The No. 9 Arizona men's basketball team may have two wins this season, but after falling by a single point to new-No.1 Florida and defeating upstart Saint Louis by one Saturday afternoon, it only looks to get tougher for the Wildcats, starting tonight in New York.
Arizona (2-1) and No. 6 Texas (4-0) square off at 7 p.m. tonight in the ninth annual Jimmy V Classic, honoring late North Carolina State men's basketball coach Jim Valvano.
The game will be held for the first time in New York at Madison Square Garden, one of Valvano's favorite venues to play in. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Texas enters the game shooting just under 50 percent from the floor, but managed to put up an average of 102 points against its first four opponents.
The Longhorns will put a much deeper team on the floor than the Wildcats, who added Wildcat quarterback Ryan O'Hara to their roster last week after Isaiah Fox had season-ending knee surgery.
While Arizona used just six players for more than three minutes against Saint Louis, Texas has seven averaging at least 9.0 point per game.
Brandon Mouton leads the team at 16.5 points per contest, while freshman forward P. J. Tucker is adding 14 per game off the bench.
UA junior center Channing Frye looks to get back on track, after tallying just seven points and seven rebounds against the Billikens in St. Louis.
Frye, who is averaging 14 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks through the Wildcats' first three games, will match up against Texas senior James Thomas, who passed the 1,000-career-point plateau last week. Both centers were preseason candidates for the John Wooden Award, presented to the top college basketball player in the nation.
Texas lost to Arizona 73-60 in Tucson last season en route to an appearance in the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans.
The Wildcats struggled at times during Saturday's win over Saint Louis, and came within an inch or two of falling to the unranked Billikens.
St. Louis' Reggie Bryant squared up from the top of the key with just over three seconds remaining and the Billikens down by three. Closely guarded by UA freshman point guard Mustafa Shakur, Bryant stepped onto the 3-point line just before releasing his shot, which went in as the buzzer sounded.
After officials reviewed the play on videotape, Wildcat players could breathe a little easier knowing they would stay above .500 for the year.
Sophomore point guard Chris Rodgers was consistent again for Arizona, scoring 10 points off the bench, while junior shooting guard Salim Stoudamire finally returned to his preseason All-America form.
Stoudamire notched a team-leading 19 points to go with five rebounds and four assists, while sophomore swingman Andre Iguodala grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out five assists to go along with his 13-point outing.