Lute Olson can add another milestone to his Hall of Fame resumŽ.
The UA basketball head coach set the school's mark for career wins Saturday in Arizona's 97-72 win against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. Olson's 510th win as Wildcat skipper topped former head coach Fred Enke for most wins all-time. The mark is another notch in the belt for Olson, who needed just 21 years to set the Arizona record.
It took Enke 36 years to reach the 509-win plateau while losing 324 games. In a career that spanned four decades (1925-61), Enke amassed a .611 winning percentage. Olson's 150 losses as a Wildcat give him a .772 percentage, good for second all-time in the Pacific 10 Conference.
In revitalizing UA basketball, Olson has led the Wildcats to an impressive 229 wins in their last 245 games. Since 1983, Arizona is 301-31 in games played in McKale Center, making the postseason for a current NCAA-high 19 consecutive seasons.
LA split drops Cats to No. 14
Arizona dropped seven spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after losing to Southern California and beating UCLA during its Los Angeles road trip. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked seventh, and fell to No. 14 in the new rankings released yesterday.
The poll marked the 279th straight regular-season poll in which the UA was ranked. In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, the Wildcats dropped from No. 8 to No. 12.
Cats end two-game skid
In dealing the Bruins their first Pac-10 loss of the season, Arizona halted a two-game slide after losses to Stanford and Southern California. The Wildcats hadn't lost two consecutive games in almost two years, since dropping games to UCLA and Southern California back on Feb. 14 and Feb. 16, 2002, in Los Angeles.
By beating UCLA in Westwood, the Wildcats avoided losing three straight games for the first time since Olson's first season at Arizona in 1983-84.
Frye plays numbers game
Channing Frye's 26 points against the Bruins equaled the 6-foot-11 center's career high as the Wildcats rolled to a 25-point victory. In 37 minutes of action, Frye dominated in the paint, pulling down 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Arizona, who led the nation in scoring last year, had three players finish with more than 20 points for the first time this season. Salim Stoudamire and Hassan Adams used a barrage of 3-pointers to accumulate 25 and 23 points, respectively. The two combined to shoot 11 of 19 from beyond the arc. Adams, known for his high-flying inside game, went 4 of 8 from long range, pulling down nine boards and dishing out three assists.