this year's All-Pac-10 team.

Junior forward Candice Wilks was named to the Pac-10's first team, while junior defender Lindsey Peeples made the conference's second team. [Read article]

As impressive as the Arizona football team's schedule may be this season, the Wildcats' toughest test of the year still lies ahead.

Arizona's slate has been littered with Top 25 opponents - like No. 3 Louisiana State, No. 8 Washington State, No. 10 TCU and No. 11 Purdue - but none has had more to lose when facing the two-win Wildcats than No. 2 Southern California.

USC comes into Tucson this weekend ranked second in both major polls as well as the Bowl Championship Series list, and the Trojans expect to be playing in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship if they continue winning. [Read article]

For the first eight games of the 2003 season, sophomore linebacker Marcus Smith has been playing with virtually one hand.

Smith was wearing a large wrap on his left hand to protect a broken wrist and had little, if any, gripping ability to try and control offensive linemen.

"I know it was frustrating to him, because he'd have good position on the blocker, but when you can't use your hand, it's hard," said interim head coach Mike Hankwitz. [Read article]

Icecats return to Madhouse tonight

The No. 11 Arizona Icecats return home this weekend to face No. 6 Weber State after taking two of three on their East Coast road trip last week.

The teams square off in a two-game set tonight and tomorrow at the Tucson Convention Center Arena. The puck drops for both games at 7:30 p.m.

The Icecats (5-1-1) split a home series last year with Weber State at the TCC. After falling in the first game of a two-game set last November by a 4-3 margin in overtime, the Icecats came back strong to take game two, 12-3. [Read article]